The trend of voluntary carbon disclosure practices in Malaysia: Substantive or symbolic?

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the trend of voluntary carbon disclosure (henceforth referred to as VCD) practices in Malaysia. It also intended to examine whether the pattern VCD practices are substantive or symbolic. Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis of annual reports was used to examine the quality of VCD against a checklist developed by Abd Rahman et al. (2019). The study sample comprised 1,675 annual reports of companies listed on Bursa Malaysia over a period of seven years from 2010 to 2016. Data were then analysed using the Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Findings: Findings show that the quality of VCD, both substantive and symbolic disclosure practices, had significantly increased during the study period. Moreover, current VCD practices are largely substantive in nature and is intended to reflect accountability. Research limitations/implications: The results can be merely interpreted only across the target samples, which covers a study period of seven years. Practical implications: Findings draw the attention of the manager to specific aspects of VCD that require improvement and provide an empirical basis for policy makers and regulators when developing future VCD regulatory guidelines. Originality/value: This study provides insights into the journey of VCD practices in Malaysia and contributes to the corpus of contemporary literature by examining substantive and symbolic disclosures in the context of developing countries.