An investigation into corporate social responsibility disclosure in the Libyan oil and gas industry using a mixed-methods design : an institutional perspective

Given the growing interest in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure
(CSRD), especially in developing countries, this thesis adopts neo-institutional theory to
investigate the extent and types of CSRD practices and factors influencing its adoption in
oil and gas companies operating in Libya. Two methods of data collection were used:
namely, semi-structured interviews and annual reports. The semi-structured interviews
were conducted first with 14 oil and gas firms’ managers working in Libya, to identify
the factors influencing CSRD adoption, and second with 6 external actors to confirm or
reject such claims. The second method involved a collection of 106 annual reports for the
period 2009-2013, to first identify the extent and types of CSRD practices, and second to
proceed with a regression test to assess the relationship between CSRD determinants and
the extent of CSRD practices.
The findings from the qualitative analysis show that managers perceive a diversity of
coercive, mimetic and normative pressures interplay to influence CSRD in the Libyan
context. Particularly, the adoption of CSRD is influenced by the state through its
governance body - the National Oil Corporation (NOC), foreign business partners, other
foreign-owned companies’ behaviour, the need to uphold firms’ reputation, and pressures
to meet societal expectations. Other determinants identified include government
ownership, parent company factors, board size, board meeting, firm size, age, presence of
CSR committee, and profitability. Furthermore, the absence of clear legal requirements, a
shortage of knowledge and awareness, the absence of civil society organisations, the
absence of the Environmental General Authority’s (EGA) role, and a lack of motivation
from the government were found to act as major impediments to CSRD development.
The findings obtained from the quantitative analysis show that the level of CSRD is low
when compared with Western countries, but in relative terms, the most disclosed types of
CSR information were related to the human resources and environment. Moreover, the
findings obtained from the CSRD regression model suggest that CSRD practice is
positively associated with government ownership, joint venture ownership, foreign
ownership, frequency of board meetings, parent company factor, and firm size. However,
CSRD has no statistically significant relationship with board size, CSR committee, and
age of the company, while profitability is negatively associated with CSRD practices.
These results contribute towards the literature adding to the knowledge of CSRD
practices’ “implementation”, by empirically providing evidence for the context of CSRD
in Libya. This is achieved by explaining how specific external and internal determinants
contribute to or impede the development of CSRD practices. These findings, therefore,
could be useful to corporate regulators and policy makers in developing a more focussed
agenda of CSRD activity, when considering regulations for disclosure.