Do firms operating in a shared institutional environment have similar sustainability disclosure practices? A comparative analysis of multinational and locally listed firms in Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Sustainability disclosure (Variables) of interest and what they stand for

1)	Gov_mgt.Syst
2)	Credibility
3)	Sup_ind
4)	Sav_spen
5)	Vis_stra
6)	Int_initiative
7)	DMA
8)	Coll_dis
Gov_mgt.Syst = governance structure and sustainable development management
Credibility = credence of sustainability-related news and initiatives
Sup_ind = acceptable sustainability performance metrics
Sav_spen = details on financial expenditures and savings
Vis_stra = Management’s sustainability vision and adopted strategy communicated to the stakeholders
Int_initiative = the internal programs reward staff for their contributions to achieving sustainability objectives
DMA = disclosures on approach management deployed to run the economy, society and the environment
Coll_dis = Total collective disclosures by a firm.

Table 2. Sustainability scoring index

Category	Items	Maximum
		score
Y1. Governance Structure and management systems	9	9
Y2. Credibility	5	5
Y3. Supportable indicators	38	152
Y4. Savings and spending related to sustainability	2	8
Y5. Vision and strategy claims	7	7
Y6. Internal sustainability initiatives	3	3
Y7. Disclosure of management approach	37	37
	101	221

Table 3. Descriptive statistics

CSR Variable	% disclosure by All firms	% disclosure by MNCs	% disclosure by Local firms
Gov/mgt_ syst:
Mean	44.44	52.03	41.13
St dev	34.66	36.21	33.62
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	100.00	100	100
Credibility:
Mean	39.41	47.80	35.74
St dev	34.97	37.65	33.29
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	100	100	100
Sup_ind: Mean	11.20	14.57	9.73
St dev	12.88	14.49	11.90
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	61.54	42.30	61.54
Sav_spen:
Mean	27.13	23.17	28.85
St dev	18.98	21.20	17.77
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	75.00	75.00	75.00
Vis_stra:
Mean	48.78	58.88	44.37
St dev	32.24	33.98	30.60
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	100.00	100.00	100.00
Int_Initiave:
Mean	9.14	11.38	8.15
St dev	21.32	24.27	19.96
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	100	100.00	100.00
DMA: Mean	46.55	51.61	44.33
St dev	27.91	28.86	27.34
Min	0.00	0.00	0.00
Max	100	100.00	100.00
Coll_dis:
Mean	32.28	37.06	30.33
St dev	20.21	22.49	18.91
Min	0.00	0.77	0.00
Max	78.85	78.15	78.85

Table 4. Shapiro-Wilk normality test results

Variable	Gov/mgt_syst	Credibility	Sup_ind	sav_spen	Vis_stra	Int_initiave	DMA	Coll_dis
Shapiro-W statistic (W)	0.89555	0.86336	0.76134	0.74057	0.9283	0.48783	0.9568	0.94305
P-value	2.85E–08	8.02E–10	1.54E–13	3.74E–14	2.33E–06	<2.2e-16	0.00029	2.45E–05

Table 5. Mann-Whitney U test results for total disclosure and sub-dimensions of sustainability disclosures

	Total disclosures	Sub-dimensions of sustainability reporting
	Coll_dis	Gov_sys/mgt	Credibility	Sup_ind	Sav_spen	Vis_stra	Int_initiave	DMA
Mann-Whitney statistic	1612	1583	1578	1606	2270	1433	1823.5	1653.5
P-value	0.1324	0.09792	0.08528	0.1231	0.06039	0.01724	0.4663	0.1912