Web Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Study of Indian Insurance Companies

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility is a tool in the hands of companies to enhance the reputation in the eyes of society and government by spending some proportion of profit on various activities like education, health, employment, women empowerment, sports, rural development, etc. Companies communicate CSR information through various channels of communication viz. Annual reports, media, web site etc. The study focuses on the level of corporate social responsibility disclosure on the websites of 45 insurance companies including 22 life and 23 non-life insurance companies in India and also analyze the effect of different attributes namely size, liquidity, age, and profitability on corporate social responsibility web disclosure (CSRWD). The study found that level of CSRWD of insurance companies is low. Education, health, employment, and environment are highly concerned areas for CSR expenditure. Size is showing a significant relationship with web disclosure of corporate social responsibility in case of life insurance sector whereas in case of non life insurance sector in case of non-life insurance sector, size and profitability are found to be good predictor of web disclosure of corporate responsibility.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, Insurance sector, web disclosure, Companies Act, 2013, Profitability

View PDF