Determinants of Web-based disclosure in the Middle East
Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting
ISSN: 1985-2517
Article publication date: 3 September 2018
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the factors influencing the extent of information disclosed on the companies’ websites in the Middle East region.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses multiple regression models to examine the impact of some companies’ characteristics (company size, leverage, profitability, size of the audit firm, ownership concentration) on the extent of online disclosure. The study was conducted on 170 listed companies in seven countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey). The website content was analyzed during the period from September 2015 to December 2015.
Findings
The results reveal that the most important factors influencing the level of Web-based disclosure are company size, leverage and the size of the audit firm.
Practical implications
The results of the study will help regulators to formulate policies about Web-based disclosure as they offer insights into the characteristics of those companies which do and do not meet investors’ demands for online information. Thereby, the regulators might expect that the Middle East companies engage in the online reporting to be larger, have higher debt levels and audited by a big-four audit firm.
Originality/value
This study, added to the existing literature by analyzing seven countries in the Middle East region, allows having a clearer idea on the online disclosure in this region as a whole, which has not been examined before. In this paper, to assess the information’s disclosure on the website, the study has been interested in all of the information presented on the websites: financial and non-financial information.
Keywords
Citation
Abdi, H., Kacem, H. and Omri, M.A.B. (2018), "Determinants of Web-based disclosure in the Middle East", Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 464-489. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-11-2016-0093
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited