TY - JOUR
T1 - Corporate disclosure in relation to combating corporate bribery
T2 - a case study of two Chinese telecommunications companies
AU - Islam, Muhammad Azizul
AU - Haque, Shamima
AU - Dissanayake, Thusitha
AU - Leung, Philomena
AU - Handley, Karen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 CPA Australia Ltd (CPA Australia).
PY - 2015/9/17
Y1 - 2015/9/17
N2 - This paper investigates the association between global community concerns about bribery activities and anti-bribery disclosure practices by two Chinese telecommunication companies operating internationally, namely China Mobile and ZTE. Based on content analysis of annual reports and global news media articles over a period of 16years from 1995-2010, the findings suggest that the changes in the level of disclosures by the two major Chinese telecommunications companies were closely associated with the level of international concerns over bribery practices within the Chinese telecommunications industry. This finding indicates that the companies adopt anti-bribery disclosure practices in order to minimise the gap of trust (social capital) between companies themselves and global stakeholders. In this paper we argue that, for domestic companies in China, culturally constructed social capital, such as guanxi, creates a level of trust between managers and their stakeholders, which obviates the need for managers to disclose anti-bribery performance information. However, for companies operating internationally, as social capital is inadequate to bridge the gap of trust between managers and global stakeholders, managers use disclosures of anti-bribery performance information as a way to minimise such a gap.
AB - This paper investigates the association between global community concerns about bribery activities and anti-bribery disclosure practices by two Chinese telecommunication companies operating internationally, namely China Mobile and ZTE. Based on content analysis of annual reports and global news media articles over a period of 16years from 1995-2010, the findings suggest that the changes in the level of disclosures by the two major Chinese telecommunications companies were closely associated with the level of international concerns over bribery practices within the Chinese telecommunications industry. This finding indicates that the companies adopt anti-bribery disclosure practices in order to minimise the gap of trust (social capital) between companies themselves and global stakeholders. In this paper we argue that, for domestic companies in China, culturally constructed social capital, such as guanxi, creates a level of trust between managers and their stakeholders, which obviates the need for managers to disclose anti-bribery performance information. However, for companies operating internationally, as social capital is inadequate to bridge the gap of trust between managers and global stakeholders, managers use disclosures of anti-bribery performance information as a way to minimise such a gap.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941649159&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/auar.12064
DO - 10.1111/auar.12064
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84941649159
SN - 1035-6908
VL - 25
SP - 309
EP - 326
JO - Australian Accounting Review
JF - Australian Accounting Review
IS - 3
M1 - 74
ER -