Explaining CSR Disclosure Levels of U.S. Firms

ABSTRACT This paper uses panel data of U.S. firms to investigate the firm and political characteristics that are associated with voluntary environmental and social disclosures. Firm characteristics that have positive association with both environmental and social disclosures include corporate social responsibility board committee presence, number of analysts covering the firm, and the firm's environmental and social performances, respectively. Capital expenditures, insider ownership percentage, and institutional ownership percentage have a negative association with both types of disclosures. Individually, outside director percentage has a positive and Chairman‐CEO duality has a negative association with social disclosure. Firm financial characteristics and political environment largely have no association with environmental and social disclosures. Our use of panel data controlling for firm fixed effects and employing a rich set of explanatory variables serves also to check the robustness of the variables identified as significant in prior studies that used fewer observations with a limited set of explanatory variables. These results enhance our understanding of firm characteristics that are compatible or incompatible with both types of voluntary disclosures.