The effect of national culture on the association between profitability and corporate social and environmental disclosure: a meta-analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of cultural dimensions (masculinity, individualism and long-term orientation) on the association between profitability and corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED).

Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply the meta-analysis technique developed by Hunter et al. (1982) and Hunter and Schmidt (2000) for a sample of 48 published studies over the period of the past 20 years.

Findings – The authors find that masculinity, individualism and long-term orientation moderate the association between profitability and CSED. Given the weight of US studies on the overall sample, the authors conduct a sensitivity analysis to examine how this factor may affect the findings. After excluding these studies, only long-term orientation and individualism remain strong moderators of the association between profitability and CSED.

Originality/value – This study provides further evidence on the impact of institutional frameworks on CSED. It has, also, policy implications for managers of multinational corporations.