Impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure on financial performance for listed companies in the GCC Countries

Objectives: This study examined the effect of different dimensions of corporate social responsibility disclosure (community, employees, environment, and governance) on corporate financial performance using return on assets, return on equity, and net profit margin as measurement for corporate financial performance. Method: Secondary data for this study was obtained from CSRHub, and 2020 and 2021 annual reports of top companies in gulf stock markets were analysed through correlation and regression analysis to examine the relationship between two research factors. Results: The study found that only employee- and corporate governance-related disclosures information positively influenced the companies’ market-based measures of financial performance (net profit margin) but not the accounting-based measures (return on assets, return on equity). Conclusion: This study is considered one of the recent studies that highlights the importance of practising corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the GCC. Additionally, this study is deemed to be one of the most important studies that discuss the theories that explained the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance for companies listed on the GCC stock exchanges.