Determinants of voluntary web-based disclosure: A comparison of the united kingdom and its former colony, New Zealand

  • Authors

    • Hanen Ghorbel Siala Accounting in High school of Business
    • Yosra Mnif Sellami High Institute of Business Administration of Sfax
    • Hela Borgi Fendri
    2014-11-08
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijaes.v2i2.3668

  • Abstract

    The paper represents an attempt of enrichment of researches relating to the publication of Voluntary Information Disclosure on the Web-Sites (VDWS). The main objective of this research is to compare the extent of VDWS and the differential impact of some firm specific characteristics in the United Kingdom and New Zealand on firms’ VDWS. In fact, comparative disclosure studies tend generally to evaluate the differential impact of firm specific characteristics on information disclosure in two different legal systems (for example, common law and code law) or having different cultural values. However, few studies have analyzed this topic in countries having the same legal system and/or similar cultural values. The results illustrate a significant variation of VDWS practices across the two countries. The results show, also, that the majority of the identified determinants differ between these two countries in their significance and their sign. The principal results prove that firm size represents a positive common factor on the extent of VDWS in the two countries. The specific factors of British companies are: dispersion of ownership, performance, and the number of listing on foreign stock exchanges. Whereas those of New Zealand companies are bored independence and leverage level.

    Keywords: Determinants, Voluntary Disclosure, Websites, United Kingdom, New Zealand.

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  • How to Cite

    Ghorbel Siala, H., Mnif Sellami, Y., & Borgi Fendri, H. (2014). Determinants of voluntary web-based disclosure: A comparison of the united kingdom and its former colony, New Zealand. International Journal of Accounting and Economics Studies, 2(2), 100-110. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijaes.v2i2.3668

    Received date: 2014-10-02

    Accepted date: 2014-11-02

    Published date: 2014-11-08