Association between firm characteristics and corporate voluntary disclosure: Evidence from Turkish listed companies

Purpose: This paper empirically investigates the factors that impact voluntary information disclosure level of Turkish manufacturing companies listed in the Borsa Istanbul (BIST). Design/methodology/approach: The data collection methodology of the study is content analysis of annual reports of the corporations listed on the BIST for the year 2010. In order to analyze the results, we employed Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) regressions to examine the association between the explanatory variables and voluntary disclosure level. Findings: The findings provide evidence of a positive association between voluntary information disclosure level and the variables such as firm size, auditing firm size, proportion of independent directors on the board, institutional/corporate ownership, and corporate governance. However, leverage and ownership diffusion were found to have negative significant association with the extent of voluntary disclosure. The remaining variables, namely, profitability, listing age, and board size were found to be insignificant. Research limitations/implications: The study has got some implications for emerging markets particularly. Voluntary disclosure contributes to alleviate the agency costs arising from information asymmetry, makes the firms more transparent and accountable, and opens the way for capital flow emerging markets need to finance growth. Therefore, the subject is quite important for emerging markets. The study has some implications for firms, auditors, investors, and regulators. All these parties play an important role in improving the transparency and disclosure practices of corporations. Since this study was conducted solely on listed manufacturing companies, the results may not be generalizable to non-listed and non-manufacturing industries. Originality/value: We extend previous research on the determinants of voluntary information disclosure in the emerging market context.