CSR Disclosure in Russian Systemic Companies: Driving Force of International Environment and Domestic Institutions

Journal of East-West Business. 2023. Vol. 30. No. 1. P. 92–113.

Veselova A., Aray Y., Ermolaeva L.

The paper explores a unique phenomenon of systemic companies and their CSR activities in a weak institutional environment and extensive institutional voids that push them to take diverse obligations. The paper uses the data from 223 Russian public companies and employs conventional statistical methods to test hypotheses. Our results show that systemic companies are inclined to disclose information about their CSR activities, especially, in their social dimension due to their social obligations in the local markets and necessity to gain legitimacy in host markets. Moreover, Russian companies with international activities are more active in CSR disclosure than purely domestic ones.

Keywords: Russia, legitimization, CSR, disclosure, institutional voids, monocity, systemic company