Article
Busyness, Tenure, Meeting Frequency of the CEOs, and
Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure
Melinda Cahyaning Ratri
1
, Iman Harymawan
1,
* and Khairul Anuar Kamarudin
2
Citation: Ratri, M.C.; Harymawan, I.;
Kamarudin, K.A. Busyness, Tenure,
Meeting Frequency of the CEOs, and
Corporate Social Responsibility
Disclosure. Sustainability 2021, 13,
5567. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su13105567
Academic Editor: João Carlos de
Oliveira Matias
Received: 12 April 2021
Accepted: 5 May 2021
Published: 17 May 2021
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4.0/).
1
Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economic and Business, Universitas Airlangga,
Jawa Timur 60115, Indonesia; melinda.cahyaning.ratri-2014@feb.unair.ac.id
2
Faculty of Business, University of Wollongong in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates;
KhairulKamarudin@uowdubai.ac.ae
* Correspondence: harymawan.iman@feb.unair.ac.id
Abstract:
This study aimed to analyze the relationship between busyness, tenure, and the frequency of
CEO meetings and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure. This study used 624 observations
from 78 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
database for the 2010–2018 period. This study indicated that companies with busy CEOs or CEOs
with long tenure produce fewer CSR disclosures. On the other hand, companies with CEOs who
frequently attend board meetings generate more CSR disclosures because they can absorb a lot of
useful information to address the changing social and environmental issues. Companies can limit the
activities and tenure of the CEO and increase the awareness of the CEO to attend board meetings to
encourage the firm’s sustainability. Companies with busy CEOs and long tenure result in less CSR
disclosure. Furthermore, the frequency of CEO meetings can enhance CSR disclosure.
Keywords: busyness; CEO; corporate social responsibility; meeting frequency; tenure
1. Introduction
Currently, the success of a company is not only seen in its economic success [
1
], but
companies must be skilled at balancing the interests of various stakeholders [
2
]. CSR dis-
closure is a strategic company effort in bridging the company interests and stakeholders [
3
].
CSR disclosure is a crucial way to increase transparency [
4
], accountability [
5
], reputa-
tion [
6
], company legitimacy [
7
], awareness of the company’s environmental and social
practices [
8
], and its performance [
9
]. Based on research by the Center for Governance,
Institutions, and Organizations of the National University of Singapore (NUS), the quality
of CSR disclosure in Indonesia is lower than other ASEAN countries. Indonesia has a 53.6%
value, while the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand have 56.3%, 64.5%, 61.7%,
and 60.0%. This shows that Indonesia has the lowest level of CSR disclosure compared
with other ASEAN countries. Moreover, 53.6% of public companies in Indonesia disclose
CSR information in the annual reports, while the rest of 46.4% of public companies in
Indonesia have no concern in disclosing CSR information in the annual reports. Given
the low CSR disclosure level, the government has taken various initiatives to increase
corporate awareness through various regulations and awarding entities that care about
their sustainability. Thus, it is expected that CSR disclosure will increase.
Strengthening corporate governance is another effort that can increase CSR disclosure.
In corporate governance, the president director or Chief Executive Officer (CEO) plays
a key role in ensuring that the company can meet its CSR disclosure objectives [
10
,
11
].
CEO is the highest leader in company management who has the responsibility of making
policies and strategies to achieve organizational goals, supervising and predicting business
conditions internally and externally, and making decisions within the organization [
12
–
14
].
Based on the upper echelons theory, CEO plays an important role in resource allocation
Sustainability 2021, 13, 5567. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105567 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
