Modelling determinants of voluntary carbon disclosure in Malaysian property sector
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
Scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to human's use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Countries that have ratified Kyoto Protocol are committed to reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases toward climate change mitigation. Developed countries are mandatorily required to mitigate and disclosure carbon reduction information, while, developing countries voluntarily reduce carbon emission, as developed countries alone cannot address the effect of climate change, with the growth rate of emission in the developing countries. Malaysia as one of developing countries has become a popular destination for institutional investors in property portfolio investment with emission effects, as one-third of the world's energy use, is in the property sector. The purpose of the study is to determine the level of voluntary carbon disclosure, explore the determinant factors and identify reciprocal relationship as well as to develop a model of the determinants of voluntary carbon disclosure in the property sector of Malaysia. The study is based on 2014 annual reports of listed companies in the property sector of the Bursa Malaysia Stock Exchange market. The research adopted a quantitative research method that incorporated the three quantitative analytical methods comprising Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The EFA explored the deterministic factors influencing carbon information disclosure. The EFA result showed that the determinants explained 64.75% variance in the model. Based on the disclosures among the industries indicates no significant difference, except in climate change disclosure. SEM confirmed that the model for determinants of voluntary carbon disclosure in Malaysian property sector is a model of fifteen items consists of four factor structure, with financial-market determinant, economic determinant, social determinant and ownership dispersion determinant. The model passed the test for validity, reliability and model fit thresholds. The standardised beta coefficient for financial market determinant is the highest, and significantly influences voluntary carbon disclosure. The findings reveal that firms that rely on credit financing are more likely to incorporate carbon disclosure strategy
Description
Thesis (Ph.D (Real Estate))
Keywords
Carbon