Expectations on Labour-Related CSR Reporting: Voices from Labour Unions in Indonesia and Thailand

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the viewpoints of labour unions’ leaders in Indonesia and Thailand regarding labour-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Fifteen respondents representing leaders from seven labour unions in Indonesia and Thailand were interviewed using semi-structured questions. The results revealed that Indonesian labour unions expected companies to provide a clearly specific section about labour-related CSR in annual reports whereas Thai labour unions expected companies to keep on providing oral disclosures through, for example, meetings in addition to written reports such as annual reports. Employment, Occupational Health and Safety, and Training and Education were considered the most important labour issues to be reported. Equal Remuneration for Women and Men was another issue which was deemed critical to be disclosed in Indonesia. From the lens of ethical stakeholder theory, it appeared that labour unions in the two countries attempted to voice workers’ concerns and facilitate the fulfilment of workers’ information rights. The labour union leaders’ views seemed to be shaped by their ethical belief in how companies should be accountable to workers. The findings of this study can be used by regulators in Indonesia and Thailand as a reference for developing laws which specifically require companies to communicate relevant labour-related CSR information.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethical stakeholder theory
• labour disclosures
• labour union
• Indonesia
• Thailand

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to participants of the 2018 British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Conference in London, England, for their most valuable feedback on an earlier version of this paper. The authors also appreciate the research assistance from Bhayu Wijaya, Tidaporn Boonmen, and Abhichart Srisin.

Notes

1 Managerial stakeholders are those who are involved in managerial decision making because they are members of the managerial team within reporting entities (see Momin 2013; Diouf and Boiral 2017; Khan, Bose, and Johns 2020). Examples of managerial stakeholders are business leaders and top managers. In contrast, non-managerial stakeholders are those who are not involved in managerial decision making because they are not members of the managerial team. Examples of non-managerial stakeholders are labour unions, consumers, and community members.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universitas Islam Indonesia under the International Collaboration Research Grant number 001/Dir/DPPM/70/Pen.KI/PII/VIII/2016.