Corporate social responsibility disclosure: The case of international shipping

• We examine the relationship between CSR disclosure and corporate performance.
• Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques are used to account for heterogeneous CSR disclosure.
• There is a positive relationship between CSR disclosure and financial performance.
• Firm size, leverage, and ownership structure are associated with CSR disclosure.
• A majority of shipping firms have integrated CSR practices into their strategic planning and operations.

Based on practices and legislation in the shipping industry, we construct a corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure index for listed shipping companies. We use Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques for Bayesian inference, and we estimate the marginal effects of firm characteristics on CSR disclosure for each firm. Our results show a positive relationship between CSR disclosure and financial performance for each firm in our international sample. Firm size, financial leverage, and ownership structure are also associated with CSR disclosure. Our findings suggest that a majority of listed shipping companies have integrated CSR practices into their strategic planning and operations.