Islamic financial institutions, corporate governance, and corporate risk disclosure in Gulf Cooperation Council countries

•We explore corporate risk disclosure (CRD) for the GCC listed firms.•CRD is lower in Islamic financial institutions compared to conventional counterparts.•CRD is higher in firms that have high quality corporate governance contexts.•CRD varies across the GCC countries despite their cultural and institutional similarities.•CRD is the highest in Bahrain, followed by Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.

Using content analysis we evaluate the determinants of corporate risk disclosure in a sample of 424 publicly traded firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. We hypothesize that corporate risk disclosure will be lower in Islamic financial institutions when compared to conventional financial institutions and higher in firms that have high quality corporate governance contexts. We also argue that corporate risk disclosure will vary across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries despite sociocultural and regulatory similarities. Results are generally supportive of our hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.