Kai Whiting

A Statistical Analysis of Islamic World Sustainability Reporting in 2009

Accountability and, by extension, sustainable development are not only key concepts in the 21 century West but they are fundamental codes of conduct in Islamic society and law, practiced through shura. Despite this, sustainability reporting in the Islamic World is limited. This paper through an analysis of 30 companies headquartered across the Islamic World looks at those variables which influence the performance of these companies, in terms of their fulfillment of the Triple Bottom Line (environmental, social and economic aspects). There are two analyses undertaken, the first involves economic variables, evaluated via a t-test and ANOVA test. The second looks at non-conventional variables such as the education and professional experience outside of an Islamic country undertaken by a CEO. Such variables, not normally relevant in a western analysis, do show a notable positive contribution to sustainability reporting. The statistical analysis involved a Backward Elimination approach of stepwise regression followed by the F-test; Heteroscedasticity Tests, and the Chi-Squared Test which was used to establish the normality of the sample and the Akaike and Schwarz criteria. Despite encouraging results, given the limited sample evaluated here, it is too soon to draw comprehensive conclusions. The work presented here does however, form an important step in evaluating and increasing sustainable reporting participation in Islamic countries.