Does Egyptian universities’ disclosure on social responsibility enhance sustainable development?

Abstract

Purpose This study aims at investigating the extent to which Egyptian universities disclose information on social responsibility to different stakeholders, which leads to the enhancement of sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach An index of social responsibility that fits the Egyptian universities is established, comprising four dimensions: organizational governance, energy and environment resource sustainability, human resource development and community participation and community development. This index has been used to score the disclosure level of social responsibility of Egyptian universities. This study uses information available on websites of Egyptian universities as of the end of December 2018. Frequencies provide the basis for discussion. Findings The results reveal that the level of disclosure of universities on social responsibility is low, but, in favor of private universities vs public universities. At the university level, only a few numbers of public universities disclosed high volume of information on social responsibility, such as Cairo University, Ain Shams University, Alexandria University and Assiut University. Furthermore, the results manifest that public universities disclose higher level of information related to organizational governance, energy and environment resource sustainability and community participation and community development, whereas, private universities disclose higher level of information related to human resource development. Research limitations/implications The results are constrained with the social responsibility dimensions and attributes used to establish a disclosure index that fits Egyptian universities, as well as the information disclosed on universities websites. Originality/value This study provides insights to Egyptian higher education regulators and the rectors of Egyptian universities that may help in planning and monitoring social responsibility activities in a way that could lead to sustainable development.