The effects of voluntary disclosures on customer satisfaction

Abstract

Numerous articles have been published on how a business should follow and post voluntary disclosure and how to satisfy customers. Additionally, the researchers identified that voluntary disclosure has contributed to improved business performance. Voluntary disclosure means that the management of the company discloses too much information to customers, investors, shareholders or any outside party who may benefit from it. Additionally, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules do not even require voluntary public disclosure of information, but the company still includes it so that its clients and investors can get satisfaction after purchasing products from the company. Dissatisfied customers not only affects the bottom line of a business but also can affect a company’s profitability, sustainability, morale, and retention. Therefore, this report broadly divides voluntary disclosure information into three parts (Social Voluntary Disclosures, Environmental Voluntary Disclosures, and Sustainable Voluntary Disclosures) to determine whether customer satisfaction is affected by the three Voluntary Disclosure factors. A survey has been conducted to collect customers' understandings of voluntary disclosure and whether they are satisfied with companies that release voluntary disclosure information. Grounded on the answers of the survey participators, the report assesses the consistency of the survey statements, analyzes the relationship and correlation of the three factors in the customer satisfaction statements. The report finds that a noteworthy optimistic relationship exists between sustainable voluntary disclosures on customer satisfaction, while the other two variables (voluntary disclosure for society and voluntary disclosure for the environment) have less importance in customer satisfaction for a company that publishes voluntary disclosure information to attract customers