Abstract/Summary

This thesis aims to investigate the inferred relationship between the political change in Libya since 2011, caused by the Arab spring, and online/website CSR disclosures by oil companies operating in Libya. The first institutional impact of the Arab spring involved extensive management reconstruction in late 2011 arising from political disloyalty to the former regime. This study investigates the probable influence of this institutional impact on web-based CSR & sustainability disclosures and practice from different perspectives. The research involved collecting disclosure data from the websites of 13 different oil companies as well as conducting interviews with employees in Libyan oil sector to gauge their perceptions regarding this phenomenon. A range of analytic methods were then used to obtain deductive and inductive findings, some of which are novel. The findings from this longitudinal study indicate that there has been a significant change in the CSR & sustainability disclosure agendas of oil companies from different perspectives. This change has coincided with extensive management reconstruction in late 2011 and beyond. The interviewees identified a range of sectoral obstacles and national tribulations that impacted on oil companies’ CSR & sustainability disclosures and practice. As these obstacles threaten the legitimacy of oil companies’ activities, interviewees introduced short- and long-term solutions to tackle the obstacles. Accordingly, the inferred relationship between the Arab spring in Libya and web-based CSR disclosure of oil companies in Libya is evident from different perspectives.