Integrating Best Reporting Practices for Enhancing Corporate Social Responsibility

Author(s):  
Ioana-Maria Dragu ◽  
Adriana Tiron-Tudor
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Afzalur Rashid

Purpose This study aims to examine the association between board independence and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting and the moderating role of stakeholder power on the association between board independence and CSR reporting. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 707 Bangladeshi firm-year observations, this study uses a content analysis technique to develop a 24-item of CSR reporting index. This study uses the ordinary least squares regression method to examine the relationship between board independence and CSR reporting. Findings The study finds that board independence does not influence CSR activities and relevant reporting in general. However, the non-influence of board independence and CSR reporting is offset by stakeholder power. Insider ownership, firm age, firm size, growth opportunities and market capitalisation have a positive influence on such reporting. Practical implications While this study suggests that stakeholders’ influence is an important factor in determining the firms’ incentives to disclose CSR information, this finding creates a new debate on the efficacy of independent directors and whether they are good monitors and are able to fulfil all the stakeholders’ expectations. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to the literature on CSR practices by documenting that firms having powerful stakeholders induce the board and management to make more CSR reporting practices in the context of emerging economies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kshitiz Upadhyay-Dhungel ◽  
Amar Dhungel

Financial institutions not only influence the profit/loss of its shareholders but also drive the economy of the whole nation. So it should be concerned about its social obligation and responsibilities. Social responsibility refers to the obligation of a firm, beyond the required by law of economics, to pursue long-term goals that are good for society. The idea that firms, corporations, and other organizations have social responsibilities leads to the development of the concept labelled as “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” and has evoked widespread interests and concerns both in business and among academicians. Banking sector is under massive pressure from its shareholders, investors, media, as well as its customers to carry out business in a socially responsible and ethical manner. This descriptive study attempts to analyse CSR reporting practices in banking sector of Nepal. For the purpose, ten commercial banks and 4 development banks were selected randomly and their website was scanned to collect data developing a Report Sheet. The total CSR reports were outlined and categorized into different groups. Later on quantitative analysis was also performed and presented using suitable statistical techniques. This study found that CSR is not mandatory in Nepal and all the banks that have made the disclosure of social responsibility have done it in voluntary basis. Among the disclosed information education, training and welfare of underprivileged; arts/heritage and culture protection; contribution to associations, clubs and other organizations; contributions to healthcare and environment; etc were the most commonly reported CSR activities. Child and women developments, religious activity, games and sports activities, blood donations were also among the thrust area for CSR reporting. The disclosures were mostly qualitative with exception of donation and sponsorship amounts. The analysis also shows that most of the Nepalese banks, especially public sector banks, do not mentyion CSR explicitly on their websites. This study strongly recommends the development of uniform standards and framework for reporting of CSR activities, which could be applied to compare it at national levels with other banks and/or industries as well as for the international comparisons. Bank can play a leading role to establish the CSR concepts in Nepalese business and corporations. It is expected that this paper will stimulate more studies in this direction. More such studies should be conducted, especially on developing countries like Nepal, where CSR is at an infant stage of development. In addition to tracing the trend of social disclosure, impacts of social and economic developments on CSR practices, there is also a need to develop a framework for CSR reporting. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/bj.v3i1.7511 Banking Journal Vol.3(2) 2013 pp.61-78


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumaran Rajandran

Malaysian corporations have to disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR), and a typical genre for disclosure is CSR reports. These reports incorporate other discourses which indicate the presence of interdiscursivity. The article examines interdiscursivity in Malaysian CSR reports. It selects the CSR reports of 10 major corporations and pursues an interdiscursive analysis which involves four sequential stages. CSR reports contain discourses of public relations, sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting. Although the discourses are often multisemiotic, language maintains primacy in content, while image tends to exemplify or simplify content. These discourses constitute an interdiscursive profile, and it has central and auxiliary discourses. The central discourse is public relations discourse, and it promotes corporations helping and not harming society. The auxiliary discourses are sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting discourses, and these discourses mitigate the promotional focus. Interdiscursivity enables the primarily promotional CSR reports to not seem overtly promotional. The choice of discourses is probably influenced by coercive, mimetic and normative reasons. These discourses enhance the reliability of CSR reports because their disclosure is anchored to various CSR aspects, international or reporting practices and professional domains. Interdiscursivity helps to build stakeholders’ confidence in disclosure and, therefore, in corporations. It joins other functions in CSR reports to convey corporations as agents of positive social change. The article also probes the relationship between interdiscursivity and intertextuality and advances a matrix of intertextual–interdiscursive use.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (32) ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
José Manuel Prado-Lorenzo ◽  
◽  
Isabel María García-sánchez ◽  
Isabel Gallego Álvarez ◽  
◽  
...  

New business practices are mainly characteristic of large firms, especially those quoted on the stock market. Listed companies show a higher commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices because capital markets allow activists to become a firm’s socially oriented shareholders. These actors, although small in number, have a significant influence over other larger block-holders. Recent decades have witnessed a significant increase in societal pressure to control the behavior of companies owing to the risks deriving from the economic, social and environmental effects of their business activity. The aim of this work is to test the effect that CSR activist shareholders have on the decision to disclose corporate social responsibility information in the Spanish context, controlling for the rest of the dimensions in Ullmann’s theoretical framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mert Demir ◽  
Maung Min

Purpose This paper aims to examine the consistencies and discrepancies in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting by analyzing the CSR reports of pharmaceutical companies. Despite the major role pharmaceutical companies play in the CSR field, our knowledge of the extent to which their disclosures provide comprehensive, material, credible and accurate information on their actual performances is limited because of a lack of sufficient literature on the CSR reporting practices of pharmaceutical companies. Design/methodology/approach The authors present a literature review that serves as the basis to develop the two key research questions: Do pharmaceutical companies publish comprehensive CSR reports? Are company reports that cover more material issues more comprehensive? Using the information on material CSR topics provided by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and CSR reporting quality scores by the CSR-Sustainability Monitor®, the authors analyzed the CSR reports of the world’s 15 leading pharmaceutical companies. A total of 11 material topics from SASB were mapped onto the corresponding contextual elements in the CSR-Sustainability Monitor. The Monitor evaluates CSR reports published by the world’s largest companies in terms of the degree of transparency and external verification of reporting. Findings The analyses revealed that while the pharmaceutical industry outperforms other industries in terms of the overall comprehensiveness of reporting, certain discrepancies exist among these companies in the content of their disclosures. Specifically, pharmaceutical companies beat the averages on multiple key CSR topics. However, while disclosures on mature areas such as environment and labor relations show some level of standardization, those focusing particularly on sensitive areas such as human rights and supply chain are far from being standardized. The authors also find that CSR reports that do not include all of SASB’s material topics are just as comprehensive as those that do. A detailed analysis of US and non-US companies separately further revealed that this result is valid for both groups of companies. Research limitations/implications Considering the voluntary nature of CSR reporting, pharmaceutical companies still resort to selective disclosure techniques to highlight their achievements in areas where they feel more confident while leaving out others that can have potential negative consequences on the company. These results underscore the evolving nature of CSR reporting in the pharmaceutical industry and call for more attention and further investigation from managers and researchers alike. Originality/value The originality and value of the research show that despite its rapid growth and wide recognition by different segments of society and business as an effective and promising concept, CSR reporting has not yet reached a point where its expected benefits are realized. Focusing on the disclosure side of the story, this paper tries to identify the extent to which the pharmaceutical industry appropriately addresses increasing societal demand for enhanced transparency on its sustainable business policies and practices.


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