scholarly journals Social and Environmental Reporting, Sustainable Development and Institutional Voids: Evidence from a Developing Country

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahem Alshbili ◽  
Ahmed Ahmed Elamer ◽  
Maha Moustafa
2000 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
C.M. Deegan

This paper provides an overview of Australian environmental reporting. Specifically, the topics to be considered include: a brief consideration of trends in environmental reporting together with an overview of industry initiatives to encourage environmental reporting; an overview of regulation pertaining to environmental reporting; an overview of trends towards the practice of sustainable development reporting with particular reference to triple bottom line reporting; an examination of social accounting and social auditing; an investigation of the linkage between social and environmental reporting and financial accounting; and, projections about the future of social and environmental reporting.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 224-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka Costa ◽  
Caterina Pesci ◽  
Michele Andreaus ◽  
Emanuele Taufer

Purpose Drawing on the phenomenological concepts of “empathy” and “communal emotions” developed by Edith Stein (1917, 1922), the purpose of this paper is to discuss the co-existence both of the legitimacy and accountability perspectives in voluntarily delivered social and environmental reporting (SER), based on different “levels of empathy” towards different stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts an interpretive research design, drawn from Stein’s concept of empathy by using a mixed-method approach. A manual content analysis was performed on 393 cooperative banks’ (CB) social and environmental reports from 2005 to 2013 in Italy, and 14 semi-structured interviews. Findings The results show that CBs voluntarily disclose information in different ways to different stakeholders. According to Stein, the phenomenological concept of empathy, and its understanding within institutions, allows us to interpret these multiple perspectives within a single social and environmental report. Therefore, when the process of acquiring knowledge in the CB–stakeholder relationship is complete and mentalised (level 3, re-enactive empathy), the SER holds high informative power, consistent with the accountability perspective; on the contrary, when this process is peripheral and perceptional (level 1, basic empathy), the SER tends to provide more self-assessment information, attempting to portray the bank in a positive light, which is consistent with the legitimacy perspective. Originality/value The concept of empathy introduced in this paper can assist in interpreting the interactions between an organisation and different stakeholders within the same social and environmental report. Moreover, the approach adopted in this paper considers different stakeholders simultaneously, thus responding to previous concerns regarding the lack of focus on multiple stakeholders.


2014 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Kaspersen ◽  
Thomas Riise Johansen

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-68
Author(s):  
Collins Ngwakwe ◽  
Fortune Ganda ◽  
Oladele John Akinyomi

This paper examined the stance of independent directors on corporate sustainable development initiative in South Africa and Nigeria. This has become apposite considering the role of independent directors in corporate strategic decisions and performance. It is believed that independent boards strive to direct corporate decisions to protect the investors and thus improve financial performance. Given that sustainability initiative is currently occupying a vital strategic position in protecting firms against inherent and imminent climate change and financial risks, the paper undertakes a survey of South African and Nigerian companies to ascertain the role of independent directors on corporate sustainable development initiatives. Using a mix method of primary and secondary data analysis, the paper finds that independent boards in both countries of study understand the importance of sustainability; however a pragmatic stance on sustainability is more visible in South Africa where independent boards are members of and/or participate in nominating corporate sustainability committees. The paper suggests the need for improved detailed disclosure on sustainability in the Nigerian corporate annual reports; the Nigerian Stock Exchange may boost this initiative by establishing a social and environmental reporting index supported by an annual survey of company sustainability disclosure. It also suggests the need to include sustainability awareness and interest in the metrics that are used in the appointment of independent boards in Nigerian companies


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Cheng Han Leung ◽  
Rob Gray

Purpose This paper aims to explore the extent to which social responsibility and social and environmental reporting and disclosure have any relevance in the (so-called) controversial industries. The literature is ambivalent over the extent to which it is expected to see corporate social responsibility and social disclosure employed as active legitimation strategies. However, the apparent importance of “responsible gambling” in both the literature and in gambling industry initiatives suggests, at least a priori, that the international industry is active in some degree of legitimation. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study examines the social and environmental disclosures of a sample of large companies in each of five countries over a three-year period using conventional content analysis. Findings The results are unexpected in that, although disclosure is dominated by employee- and director-related, other areas of social and environmental – and indeed economic – activity feature hardly at all. There is remarkably little disclosure around responsible gambling. Research limitations/implications The paper is a research note based on a range of samples across five countries and is, inevitably, tentative. The implications, albeit tentative, include the need to re-theorise corporate disclosure, especially in the controversial sectors. Originality/value The note adds to the accounting literature concerned with the controversial industries and contributes to the scarce social accounting research in the gambling sector. The authors hope that the research will be useful in guiding more focused and in-depth studies into this increasingly important and counter-intuitive area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Floriana Fusco ◽  
Paolo Ricci

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the state of the art in social and environmental accounting research applied to the public sector, highlighting different streams and the main gaps in current literature and providing input for future research.Design/methodology/approachA bibliometric method was used to analyse the characteristics, citation patterns and content of 38 papers published in international academic journals.FindingsThe findings show that the research on social and environmental reporting in the public sector is still at an early stage. Current investigations, although slowly on the increase, are still very few and localised. Most papers are about the reasons why public organisations report, what and how they report, but there are so many aspects that need to be investigated more in-depth or require extra validation in order to open new directions for future research, among which the relationship with and the differences between other non-financial type of reporting, namely ICR and IR.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shows some limitations, mainly related to the adoption of the bibliometric method. Indeed, it does not take into account books and chapters but only papers published in international and academic journals. This leads to exclude a significant part of the existing literature and other relevant contributions on the field.Originality/valueSocial and environmental reporting practices are quickly spreading in the public sector. The field is particularly interesting, given the specific connotations of this kind of organisations. However, the literature is clearly not exhaustive and there is not a comprehensive and systematic review of the state of the art on the subject.


Author(s):  
Yusuf Noah ◽  
Olatunji Abdulganiy ◽  
Issah Moshood

Of the major factors of production, land is considered the most important. Land is such a valuable resources that the desire to acquire it has been a cause of struggle among the people virtually in all hitherto existing human societies. Land acquisition is influenced by numerous factors in which all play relevant roles in understanding the dynamics of land and its utilization among the people in the society. In Africa, foreign land acquisition has become a topical issue because of the richness of the African land resources, and the scamper for these resources has been a source of concern for many observers. This chapter analyzes the factors inhibiting foreign land acquisition in a developing country like Nigeria and examines the challenges posed by such practices to the attainment of sustainable development.


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