scholarly journals Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 296
Author(s):  
Adelaide Martins ◽  
Delfina Gomes ◽  
Manuel Castelo Branco
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Impression Management ◽  
Organizational Legitimacy ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Environmental Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Social Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social

Institutional environment demands from organizations to be accountable for their social and environmental actions and to provide information allowing the assessment of their long-term prospects for profitability may lead organizations to adopt Impression Management (IM) tactics to manage perceptions. Consequently, organizations may provide accounts demonstrating that they are good corporate citizens and possess the intangible assets required for future good financial performance. Although organizations have increased their corporate social reporting, the quality and reliability of those reports have been questioned. The literature suggests that these disclosures tend to be selective and biased, and do not enhance corporate accountability. This study proposes a formal conceptual framework linking IM, social and environmental accountability, financial performance, and organizational legitimacy. The arguments in this study are of economic, societal, and ethical concern, as IM behaviors may undermine the transparency of social and environmental reporting, and the decoupling between the economic and social image offered by companies through reporting and the reality. These insights also point at the complexities for organizations in dealing with accountability to all stakeholders. The conceptual framework proposed is useful for future studies aiming at understanding how organizations use IM in their corporate social reporting in the accountability process.

scholarly journals Corporate social reporting (CSR) and stakeholder accountability in Bangladesh

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Moazzem Hossain ◽  
Manzurul Alam
Keyword(s):  
Social Reporting ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social Reporting ◽  
Administrative Reforms ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Social And Environmental Performance ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate organisational accountability to less economically powerful stakeholders in the absence of formal corporate social reporting (CSR) guidelines. In addition, this study emphasises the role of administrative and institutional reforms in empowering stakeholders in a developing country context, namely, Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Consistent with prior literature, this qualitative study collected data through semi-structured interviews with 23 representatives from NGOs, media, civil society, customers, regulators, trade union leaders and employees who are considered as less economically powerful stakeholders. This paper draws on the demand for administrative reforms along with an institutional support structure (Owen et al., 1997) to enhance CSR and corporate accountability. Findings The empirical evidence shows that there is a need for a stand-alone mandatory CSR to achieve stakeholder accountability. It also shows that there are demands from “stakeholders to right to know” about the company’s social and environmental performance along with stakeholder engagements. There is a perceived demand for administrative reform along with institutional supports that can contribute to the CSR development in Bangladesh. These administrative reforms would encourage transparent corporate social and environmental practices. Given the socio-economic and vulnerable environmental conditions of Bangladesh, stakeholders in this study suggested contextually relevant CSR guidelines towards greater accountability. Research limitations/implications This paper is one of the few engagement-based studies which explore the perceptions of less economically powerful stakeholders towards CSR developments in an emerging economy – Bangladesh. The findings of this study using the theoretical lens of accountability with administrative and institutional reforms lead us to conclude that companies in Bangladesh have low level of CSR towards stakeholder accountability and stakeholder engagements. Originality/value The paper contributes to the CSR literature by highlighting the needs of CSR from the stakeholder’s accountability perspective.

Corporate Social Reporting Practices In India

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr Vipin Bihari Srivastava ◽  
Dr Manoj Kumar Mishra ◽  
Dr Wogari Negari
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Corporate Social Reporting ◽  
Public And Private Sector ◽  
Corporate Social

"This paper aims to examine the extent of corporate social reporting practices in the annual reports of companies in India and to ascertain the differences if any, between public sector and private sector companies and to investigate what were the determinants of corporate social reporting . The study intends to answer the research questions which include: a) what variables could represent a Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Reporting consists of dependent variables and Independent variables? b) What are the factors of Corporate Social Reporting (COSOR) and how valid and reliable are these factors? c) What is the degree of COSOR by factors in public and private sector companies? d) What are the determinants of COSOR? What is the level of their influence on COSOR? A sample of 120 listed companies of National Stock Exchange of India was chosen and they were stratified in to public and private sector companies. A Corporate social reporting Index was constructed for data collection through content analysis from the annual reports. The results of the study revealed that social accounting information were disclosed in company’s annual reports, chairman’s speech, directors’ reports, notes to accounts, schedule to accounts and auditor’s report. The degree of corporate social reporting varies between public sector and private sector companies. The public sector companies have disclosed more corporate social reporting information than the private sector companies. The study found that higher the level of capital employed, earnings before depreciation and taxes, total assets and total sales higher was the level of corporate social reporting. However, the degree of influence of determinants on corporate social reporting was different among public and private sector companies. Most of the companies have disclosed corporate social information on voluntary basis. To improve the understandably, uniformity, and comparability of corporate social information, this study suggests making it mandatory. A standard format for disclosure of corporate social information shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by amending the Indian Companies Act. The concept of social accounting is relatively new in India. This study suggests to include it in the commerce curriculum and also in the curriculum of CA/CWA/CS. Corporate Social Reporting is such a vast area of research that no single study can cover different dimensions related to it. Though some studies including the present study have been conducted on Corporate Social Reporting Practices in India, but still there is much potential of research in this area. Future research in this area will hopefully bring more brightening result measuring and analysing social costs and benefits data by manager as well as by other concerned. Since the subject is in the primary stage, an in-depth research is needed to be done in different sectors such as banking information technology, manufacturing etc. The results are specifically applicable to sample companies and generalisations can be made with caution. The results of the study are based on the data collected from published annual reports of sample companies using content analysis method. Corporate social reporting in company websites, brochures etc are not covered. Social cost and benefit analysis is not covered in this study.

scholarly journals Social reporting in the annual reports of Iranian listed companies

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Yaftian ◽  
Victoria Wise ◽  
Kathie Cooper ◽  
Soheila Mirshekary
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Corporate Social Reporting ◽  
Industry Type ◽  
Csr Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Social

This paper examines corporate social reporting (CSR) in the annual reports of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) in Iran. Descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression techniques are used to analyse the extent of CSR disclosure and to test hypotheses regarding the relationships between CSR disclosure and four company characteristics namely size, profitability, financial leverage and industry type. Among five important themes of social disclosure (human resources, environmental performance and policies, community activities, energy consumption, and customer satisfaction and product quality) the human resources theme was found to be the most common type of disclosure made. Only the size of the disclosing company was found to be significantly related to the level of overall CSR disclosure.

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