Literature Review

Within the current chapter, we present the most relevant (and recent) literature review in the fields of integrated reporting, corporate disclosure, accounting theories, etc. This section incorporates previous studies on our topic. We explain the integrated reporting (IR) origins from corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability perspectives. In addition, we set the coordinates for the ‘integration' process as new disclosure mechanism of corporate reports, in the form of economic, social, and financial mix integration. Finally, the chapter deepens the understanding upon corporate reporting theories that can explain the integrated reporting trend: institutional theory, legitimacy theory and positive accounting theory.

The aim of the current chapter is to set the main coordinates of the study. We make a broad literature review analysis in order to understand the process of integrating non – financial information in the annual report and the interrelations between sustainability/corporate social responsibility and financial information. The early integrated reporting literature is based on the socio- environmental literature, and explains the nature of disclosure, and integration, as key-elements for an integrated report. Corporations should be aware of what information to disclose in the IR and what integration actually means. In addition, an integrated report is not just a mixture of financial, sustainability, and CSR information. All these elements have to be connected and interrelated based on a business model approach.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Svetlana Bychkova ◽  
Svetlana Karelskaia ◽  
Elena Abdalova ◽  
Elena Zhidkova

Introduction. For over half a century, corporate social responsibility has been in the center of scientific discourse. Its basic concept has become part of strategic management, changing the content of financial reporting and leading to new forms of corporate reporting. Study objects and methods. The article substantiated the importance of studying corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts and national models. The study covered the CSR basic concept, targets and paradigms. The evolution of CSR was considered in terms of its impact on the formation of non-financial reporting. Results and discussion. The authors identified two stages of non-financial reporting development and two directions for the convergence of financial and non-financial reporting. They proposed an assessment matrix to measure facts, actions, and resources in the past, present, and future. This matrix can help companies to generate information for integrated reporting by showing the impact of each type of capital (financial, production, human, intellectual, social, and environmental) on their value creation. Within a promising direction for developing non-financial reporting in conjunction with financial reporting, the authors set requirements to reflect the impact of climate risks on the company’s activities in accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures. The authors discussed both standardized and their own approaches to CSR indicators. Finally, they addressed the problem of reliability of non-financial reporting, discussed various forms of its verification (taking evidence from food industry enterprises), and set specific principles to control non-financial reporting indicators. Conclusion. The authors identified further promising areas of research in the theory and practice of CSR. Their findings can be used in scientific debates on CSR and in the practice of corporate reporting.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3815
Author(s):  
Magdalena M. Stuss ◽  
Zbigniew J. Makieła ◽  
Agnieszka Herdan ◽  
Gabriela Kuźniarska

If corporate social responsibility (CSR) is expected to work efficiently, there should be a standardised approach for implementation of the CSR concept for all businesses, including companies operating in the energy sector. Although many companies declare compliance with CSR standards, further investigation should be undertaken to evaluate if and how those standards have been applied in practice. The aim of this research is to examine the level of standardisation of the CSR activities within Polish energy companies and explore the good practices developed by those companies. The Polish energy companies have been selected for the investigation as the literature review we conducted demonstrates that there is limited research in this area and there is a knowledge gap regarding how Polish energy companies apply CSR regulation in practice. To accomplish the stated aims, the following research questions were developed: (1) What is the essence of applying the CSR concept in Polish energy companies, and at what level of development is the concept applied? (2) To what extent do Polish energy companies have a common approach to the CSR concept, and in what areas are there differences? (3) To what extent have Polish energy companies applied global CSR standards and solutions? (4) Is there a gap between the declared measures of CSR and their actual implementation in Polish energy companies? The research methodology of this study is based on a systematic literature review of the sources acquired from databases such as ProQuest, Emerald, SCOPUS and the Jagiellonian University Library. The multiple case study approach was identified as the most suitable research tool. Companies for the study were selected according to their affiliation to the energy sector and listing on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. These two assumptions allowed us to base this study on the largest Polish energy companies that have international status. Six areas of CSR annual report disclosures have been identified and used for the investigation and analysis. This research looks at similarities and difference between these six aspects of CSRs disclosed by Polish energy companies. The investigation allows us to conclude that the top three energy companies use similar tools to build their CSR strategies: formalised CSR concept, published CSR reports, disclosure of CSR information on the company website, CSR related activities offered to stakeholders, obtained CSR certificates, and CSR awards. This indicates the existence of a standardised approach to CSR across Polish energy companies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110172
Author(s):  
Mônica Cavalcanti Sá de Abreu ◽  
Rômulo Alves Soares ◽  
Robson Silva Rocha ◽  
João Maurício Gama Boaventura

This paper evaluates the influence of multiple actors in both formal and informal governance systems on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. Drawing on institutional theory, a quantitative survey was developed and conducted of a sample of 140 firms in the electronics, food, textiles, toys and personal care sectors in Brazil. We examine how institutional pressures and firm-level agency influence the emergence of different patterns of CSR. We distinguish two clusters of companies: active companies identify business outcomes and actors that effectively exert an influence on their CSR practices, while passive companies consider institutional pressures to be of minor importance. Our contribution relates first, to institutional theory concerning the role of different actors in influencing the implementation of social and environmental practices; second, to the importance of collective coordination or its absence in shaping the specific characteristics of CSR; and third, to the agency of firms in responding to institutional pressures as being dependent on their perceptions of business outcomes. The theoretical insights drawn from this study should be applicable to similar countries, that is, to emerging but politically and economically unstable markets with marked social and economic inequalities.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Ackers ◽  
Susanna Elizabeth Grobbelaar

Purpose Despite initially being lauded as a revolutionary approach for companies to account to all stakeholders, the shareholder orientation of the international integrated reporting (<IR>) framework gave rise to questions about whether integrated reports would still sufficiently disclose pertinent corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the <IR> framework has impacted the CSR disclosures contained in integrated reports of South African mining companies. Design/methodology/approach The study deployed a mixed methods research approach, involving thematic content analysis of the CSR disclosures contained in the integrated reports of mining companies with primary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The resultant qualitative data were subsequently analysed using a T-test of difference. Findings The study observes that the release of the <IR> framework appears to have had a limited impact on the CSR disclosures in the integrated reports of most companies included in the study. However, where significant differences were identified, the CSR disclosures of some companies were positively impacted after the release of the <IR> framework, whilst others were negatively impacted. Research limitations/implications As South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in the global <IR> movement, the paper’s observations have global relevance and suggest that the fundamental principles of <IR> should be reconsidered to improve the alignment with stakeholders’ information needs, as originally conceived. Originality/value Despite the shareholder orientation of the <IR> framework, the global mining industry is acknowledged as being at the forefront of implementing CSR interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of their operations on stakeholders, supporting a stakeholder orientation. As the adoption of <IR> continues to gain traction around the world, this paper’s contribution is that it represents one of the few papers to use the global reporting initiative G4 indicators to specifically examine the impact of <IR> framework on the CSR disclosures on the South African mining industry, where both <IR> and CSR reporting are quasi-mandatory disclosure requirements.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamel Chouaibi ◽  
Saida Boulhouchet ◽  
Raghad Almallah ◽  
Yamina Chouaibi

PurposeThis paper targets to shed light on the relationship between board characteristics, good corporate governance and the integrated reporting quality (IRQ) and even if this relationship is moderated by the corporate social responsibility.Design/methodology/approachData from a sample of 185 European firms selected from STOXX 600 Index between 2010 and 2019 are used to test the model using panel data and multiple regression. This paper is motivated by using panel data estimated feasible generalized least squares method. A multiple regression model is used to analyze the moderating effect of the corporate social responsibility on the association between board characteristics, good corporate governance and the IRQ.FindingsConsistent with the expectations, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between board independence, board diversity, good corporate governance and IRQ. Furthermore, the findings suggest that moderating effect positively affects the relationship between the board characteristics, good corporate governance and IRQ.Practical implicationsThe results of this study have an impact on policymakers. The presence of women and independent members of the board should be encouraged. This has a positive effect on the availability of high-quality information, able to drive investment levels and stakeholder participation.Originality/valueThis study supports the existing literature. First, it expands the scientific debate on the topic of integrated reporting (IR). Second, it extends the scope of agency theory, which is rarely used to explain IR-related phenomena. This study is one of the first to examine the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility on the association between a set of governance characteristics (i.e. Board independence and board diversity) and integrated reporting adoption.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-688
Author(s):  
Juniati Gunawan ◽  
SeTin SeTin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze accounting research developments in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Indonesia for the period 2012-2016. The focus of CSR literature review is on disclosures and not to examine CSR activities or programs. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a descriptive approach to provide evidence on the major variables that have been examined in CSR research and what is the measurement used to measure CSR disclosures. The CSR research development was traced through mapping articles published in the international journal with the subject of category accounting (Schimago Journal rank quartile Q3 and Q4), and national journal (national accredited accounting journals, as well as the proceedings of National Symposium on Accounting [NSA]). A total of 5,971 articles were reviewed and resulted in 31 Indonesian CSR articles in accounting which are dominated by quantitative methods (93.5 per cent), and as many as 28 articles were analyzed. Findings The analyses result showed that (1) 75 per cent of CSR research were in the areas of financial accounting and capital markets, followed by tax accounting and corporate governance; (2) The most widely used variable associated with CSR was financial performance; which (3) More than 80 per cent of the CSR research used annual reports as the source of data with only 19.23 per cent using sustainability reports; (4) 65.38 per cent of the CSR disclosure measurement referred to used other CSR disclosure lists, other than the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Research limitations/implications The study results are important as a basis for future studies to provide a platform for the analysis to cover the gap between CSR studies in the academic and business areas for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Comparative studies between countries will be essential for future research to provide empirical evidence on the development of CSR research in accounting fields. Practical implications The study provides comprehensive pictures in how CSR disclosures have been analyzed in academic area so that practitioners in business field are able to understand the results on which variables are associated with CSR. Further, the practitioners could enhance their CSR implementations and reports to gain the utmost benefits for their business. Originality/value This study is considered as the first CSR literature review analyzed in accounting research publications. As CSR topics have been emerging developed in many field of studies, reviewing this topic in the accounting area resulted interesting findings. These findings are useful for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Further, this study provides platform to fill many gaps for future research in the topic of CSR in accounting field.


Author(s):  
Mohamed A. Omran ◽  
Dineshwar Ramdhony

This study provides an extensive critical review of the theoretical perspectives applied on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure literature. From a CSR standpoint we review and discuss, in detail, legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, social contract theory, and signalling theory to identify the situations that suit each of these perspectives. The findings show that there is no universal theory applicable on corporate social responsibility disclosure for all situations or societies. While legitimacy theory suggests CSR disclosures are part of a process of legitimation, stakeholder theory offers an explanation of CSR accountability to stakeholders. Legitimacy theory seems to be more suitable for organizations working in developed countries, on the other hand, stakeholder theory appears to be most suitable for organizations working in developing countries; where a corporation can manage its stakeholders and the pressure to comply with existing legislation is less as compared to the developed countries. Social contract theory is appropriate for developed/emerged economies, as CSR disclosure exists due to an implicit social contract between business and society, which implies some indirect obligations of business towards society. Signalling theory will suit a situation where firms are competing for resources. A firm willing to demarcate from other firms will engage in more CSR practices. It is also important that the signal reaches the target audience by reporting on CSR. 


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