Constructing a research database of social and environmental
reporting by UK companies

Gray, Rob; Kouhy, Reza; Lavers, Simon

doi:10.1108/09513579510086812

Cited by 832 publications

(806 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The rationale for this is that the quality of disclosure is more essential than the quantity (Hasseldine, Salama and Toms, 2005;Toms, 2002). In line with definitions, frameworks and methods employed in the mainstream CSR literature (Gray et al, 1995a(Gray et al, , 1995bHaniffa and Cooke, 2005;Branco and Rodrigues, 2006;Scholtens, 2008;HolderWebb, Cohen, Nath and Wood, 2009), we develop a CSR disclosure measure based on the content of four CSR categories − community involvement, environment, employees, and product and customer service quality − and score the content of information in each of the categories based on the existence and comprehensiveness of information disclosed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Toms, 2002;Campbell and Slack, 2008). Additionally disclosure of CSR-related information in annual reports allows boards to signal their balance between financial and social objectives (Gray, Kouhy and Lavers, 1995a). Unlike previous research into CSR disclosure, which relied on counting relevant words or sentences (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Therefore, in line with the guidance provided by Gray et al (1995a), we construct a CSR disclosure measure based on the definitions, frameworks and methods employed in the mainstream CSR literature. We examine the content of four CSR categories: community involvement, environment, employees, and product and customer service quality (Gray et al, 1995b;Haniffa and Cooke, 2005;Branco and Rodrigues, 2006;Scholtens, 2008;HolderWebb et al, 2009).…”

Section: Measuring Csr Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from the US Banking Sector

et al. 2013

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The nal publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1929-2.Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. interests. Contrary to our expectations, CEO duality also impacts positively on CSR disclosure. From an agency-theoretical viewpoint, this suggests that powerful CEOs may promote transparency about banks' CSR activities for their private benefits. While this could indicate that powerful CEOs are under particular pressure to appease stakeholders' concerns that they might abuse their power by providing a high degree of CSR disclosure, it could also be a sign of managerial risk aversion or managers' private reputational concerns.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Measuring Csr Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from the US Banking Sector

et al. 2013

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“…Companies report information in order to become more transparent and eventually discharge their accountability to their stakeholders (e.g. Gray, Kouhy, & Lavers, 1995;Gray, Owen, & Adams, 1996, Roberts, 2009). The accountability exists as companies have a responsibility to each of their stakeholder groups to use the resources responsibly.…”

Section: Sustainable Hrm and Corporate Sustainability Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reporting on sustainability and HRM: a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world's largest companies

Ehnert

Parsa

Roper

et al. 2015

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

368

279

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As a response to the growing public awareness on the importance of organisational contributions to sustainable development, there is an increased incentive for corporations to report on their sustainability activities. In parallel with this has been the development of 'Sustainable HRM' which embraces a growing body of practitioner and academic literature connecting the notions of corporate sustainability to HRM. The aim of this article is to analyse corporate sustainability reporting amongst the world's largest companies and to assess the HRM aspects of sustainability within these reports in comparison to environmental aspects of sustainable management and whether organisational attributes -principally country-of-origin -influences the reporting of such practices. A focus in this article is the extent to which the reporting of various aspects of sustainability may reflect dominant models of corporate governance in the country in which a company is headquartered. The findings suggest, first and against expectations, that the overall disclosure on HRM-related performance is not lower than that on environmental performance. Second, companies report more on their internal workforce compared to their external workforce. Finally, international differences, in particular those between companies headquartered in liberal market economies and coordinated market economies, are not as apparent as expected.

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“…Although there is a wide range of alternatives for how to report about CSR (Ihlen et al, 2011), most companies choose to include CSR-related information in their official written documents since markets, investors and stakeholders usually recognize this way better than other options (Gray, Kouhy, & Lavers, 1995).…”

Section: Csr Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

Does the Institutional Environment Affect CSR Disclosure? The Role of Governance

Rodríguez

Escobar‐Pérez

2016

Rev. adm. empres.

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DOES THE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT AFFECT CSR DISCLOSURE? THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE Há Influência do ambiente institucional nas práticas de divulgação de RSC? O papel da governança ¿El entorno institucional influye en las prácticas de revelación de información de la RSC? El papel del Gobierno Corporativo ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to analyze whether the institutional environment has a direct effect on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting practices or if this effect is explained by the influence of the institutional environment on Corporate Governance (CG) mechanisms. To conduct our study, we focused on two countries that reflect different types of institutional environment: relation-based (Brazil) and rule-based (Spain). Based on our results, we can affirm that the institutional environment influences CG mechanisms (Board Size and Reference Shareholder) as well as companies' CSR disclosure. Additionally, the CG mechanisms affected by the institutional environment also help to explain differences in CSR reporting practices. As relation-based societies evolve into rules-based environments, the information disclosed about CSR becomes more complex due to a strengthening of CG mechanisms.KEYWORDS | Corporate governance, disclosure, corporate social responsibility, institutional environment, ownership structure. It is theoretically consistent with Institutional Theory to affirm that organizations adapt their structures and policies to institutional norms (Dimaggio & Powell, 1983) in order to survive in the market. RESUMOHowever, research on the effects of the institutional environment can be complex due to the significant difficulty to isolate variables and distinguish those effects from the impact the institutional environment has on other internal-context variables (Adams, 2002).In this perspective, we should consider that this institutionalization process also affects Corporate Governance In our study, we used measures that reflect the complexity of companies' CSR reporting. We used an index intended to reflect CSR reporting practices; we considered also the actions taken to increase the credibility and quality of such disclosures (Amran, Lee, & Devi, 2014;Boiral, 2013); the extent to which the disclosed information followed the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) guidelines; whether such adequacy was subject to external checking; and, finally, whether the information had been assured. With regard to CG mechanisms, we focused on the ones indicated by the literature as having an influence on CSR reporting practices: Board Size, Board Independence, Board Activity, CSR Committee, and Reference Shareholder.Considering our results, we can affirm that the institutional environment has a strong influence on the complexity of the CSR reporting practices as well as on two of the CG mechanisms analyzed:Board size and the presence of a Reference Shareholder. Moreover, these two CG characteristics are the ones that significantly affect CSR disclosure. When CG variables are introduced in the analysis, the instit...

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Constructing a research database of social and environmental reporting by UK companies

Cited by 832 publications

References 18 publications

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from the US Banking Sector

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from the US Banking Sector

Reporting on sustainability and HRM: a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world's largest companies

Does the Institutional Environment Affect CSR Disclosure? The Role of Governance

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