Corporate stakeholder responsiveness? Exploring the state and quality of GRI‐based stakeholder engagement disclosures of European firms

Moratis, Lars; Brandt, Satu

doi:10.1002/csr.1408

Cited by 79 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, belonging to a sector, in addition to influencing the choice to make a CSR disclosure, can influence the choice of the material issues that must be described in greater detail in the report. & Brandt, 2017). Given the importance of these guidelines and the lack of clarity achieved by previous studies on the real impact they have on the quality of disclosure and on the effective application of several key reporting principles, we intend to more thoroughly investigate this issue.…”

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement: A content analysis of sustainability reports

Torelli

Balluchi

Furlotti

2019

Corp Soc Responsibility Env

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Materiality is the driver through which companies can select issues to be included in nonfinancial reports favouring the expectations of all stakeholders. The aim of this research is to investigate, under the lens of Stakeholder Theory and Instrumental Stakeholder Theory, the possible relationship between the application of the materiality principle in nonfinancial reports and the stakeholders' engagement processes, with a preliminary focus on different industries that are characterized by different types of stakeholder and on the application of Global Reporting Initiative and/or International Integrated Reporting Council guidelines promoting their direct involvement. A manual content analysis has been performed on the Italian “public interest entities” that published, for the 2017 year, a nonfinancial statement (Legislative Decree No 254/2016). The statistical analysis highlights the importance of industry, Global Reporting Initiative Standards application and stakeholder engagement in the reporting process, in particular in the materiality analysis, to achieve a high level of materiality application and good report quality for stakeholders.

show abstract

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement: A content analysis of sustainability reports

Torelli

Balluchi

Furlotti

2019

Corp Soc Responsibility Env

170

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, the exposure to and the perception of the amount of pressure from stakeholder groups may affect managers' responsiveness to stakeholders' requests (Herremans, Nazari, & Mahmoudian, 2016;Johnson, Redlbacher, & Schaltegger, 2018). Inclusivity of such stakeholders may drive sustainable value creation and affect a company management's decisions to disclose material sustainability information and to prepare the sustainability report in accordance with SRC and guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative, 2013; Moratis & Brandt, 2017). High levels of engagement of key stakeholders with legitimate interests, for instance, may influence the management to disclose sustainability-related "bad news" in addition to "good news," leading to sustainability reports of higher quality (Hahn & Kühnen, 2013;Prado-Lorenzo, Gallego-Alvarez, & Garcia-Sanchez, 2009;Wolf, 2014).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High levels of engagement of key stakeholders with legitimate interests, for instance, may influence the management to disclose sustainability-related "bad news" in addition to "good news," leading to sustainability reports of higher quality (Hahn & Kühnen, 2013;Prado-Lorenzo, Gallego-Alvarez, & Garcia-Sanchez, 2009;Wolf, 2014). Inclusivity of such stakeholders may drive sustainable value creation and affect a company management's decisions to disclose material sustainability information and to prepare the sustainability report in accordance with SRC and guidelines (Global Reporting Initiative, 2013; Moratis & Brandt, 2017). Thus, processes in which stakeholders actively pressure a firm to operate more sustainable, and which influence management's choices concerning corporate sustainability reporting may reduce the information asymmetry between the company and its stakeholders (Dal Maso et al, 2017) but also positively influence the companies' competitive position (Lozano & Huisingh, 2011).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate governance and sustainable business conduct—Effects of board monitoring effectiveness and stakeholder engagement on corporate sustainability performance and disclosure choices

Manning

Braam

Reimsbach

2018

Corp Soc Responsibility Env

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study posits that, in the absence of extensive mandatory regulation and auditing, differences in internal and external corporate governance (CG) mechanisms will explain variations in choices concerning corporate sustainability reporting and the interrelated and underlying corporate sustainability performance (CSP). Specifically, we explore whether board monitoring effectiveness as a major internal CG mechanism and stakeholder engagement as a key external CG mechanism are positively associated with sustainability reporting quality (SRQ), compliance with generally accepted sustainability reporting standards (SRC) and guidelines, and CSP for a sample of Dutch firms that have voluntarily disclosed sustainability reports during the years 2012-2016. In addition to these direct effects, we also investigate the potential indirect effects of the CG mechanisms on SRQ and SRC via CSP and distinguish between nonlagged and lag effects. Using structural equation modeling, our results show that, in the short term, monitoring effectiveness positively affects SRQ and SRC. Stakeholder engagement positively affects SRQ and SRC in the short term and is positively related to SRQ via CSP in the longer term, indicating that active stakeholders, over time, may drive companies toward more sustainable business conduct. Finally, the findings that CSP is positively related to SRQ but negatively related to SRC provide further support for signaling and legitimacy theory, respectively. Companies with superior CSP disclose high-quality information on CSP to signal the firm's superior sustainability performance, whereas poor performing companies legitimize their inferior CSP by complying with more reporting standards, rather than by directly improving their underlying CSP.

show abstract

“…Research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies has been increasing in recent years [1][2][3][4]. The importance of the way that firms communicate their contributions to society, the environment, and development to their stakeholders is currently a relevant research topic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the seminal paper of Morsing and Schultz [5] regarding CSR communication strategies, three fundamental strategies are distinguished: information, response, and involvement. These strategies have been the object of attention in multiple CSR studies [3][4][5][41][42][43][44] in which the level of companies' engagement with their stakeholders is evaluated and set forth by means of the communication strategies that have been defined. These studies provide evidence of the evolution of the firms, going from one-way communication strategies (inform) to two-way communication strategies (response and involvement), which translates into corporate reports with communication actions and channels that firms have developed in order to inform the stakeholders of their interests and concerns.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

CSR Communication Strategies of Colombian Business Groups: An Analysis of Corporate Reports

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this paper is to assess stakeholder orientation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies in the business groups (BGs) of an emerging economy by means of content analysis. We worked with 30 non-financial BGs taken from the Colombian Stock Exchange. The study uses as its unit of analysis corporate reports that have been classified into four categories: annual reports (ARs), sustainability reports (SRs), combined reports (CRs), and integrated reports (IRs). The results show that IRs are the most similar reports, that Colombian BGs are mainly employee-oriented (ARs, SRs, CRs) and shareholder-oriented (IRs), and that response and involvement communication strategies are the most commonly used. Our research has theoretical and practical implications based on the assumption that the study of corporate reports has particular importance for those BGs with diversification strategies and international orientation, since it opens possibilities for future research. no evidence of which among the above-mentioned communication strategies BGs adopt, and which kind of stakeholder orientation they follow.This research is conducted in Colombia, which has an emerging economy where the study of contemporary BGs is fairly recent [10]. In Colombia, BGs are on the rise, and are important for the development of the economy [11]; they have reorganized their structures in recent years in order to be more strategic [12]. Colombia is a country with a tradition of CSR practices [13] and of voluntary disclosure reporting practices [14]. Additionally, Colombian BGs are following internationalization processes [15], leading them to become 'multilatinas'; that is to say, they are firms that are located and consolidated in a Latin American country, and seek expansion and positioning in new markets [16]. Furthermore, the context of developing countries has some cultural, social, political, and economic aspects that make them different [17], and therefore interesting to study.A recent study [18] shows that 68% of consulted investors recognize the importance of CSR reports for their investment decisions and consider the report to be the main tool for communicating CSR practices [19]. This paper aims at identifying corporate reporting practices in the BGs of an emerging economy and subsequently establishing their stakeholder orientation and prevailing CSR communication strategies. To achieve these three objectives, we applied a content analysis of 30 corporate reports from the year 2015 from BGs that are representative of the Colombian economy. Following Habek and Wolniak [20], Venturelli et al. [21], and Davila et al. [22], the BG reports under analysis were classified into four categories: annual reports (AR), sustainability reports (SR), combined reports (CR), and integrated reports (IR). We draw on the stakeholders theory [23] and previous studies [24][25][26][27][28] in order to define the stakeholder categories, allowing us to assess the type of orientation presented by the analyzed Colombian BGs.This study i...

show abstract

Corporate stakeholder responsiveness? Exploring the state and quality of GRI‐based stakeholder engagement disclosures of European firms

Cited by 79 publications

References 52 publications

The materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement: A content analysis of sustainability reports

The materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement: A content analysis of sustainability reports

Corporate governance and sustainable business conduct—Effects of board monitoring effectiveness and stakeholder engagement on corporate sustainability performance and disclosure choices

CSR Communication Strategies of Colombian Business Groups: An Analysis of Corporate Reports

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About