CSR disclosure as a legitimation strategy: evidence from the football industry

Abstract

Purpose The latest developments in the football industry, the commodification of sport, the excessive focus on profitability and the limited attention to social and environmental aspects have caused a legitimation crisis for football clubs. According to the legitimacy theory, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure represents a tool capable of allowing the construction or repair of legitimacy. This study, in line with this theory, aims to analyse the amount of CSR disclosure provided by football clubs and the determinants, related to visibility, of the level of information provided. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a manual content analysis on the corporate websites of the 80 football clubs that qualified for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League group stages for the 2019–2020 year to measure the level of CSR disclosure and subsequently a regression analysis to examine the impact of visibility on the amount of information provided. Findings Results reveal that football clubs still disclose relatively little information about sustainability issues, and that sports performance visibility, human capital visibility and social media visibility positively affect the amount of information that football clubs disclose. Originality/value This study extends the horizons of CSR disclosure to the football industry which is still little explored in the academic literature. Furthermore, it extends the scope of legitimacy theory, showing how CSR disclosure can be a means for football clubs to obtain or repair legitimacy. Furthermore, this study extends the list of determinants of the level of CSR disclosure, showing that visibility can influence the amount of CSR information.

Exploring sustainable development goals reporting practices: From symbolic to substantive approaches—Evidence from the energy sector

“…In particular, the legitimacy theory lens has been adopted extensively as a framework to enhance understanding of external reporting behaviours and investigate how and why non‐financial disclosure is provided (Deegan, 2002; Deegan et al, 2002). Proponents of this theory consider legitimacy a pivotal resource for any organisation to survive and obtain a licence to operate in its ecosystem (Boiral, 2013; Deegan, 2002; Michelon & Parbonetti, 2012; Raimo et al, 2021). In this perspective, corporate non‐financial disclosure policies respond to society's demands or perceived demands for more information (Deegan, 2002; Romero et al, 2019).…”

“…Within such sectors, the interconnection between business, society and the environment is stronger than in other industries as well as the public scrutiny exerted on the impact of firms' activities (Raimo et al, 2021; Walker & Wan, 2012). It follows that due to the high profile of their activities; firms operating within environmentally sensitive industries are invested in greater responsibility to integrate SDG in their strategies, business models and reporting practices as well (Curtó‐Pagès et al, 2021; Garcia‐Meca & Martinez‐Ferrero, 2021; Raimo et al, 2021).…”

“…Within such sectors, the interconnection between business, society and the environment is stronger than in other industries as well as the public scrutiny exerted on the impact of firms' activities (Raimo et al, 2021; Walker & Wan, 2012). It follows that due to the high profile of their activities; firms operating within environmentally sensitive industries are invested in greater responsibility to integrate SDG in their strategies, business models and reporting practices as well (Curtó‐Pagès et al, 2021; Garcia‐Meca & Martinez‐Ferrero, 2021; Raimo et al, 2021). Following van Bommel (2014), we assume that providing information on strategies adopted by the organisation for the achievement of SDGs should supersede passive compliance—as no specific indication, guidelines, or norms exist—as well as a simple alignment with audience expectations.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility in the COVID-19 Pandemic Period: A Traditional Way to Address New Social Issues

“…According to Krippendorff [44], content analysis is a "research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from data according to their context". It is primarily used in disclosure studies [45], since it is considered a reliable, objective, cheaper and faster method to collect publicly available data from different sources [44][45][46][47]. This technique is particularly suitable for this study because, compared to interviews, it allows one to obtain the same information more quickly and cheaply.…”

Revisiting organizational identity and social responsibility in professional football clubs: the case of Bayern Munich and the Qatar sponsorship

“…However, critics argue that social responsibility activities in professional football clubs can mainly be seen as marketing tools to appease concerned stakeholders (Hamil and Morrow, 2011; Mattera and Baena, 2018; Miller, 2016). The authors argue that professional football clubs may only pretend to be concerned about social issues and social responsibility therefore plays a peripheral role within football organizations, while managers concentrate resources on the topics considered most important: profit, revenue growth and expansion (Anagnostopoulos and Shilbury, 2013; Raimo et al. , 2021; Slack and Shrives, 2008; Valeri and Baggio, 2020, 2021).…”