Factors Influencing the Development of CSR Reporting Practices: Experts’ versus Preparers’ Points of View

Abstract

Reporting of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is nowadays becoming an important and rapidly growing phenomenon in the world. The current increase in the number of companies reporting on CSR data is caused by many different factors, including stakeholder pressures, the economic crisis, growing awareness of sustainability issues as well as the appearance of more and more new reporting requirements initiated by national governments and stock exchanges. Despite the growing popularity of CSR reporting, it is still only a small percentage of companies that decide to regularly disclose their data on CSR activities. Therefore, the question is raised as to what factors influence the development of CSR reporting practices. The paper presents the results of the research, which aimed to answer the above question, highlighting especially the role of government in the process. The study was carried out using two web-based surveys. The questionnaires were distributed to respondents from different European Union member states. The first group of respondents consisted of specialists, consultants, researchers and academics specializing in the field of CSR reporting-'experts'and the second group consisted of CSR managers, employees involved in developing CSR reports-'preparers'. The results suggest that report 'preparers' and external 'experts' have different views on some aspects, e.g., reasons to issue a CSR report. The survey also shows that there is a need for the greater participation of government in the development of sustainability reporting practices.

Reporting CSR Data – The Benefits and Barriers to Involvement in the Idea of Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Barriers/difficulties connected with reporting company activities in the scope of corporate social responsibility relate to many aspects of the functioning of companies, and one of the most important of them are legal conditions, where entrepreneurs can face either lack of them or inadequate regulations at the level of individual states (What Does Business…; CSR w Polsce, 2010; Raportowanie odpowiedzialnego biznesu…, 2013; Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;garavan et al, 2010). Significant barriers to reporting are difficulties relating to the very process of creating the report, namely, gathering necessary data for the report (CSRinfo, 2013), too many guidelines and standards governing reports preparation (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015), the high cost of reporting (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;What Does Business…).…”

“…Barriers/difficulties connected with reporting company activities in the scope of corporate social responsibility relate to many aspects of the functioning of companies, and one of the most important of them are legal conditions, where entrepreneurs can face either lack of them or inadequate regulations at the level of individual states (What Does Business…; CSR w Polsce, 2010; Raportowanie odpowiedzialnego biznesu…, 2013; Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;garavan et al, 2010). Significant barriers to reporting are difficulties relating to the very process of creating the report, namely, gathering necessary data for the report (CSRinfo, 2013), too many guidelines and standards governing reports preparation (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015), the high cost of reporting (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;What Does Business…). An important factor in the process of preparing reports is the human factor, and in this case, reporting CSR data encounters many obstacles which include lack of awareness and resistance of workers (Raportowanie odpowiedzialnego biznesu…, 2013; What Does Business…), lack of managers' commitment to the report creating 7 REPORTINg CSR DATA -THE BENEFITS AND BARRIERS Ewa Chojnacka Jolanta Wiśniewska process (CSR in Poland, 2010;World Bank, 2006), or lack of knowledge (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;CSR w Polsce, 2010;garavan et al, 2010).…”

“…Significant barriers to reporting are difficulties relating to the very process of creating the report, namely, gathering necessary data for the report (CSRinfo, 2013), too many guidelines and standards governing reports preparation (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015), the high cost of reporting (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;What Does Business…). An important factor in the process of preparing reports is the human factor, and in this case, reporting CSR data encounters many obstacles which include lack of awareness and resistance of workers (Raportowanie odpowiedzialnego biznesu…, 2013; What Does Business…), lack of managers' commitment to the report creating 7 REPORTINg CSR DATA -THE BENEFITS AND BARRIERS Ewa Chojnacka Jolanta Wiśniewska process (CSR in Poland, 2010;World Bank, 2006), or lack of knowledge (Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015;CSR w Polsce, 2010;garavan et al, 2010).…”

“…An entity shall seek to maximize the benefits while simultaneously minimizing the barriers and difficulties that are affected by regulatory, institutional, and personal factors (cf. Hąbek and Wolniak, 2015). These activities are evolutionary due to the constant improvements in the work performed and the gaining of more extensive experience by the organization, as well as due to constant changes in reporting standards and new expectations of various stakeholder groups.…”

Sustainability Information in Annual Reports of Companies Domiciled in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic

“…Ultimately, reporting in various regions and countries still differs significantly and, from our viewpoint, we conclude that a divergence between Eastern Europe (where the rate of reporting is relatively low) and Western Europe (where a higher amount of reporting occurs) still exists, that the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic rank below the global average of reporting and that a culture of sustainability in the Eastern European region has not fully developed (KPMG, 2017, p. 14). While the amount of sustainability reporting is growing worldwide, especially in Eastern European countries, a low percentage of companies systematically disclose their sustainabilityrelated activities (Habek & Wolniak, 2015).…”