Changes in social and environmental reporting practices in an emerging economy (2004–2007): Exploring the relevance of stakeholder and legitimacy theories

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyoti Devi Mahadeo ◽  
Vanisha Oogarah-Hanuman ◽  
Teerooven Soobaroyen
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Economy ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting

scholarly journals Eksplorasi dimensi spiritual dalam praktik pelaporan akuntansi sosial dan lingkungan di Bali

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Agus Fredy Maradona
Keyword(s):  
Business Environment ◽  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting

Social and environmental accounting has attracted growing attention from companies in Indonesia as these companies face an increasing pressure to report their social and environmental responsibilities to the public. Despite this trend, however, Indonesia lacks a social and environmental reporting model that is relevant to its business environment, i.e., a model that incorporates the spiritual dimension, and not merely the economics, social, and environmental dimensions. The main aim of this study was to explore the spiritual dimension of the social and environmental reporting practices of a tourism company in Bali. The exploration was based on Tri Hita Karana, a local societal value held by the people of Bali. This study employed a two-phase research approach, where the first phase focused on exploring the social and environmental reporting practices of the company, while the second phase centered on refining and assessing the applicability of this reporting model in other companies. The results of this study show that the appropriate model of social and environmental accounting for Indonesian companies should consist of four dimensions: economic, environmental, social, and spiritual. Among these dimensions, the implementation of the spiritual dimension in social and environmental accounting faces the greatest challenges.

Corporate social and environmental reporting practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Moazzem Hossain ◽  
Mahmood Ahmed Momin ◽  
Anna Lee Rowe ◽  
Mohammed Quaddus
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Community Investment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER) practices and motivations in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Using a mixed-methods approach, the paper attempts to understand what corporate social and environmental issues Bangladeshi firms are reporting and why. The paper first explores the motivations for CSER in line with O’Dwyer’s (2003) proposed classifications of proactive and reactive motivations through interviews and frames its findings using stakeholder theory. To provide a more holistic view, content analysis adapted from CSR Asia (2008) categorization (broadly guided by GRI) was conducted to enhance findings from engagement-based interviews with managers. Findings The paper finds that “community investment and development” and “governance codes and policies” received the highest amount of disclosure, while the least amount of disclosure was found in the “workplace/human rights” category. Although a philanthropic tone was found behind “community investment”, such as poverty alleviation activities, disclosure in this area is mostly motivated by proactive rationales with enlightened self-interest and image-building activities. In terms of reactive motivations underpinning CSER, the paper finds that companies also report reactively to reduce pressure from powerful stakeholders such as international buyers and government agencies. Contrary to other studies regarding reactive motivations, the authors argue that a director’s proactive motivation is the prime determinant of CSER in a developing country. They also argue that low-level disclosures on workplace environment/human rights need to be given more importance by policymakers, management and other relevant stakeholders. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is one of the few engagement-based field studies that uses a mixed-methods approach to seek managerial perspectives in an attempt to understand CSER practices in an emerging country context.

Factors determining social and environmental reporting by Indian textile and apparel firms: a test of legitimacy theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratna Nurhayati ◽  
Grantley Taylor ◽  
Rusmin Rusmin ◽  
Greg Tower ◽  
Bikram Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Social Information ◽  
Emerging Economy ◽  
Social Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Textile And Apparel ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors determining the social and environmental reporting (SER) of Indian textile and apparel (TA) firms. Design/methodology/approach – The 2010 annual reports of a sample of top 100 Indian TA firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange were examined to assess the extent of SER. SER was assessed based on the Global Reporting Initiative index applicable to the TA industry. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the determinants of SER. Findings – This study reports a low extent of SER in the annual reports of Indian listed TA firms, with a mean disclosure of 14 per cent. On average, firms reported more extensive environmental information, with a mean disclosure of 18.4 per cent, compared to social information, with a mean disclosure of 10.7 per cent. Most firms reported social information relating to “labour practices and decent work”, while the reporting of information relating to “human rights” was sparse. Overall, the SER patterns provide support for legitimacy theory. Consistent with legitimacy theory expectations, corporate size, brand development and audit committee size are significant factors determining the variation in SER. No significant relationship was found between board independence, level of ownership and SER. Originality/value – There is no existing study specifically on SER by TA firms in India. In fact, there is surprisingly little research on SER in the Indian context in general. Given the dearth in research on corporate social reporting in the Indian context, the study extends prior literature on corporate SER by concentrating on SER of TA firms in an emerging economy. The theoretical contribution of this study is the testing of legitimacy theory in the context of an emerging economy. This study contributes towards practice by delineating the relationship between governance structure and SER, particularly with regard to issues such as child labour. These findings have implications for the future development of reporting standards and regulations in regard to corporate governance in India. The dearth of social reporting by Indian TA firms has implications for foreign purchasers of branded products, as international companies have been implicated in sub-optimal social or environmental practices or incidents.

Legitimacy theory

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Michael Deegan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Accounting ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting ◽  
Highly Cited

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the contributions made to the social and environmental accounting literature by papers that comprised a 2002 Special Issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) entitled social and environmental reporting and its role in maintaining or creating organisational legitimacy. This paper will also provide insights into the origins of legitimacy theory as used in the social and environmental accounting literature as well as providing reflections about the strengths, and shortcomings, of the theory. Suggestions are made with respect to the ongoing application, and development, of legitimacy theory. Design/methodology/approach As a commentary, this paper utilises a review of the social and environmental accounting and institutional literature across a number of decades to reveal insights about the development and use of legitimacy theory as a basis to explain social and environmental reporting practices. Citation data are also used to indicate the potential impact that the papers in the 2002 Special Issue had upon subsequent research. Findings This commentary shows that the 2002 Special Issue is the most highly cited issue in the history of AAAJ. It also shows that individually, some of the papers in the Special Issue represent some of the most highly cited papers in the social and environmental accounting literature. The commentary provides arguments to suggest that the development of legitimacy theory is in need of further refinement, and suggests a way in which this refinement might take place. Research limitations/implications This paper is largely based on the opinions of one researcher, and the evidence presented in the paper is selected on the basis that it is deemed sufficient to support the opinions being projected. The paper also relies on citation data as an indicator of “impact”. The implication of the research is that it identifies a “way forward” for the development of theory applicable to the understanding of organisational social and environmental reporting practices. Originality/value The study provides evidence to show that the 2002 Special Issue was significant within the context of AAAJ, and also within the context of the evolution of the social and environmental accounting literature. The description of the history of the development of legitimacy theory, and of the theory’s subsequent application, provides a solid impetus for future refinements to the theory.

scholarly journals Sustainability & Risk Disclosure: An Exploratory Study on Sustainability Reports

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Truant ◽  
Laura Corazza ◽  
Simone Domenico Scagnelli
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Risk Disclosure ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Institutional Pressure ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
International Integrated Reporting Council ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting

Recent policies’ changes in sustainability reporting, such as the ones related to the new European Directive on non-financial disclosure, the standards issued by the American Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB), the G4 guidelines issued by the Global Sustainability Standard Board (GSSB-GRI) and the framework of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) are stressing about the importance of extending the disclosure of ethical, social and environmental risks within social and environmental reporting. Institutional pressure has notably increased among organizations, in setting-up risk management tools to understand sustainability risks within managerial and reporting practices. Given such institutional pressure, the corporate reaction in providing additional sustainability risk disclosure call for attention and scrutiny. Therefore, this study aims at addressing such issues from an exploratory perspective. We based our analysis on a sample of organizations that issued sustainability disclosure in accordance with the GRI G4 guidelines, and we tested the relationship between risk disclosure and other relevant variables. Consistently with the literature, we found that “experienced” sustainable reporters provide a significant volume of disclosure, and that disclosure quality on risk is positively influenced by their international presence and reporting experience. However, when accounting for specific risk-related areas of disclosure, only few of them seems to adopt a management accounting perspective linking strategy, risk metrics and disclosure.

Empathy, closeness, and distance in non-profit accountability

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 224-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka Costa ◽  
Caterina Pesci ◽  
Michele Andreaus ◽  
Emanuele Taufer
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Edith Stein ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting

Purpose Drawing on the phenomenological concepts of “empathy” and “communal emotions” developed by Edith Stein (1917, 1922), the purpose of this paper is to discuss the co-existence both of the legitimacy and accountability perspectives in voluntarily delivered social and environmental reporting (SER), based on different “levels of empathy” towards different stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts an interpretive research design, drawn from Stein’s concept of empathy by using a mixed-method approach. A manual content analysis was performed on 393 cooperative banks’ (CB) social and environmental reports from 2005 to 2013 in Italy, and 14 semi-structured interviews. Findings The results show that CBs voluntarily disclose information in different ways to different stakeholders. According to Stein, the phenomenological concept of empathy, and its understanding within institutions, allows us to interpret these multiple perspectives within a single social and environmental report. Therefore, when the process of acquiring knowledge in the CB–stakeholder relationship is complete and mentalised (level 3, re-enactive empathy), the SER holds high informative power, consistent with the accountability perspective; on the contrary, when this process is peripheral and perceptional (level 1, basic empathy), the SER tends to provide more self-assessment information, attempting to portray the bank in a positive light, which is consistent with the legitimacy perspective. Originality/value The concept of empathy introduced in this paper can assist in interpreting the interactions between an organisation and different stakeholders within the same social and environmental report. Moreover, the approach adopted in this paper considers different stakeholders simultaneously, thus responding to previous concerns regarding the lack of focus on multiple stakeholders.

Changing Social and Environmental Reporting Systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Kaspersen ◽  
Thomas Riise Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Reporting Systems ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting
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