The fight against corruption in Portugal: evidence from sustainability reports

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the disclosure of information on the fight against corruption in the sustainability reports of Portuguese companies.

Design/methodology/approach

Anti-corruption disclosure in the sustainability reports for 2009 of Portuguese firms, published on the website of the Portugal’s Business Council for Sustainability Development, is analysed. Three hypotheses are tested about associations between such disclosure and firm-specific variables.

Findings

Companies with a high visibility in terms of risk of corruption (companies in sectors with higher risk and government-owned companies) and companies that engage in association with the United Nations Global Compact seem to exhibit greater concern to improve the corporate image through disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process and the use of a limited content analysis method.

Originality/value

This paper adds to the scarce research on the fight against corruption in corporate social responsibility and the reporting thereof by providing new empirical data.

Citation

Branco, M.C. and Matos, D. (2015), "The fight against corruption in Portugal: evidence from sustainability reports", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 132-142. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-05-2014-0027