Corporate social responsibility determinants: The relation with CSR disclosure

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter intends to contribute to the debate on the determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their impact on performance measurement and communication systems. It aims at analyzing the relationship between the reasons why firms adopt CSR and the importance given to voluntary CSR disclosure.

Methodology

Two main categories of CSR determinants have been identified: the external ones, coming from the environment outside the firm, and the internal determinants, which are linked to some specific characteristics of the enterprise and to the objectives it pursues.

The analyzed sample consists of 120 large Italian manufacturing and nonmanufacturing enterprises. The research hypotheses concerning the relationship between external and internal determinants of CSR and CSR disclosure were verified using an independent sample t-test, evaluating the equal variances of clusters using the Levene’s test.

Findings

Main results point out that in companies giving importance to CSR disclosure, the internal drivers are more relevant than the external ones in determining the attitude toward CSR. Among the internal determinants, drivers related to company and management values and ethics are quite relevant.

Research limitations

This study is subject to the limitations that generally apply to cross-sectional survey-based research.

Originality/Value of chapter

Our research findings show that legitimacy theory represents the most relevant theory in explaining CSR disclosure practices of Italian large firms, as well as the operational implementation of stakeholder theory, such as stakeholder management. On the contrary, institutional theory only partially explains CSR disclosure, with respect to the pressures coming from financial markets.

Citation

Pistoni, A. and Songini, L. (2013), "Corporate social responsibility determinants: The relation with CSR disclosure", Accounting and Control for Sustainability (Studies in Managerial and Financial Accounting, Vol. 26), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 3-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3512(2013)0000026001