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This paper aims to explore how and why salespeople enhance or hinder long-term business-to-business (B2B) customer relationships at the interpersonal level by considering self-disclosure and relational cost and reward evaluations.

Data from interviews (N = 47) with B2B sales professionals were analyzed, focusing on the shift of the phases in long-term B2B customer relationships.

Long-term B2B customer relationships evolve at the interpersonal level through a process of continuous relational cost and reward evaluation, self-disclosure and business disclosure in three phases: becoming business partners, collaborative partners and collaborative and personal partners. The reward evaluations progress from being business related to including even more relational benefits. Disclosure progresses through general business disclosure and general self-disclosure; strategic business disclosure and personal life self-disclosure; and synergistic business disclosure and private self-disclosure.

The long-term B2B customer relationships could be studied at the interpersonal level from the customer’s perspective. Self-disclosure could be studied in cross-cultural settings as well as gender differences should be considered in future studies. Business and social penetration theory could be applied to investigate different types of relationships and other professional relationships, such as those between employers and employees. It would be important to test whether the business-related and self-disclosure subtypes apply to the development of other types of professional relationships or whether other disclosure subtypes exist. The authors recommend exploring salespeople’s and customers’ privacy management strategies in multiple communication channels.

Managers may apply the results of this study in their customer relationship management and sales training.

The findings outline a contextual extension of social penetration theory.

In this study, the authors examine the relationships between market-based regulations and corporate carbon disclosure and carbon performance. The authors also investigate whether these relationships vary across emission-intensive and non-emission intensive industries.

The study sample consists of the world's 500 largest companies across most major industries over a recent five-year period. Country-specific random effect multiple regression analysis is used to test empirical models that predict relationships between market-based regulations and carbon disclosure and carbon performance.

Results indicate that market-based regulations significantly and positively affect corporate carbon performance. However, market-based regulations do not significantly affect corporate carbon disclosure. This study also finds that the association between regulatory pressures and carbon disclosure and carbon performance varies across emission-intensive and non-emission-intensive industries.

The findings of this study have key implications for policymakers, practitioners and future researchers in terms of understanding the factors that drive businesses to increase their carbon performance and disclosure. The study sample consists of only large firms, and future researchers can undertake similar studies with small and medium-sized firms.

The results of this study are expected to help business managers to identify the benefits of adopting market-based regulations. Regulators can use this study’s results to evaluate if market-based regulations effectively improve corporate carbon performance and disclosure. Furthermore, stakeholders may use this study to evaluate and improve their businesses' reporting of carbon disclosure and performance.

In contrast to current literature that has used command and control regulations as a proxy for regulation, this study uses market-based regulations as a proxy for climate change regulations. In addition, this study uses a more comprehensive measure of carbon disclosure and carbon performance compared to the previous studies. It also uses global multi-sector data from carbon disclosure project (CDP) in contrast to most current studies that use national data from annual reports of sample firms of specific sectors.

This paper aims to study firms’ attitudes toward using sustainability reporting for facilitating raising external capital and the effect of the ultimate controlling owner on disclosure.

A disclosure index is constructed on the basis of sustainability reports, for a sample of 230 Italian listed firms. Empirical analysis is based on panel data models.

Firms are more prone to disclose when they are planning to issue equity/bonds. Family control does not affect disclosure in the case of bond issues, but it has a moderating effect in the case of equity issuance. A family CEO, increasing the family’s sense of identification with the business, improves disclosure.

Family ownership is the most viable measure to assess its socioemotional wealth (SEW). This assesses only the dimension related to family control and influence but it does not take into account other aspects of SEW. This study focuses on the relationship between disclosure and financing choices; it does not analyze the relationship between disclosure and success of equity/bond issues.

Family firms should improve their sustainability reporting, especially for firms operating in environmentally sensitive industries. Sustainability reports could play an effective role as a control mechanism in a firm’s behavior toward the environment, society, its employees and consumers.

The paper contributes to the studies on sustainability, showing that the nature of ultimate controlling owners and firms’ financing decisions affect disclosure. Moreover, it contributes to family firms’ literature, shedding light on the effect of the family control and sense of identification with the firm on disclosure.

This research develops a set of specific modern slavery disclosure principles for organisations. It critically evaluates seven legislative Acts from five different countries and 16 guidelines and directives from international organisations. By undertaking an in-depth content analysis, the research derives an index comprising nine principles and 49 disclosure items to promote best-practice disclosure in tackling modern slavery. We promote nine active principles for organisations to implement and disclose: recognising modern slavery practices, identifying risks, publishing a modern slavery risk prevention policy, proactive in assessing and addressing risks, assessing efficacy of actions, garnering internal and external oversight, externally communicating modern slavery risk mitigation, implementing a suppliers' assessment and code of conduct to ensure transparency and specifying consequences for non-compliance. The research is motivated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8, which focusses on economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work. The research findings will assist practitioners seeking to discover and disclose evidence of modern slavery practices and their mitigation to minimise and encourage the elimination of this unethical and illegal practice in domestic and global supply chains and operations.

There are still many different theoretical approaches and practical interpretations about what an integrated report is. Starting from this premise, the overall purpose of this chapter is to critically analyze the relationship between integrated reporting (IR) and social/sustainability disclosure. Indeed, although some scholars considered IR as a tool to improve the sustainability approach of the companies allowing to disclose more relevant social information, others are more critical about the potentiality of IR to improve social disclosure. Therefore, the general research question is: Is there a natural link between IR and social disclosure (true love) or is the IR a practice to “normalize” the social disclosure and accounting (forced marriage)?

In the attempt to provide a preliminary answer to the research question, the chapter analyzes what is the approach of three categories: (1) academics; (2) soft-regulators; and (3) companies. From the methodological point of view, a mixed method of analysis has been adopted.

From the analysis of the three different points of view, IR can be considered as a “contested concept” because of the heterogeneous and sometimes conflicting interpretations and implementation that are done on this type of report. This leads to relevant theoretical and practical implications.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between business ethics practices disclosure and corporate governance characteristics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The study uses multiple regression to investigate the association between business ethics disclosure (BED) and corporate governance characteristics in SAA. The study sample is based on 573 non-financial corporations listed on the national stock exchanges of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe as of 31 December 2015.

The findings show that corporate governance characteristics (including the proportion of government ownership, board independence and board gender diversity) are positively and significantly related to BED.

The study contributes to the limited literature by analyzing the relationship between BED practices and corporate governance characteristics in the sub-Sahara African context, which is significantly different from the Anglo-Saxon world.

This paper seeks to investigate the level of competitive disadvantage experienced by Malaysian listed companies by disclosing segmental information as required by the new accounting standard on segments disclosure by Malaysian Accounting Standards Board.

A total of 116 Malaysian listed companies are included in the study. Their annual reports for financial year ended 2002 are the main sources. The dependent variable is competitive disadvantage, which is proxied by Total Performance Index. The independent variables are quality of segmental disclosure by employing weighted average correlation technique, size of companies, the use of stricter accounting standard and the choice of business segment or geographical segment as the primary segment. To examine the developed hypotheses of the study; a multivariate least square regression model is employed. The analysis is also supported by correlation technique.

The outcomes of the study indicate that competitive disadvantage exists by disclosing segments information but it is not significant. In addition, larger companies experience greater competitive disadvantage than smaller companies, more extensive segment disclosure standard leads to less competitive disadvantage and the state of competitive disadvantage is greater when geographical segment is disclosed as the primary segment.

Since the standard allows the reporting companies to disclose their segment information based on internal structure of the organization, the potential existence of materiality judgement may distort the comprehensiveness of the outcome. In addition, the limited number of companies included in the final sample leads to a more cautious approach in generalizing the findings.

Since the new accounting standard governing segment disclosure in Malaysian environment took effect in 2002, the study is considered timely. It allows the relevant accounting bodies to continue monitoring the level of compliance among the listed companies towards the new standard and, more importantly, it permits further improvement of the standard given the level of competitive disadvantage that may be experienced by reporting companies.

The remarkable contribution of the study lies in its timely effort to investigate the potential competitive disadvantage suffered by reporting companies in the first year of the implementation of the new accounting standard governing segment disclosure.

This study is an analysis that aims to understand the rationale behind the concept of value creation contained in the integrated reporting (IR) framework. As such, the authors examined the quality of the disclosures made in integrated reports by measuring the level to which the six capitals (6Cs) have been integrated into disclosures on value creation.

The IR framework’s value creation model focuses on six content elements and three guiding principles. Hence, the present analysis combines content analysis with quantitative measures in the form of a bespoke Integrated Disclosure Index. The index measures the level of integration found in the disclosures instead of the mere presence or absence of mentioned capitals, content elements and guiding principles in isolation. The present sample comprised the 2016 integrated/sustainability reports for 184 listed companies sourced from the Integrated Reporting Examples Database.

The 6Cs are well disclosed in form but only partially disclosed in substance. Further, overall levels of integration between the capitals, the content elements and the guiding principles are higher than average. Disclosures on materiality, business models and stakeholder relationships are somewhat lacking, as are the related medium- and long-term disclosures on outlook.

The paper contributes to the academic debate on IR by building a case for holistically assessing the substance of integrated reports. Considering that the IR value creation model can underpin and align with the 17 UN sustainable development goals, the authors show how the fundamental concept of the 6Cs sustaining value creation is understood and implemented differently across the various elements and principles of the IR framework.

This research also provides guidance for overcoming some of the practical hurdles associated with assessing the quality of reports because the authors provide tools for spotlighting the substance of disclosures over their form.

This paper delves into the substance of integrated reports by assessing how well the 6Cs have been integrated into disclosures on the content elements and guiding principles of the IR framework. In contrast to previous IR research that has mainly analysed capital, elements and principles in isolation, the authors develop an index assessing the integration of these three fundamental concepts of IR.

A whole series of food scandals indicates that misdirected incentives continue to be a source of food risks. Lacking market transparency and the opportunistic use of seemingly profitable opportunities to break the rules cause negative externalities and failure of markets. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of mandatory transparency schemes on food businesses’ behavioural drivers and thus on compliance.

The authors use an adopted analytical framework developed by Hirschauer et al. (2012) as the theoretical background. The authors provide an empirical analysis of the effects of a disclosure system on businesses’ behavioural drivers in three urban parts of the German capital Berlin. The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses to collect data and used a generalized ordered logit regression model to analyse them.

The results show that the higher the businesses assess the possible negative effects of a negative smiley on sales, the higher the probability of compliance. Considering the immaterial behavioural drivers (protective factors) the authors find the statistical significant influence of a feeling of embarrassment in case of disclosure and the feeling of a fair evaluation on compliance. Thus, the study supports the expectation that disclosure policies affect behavioural drivers and have the potential to steer food businesses’ compliance.

The study supports the expectation that hygiene controls’ disclosure positively affects food businesses’ compliance. These findings should be taken into consideration in the ongoing discussion about disclosure. Nowadays, there is no mandatory transparency in Germany due to a strong opposition from businesses and their lobbying groups.

The authors conducted a pen-and-paper survey among food businesses in three urban districts of the German capital Berlin, namely, Pankow, Lichtenberg and Marzahn-Hellersdorf in 2014. The food authorities in these districts were the only ones in Germany that had introduced and run a mandatory disclosure system (smiley-system) for food businesses. The results of the inspections were published on the authorities’ homepages in the internet, and were displayed in businesses. Thus the data mirror the unique experiences of the only German food businesses that participated in a mandatory transparency scheme.