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Rankings are widely regarded as particularly well-suited for capturing the public eye, which is considered a reason why they have become ubiquitous. However, we know little about how rankings direct media attention, as well as how media in turn shape and help sustain careers of specific rankings in the public over longer periods of time. To advance our understanding of the discursive dynamics at the intersection of rankings and the press, this study examines the media career of the Global Slavery Index (GSI) by analyzing 361 newspaper and magazine articles, published between the release of index’s inaugural edition in 2013 and until the end of 2019. To interpret the media coverage, the study draws attention to GSI’s universality, highly rationalized character, and a pledge to spotlight violation of the global moral order. The examination of the media coverage points to the following properties of the index as having shaped and helped sustain its career in the public: (1) repeated publication; (2) broad conceptualization of modern slavery; and (3) the construction thereof as a measurable global burden. The study finds that, throughout the period, the media were remarkably consistent in amplifying the most dramatic elements of the index. Over time, however, the index was increasingly more invoked for other purposes, usually either to lend credibility to a story or as a way of embedding local and situational concerns into global narratives.

This study aims to explore the relationship between sustainability reporting and the financial performance of companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange as one of the emerging markets.

The study collects data from the corporate annual reports of a sample of 67 companies listed on the Saudi stock exchanges during the period 2016–2019. Financial performance has been measured using four accounting-based measures: return on assets, return on equity, return on capital employed and earnings per share. The relationship between financial performance and sustainability reporting has been estimated using a sustainability index that includes three dimensions (environment, health and safety, and social responsibility).

The results reveal that the sustainability reporting of Saudi companies, in general, is low. The results also indicate that there is a positive relationship between corporate financial performance and sustainability reporting, whether for the composite index or the three sub-indexes. However, this positive relationship is not statistically significant.

Results of this study are limited to the context in which the study was conducted, which is the Saudi stock exchange from 2016 to 2019, and then the generalization of the results may be limited to listed companies operating in a similar social and economic context. The study also depends on accounting-based measures for financial performance without using market-based measures.

This study comes at the appropriate time with Saudi Arabia's adoption of a comprehensive economic plan called “Saudi Vision 2030”, of which sustainability is at the heart. Despite the efforts of the Saudi government to support sustainability, studies on this issue are still very few.

In the past decade much has been written on the need to develop social, ethical and environmentally responsible performance reporting frameworks that engage with all organisational stakeholders. The theoretical development of these frameworks has spanned nearly a century culminating in the release in 2000 of voluntary guidelines developed by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies and the United Nations Environment Programme through the offices of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The release of the sustainability reporting guidelines perhaps could not have been more inopportune insofar as it coincided with a concerted effort on the part of the accounting regulators toward global harmonisation of financial reporting standards. This paper reports the findings of a survey of Company Secretaries and company provided information examining the extent to which these guidelines have been adopted by the leading public companies in the United Kingdom. The findings suggest limited acceptance and in the resource‐constrained environment of the twenty‐first century business implementation of mandatory requirements are given priority. Further research needs to be conducted to determine whether the GRI has a role to play in future stakeholder engagement.

The study aims to analyse the level and trend of corporate responsibility disclosures (CRD) in annual reports of listed firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange against the Global Reporting Index and to examine the influence of the institutional environment on such disclosures.

A content analysis of annual reports of 17 listed firms in Ghana over a 10-year period (2003-2012) of social and environmental disclosures using the Global reporting indicators as the standard was undertaken. A multiple regression analysis using the random effect estimator was used to test institutional factors influencing CRD.

The study finds that listed firms in Ghana disclose some responsibility information; and this has increased over the period, with a significant dip in the year 2010. The study also documents a significant amount of disclosures post International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. The increase in disclosure is particularly explained by IFRS adoption by Ghana and the number of women on boards. This study finds a positive but weak relationship between companies’ association with foreign firms, majority shareholders and CRD. A positive significant relationship is confirmed for firm size, while capital intensity shows a negative significant relationship with CRD in Ghana.

The word search may not capture similar words not known to the author, and the words used may have different meanings. In addition, bias may arise from the limited sample size and the choice of companies. Regulators must enforce existing environmental guidelines and streamline reporting for social and environmental issues to help managers disclose more social and environmental information.

The study highlights CRD and its drivers from Ghana, an emerging African economy. To the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to undertake a longitudinal study on social and environmental disclosures of listed companies in Ghana against the Global Reporting Initiative and to determine the effect of IFRS adoption in Ghana on CRD.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors determining the social and environmental reporting (SER) of Indian textile and apparel (TA) firms.

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.

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.

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.

This paper aims to: design a comprehensive, review‐based and statistically tested corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) index; measure item‐wise and theme‐wise the social performance of the top 82 companies in India; and investigate item‐wise and theme‐wise the variations in CSRD.

The paper presents an empirical study of CSRD in 2009‐2010, using content analysis, Cronbach's α, the Kolmogorov‐Smirnov and Shapiro‐Wilk tests of normality and a six point scale (0‐5), mean, skewness, kurtosis, and Levene's, Kruskal‐Wallis's and Mood's median tests for analysis and interpretation.

CSRD shows less satisfactory social performance, mainly narrative, and varies significantly among items and themes. Community development, with a mean score of 14.30, is the most disclosed theme, followed by HR, with a score of 11.20. The human element is the center of social performance in India. More than equal focus should be given to the environment and to emissions, which impact the greater interests of the world. Some burning global issues like water usage, alternative sources of energy, product safety and innovation have not received adequate attention.

The study offers ample scope for the further studies as each and every theme and item considered in the model/index requires individual focus to serve the future generations of mankind. Longitudinal/transnational studies in the area of CSR could be carried out to set the scene for further studies.

The paper recommends mandatory CSR norms leading to improved disclosure, the sharing of innovative knowledge, cost reductions and enhanced effectiveness in managing scarce resources.

The paper evaluates social performance in the economic, social, religious environment and highlights the emerging philanthropic attitude. The paper improves an existing model by incorporating an emerging dimension, i.e. “Emissions of carbon and other harmful gases”. The CSEEE index designed here is highly appropriate for developing economies like India. The paper measures CSRD using six‐point scales for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to describe common questionable research practices (QRPs) engaged in by management researchers who use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as part of their analysis.

The authors describe seven questionable analytic practices and then review one year of journal articles published in three top-tier management journals to estimate the base rate of these practices.

The authors find that CFA analyses are characterized by a high base rate of QRPs with one practice occurring for over 90 percent of all assessed articles.

The findings of this paper call into question the validity and trustworthiness of results reported in much of the management literature.

The authors provide tentative guidelines of how editors and reviewers might reduce the degree to which the management literature is characterized by these QRPs.

This is the first paper to estimate the base rate of six QRPs relating to the widely used analytic tool referred to as CFA in the management literature.