Motivations for issuing standalone CSR reports: a survey of Canadian firms
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 29 April 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the companies’ motivations to issue or not issue voluntary standalone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports in the Canadian context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors realized a questionnaire survey that asked Canadian companies why they do or do not issue standalone CSR reports, what their motivations and costs are, and the extent to which they comply with GRI guidelines.
Findings
The results show that larger firms issue standalone CSR reports. As larger firms have more political visibility and are subject to greater external scrutiny than smaller firms (Watts and Zimmerman, 1986), the findings indicate that firms primarily issue standalone CSR reports in response to external scrutiny by stakeholders, which is consistent with a stakeholder perspective. The survey also identifies that ancillary motivations for Canadian firms for issuing standalone CSR reports are consistent with legitimacy and signalling perspectives.
Research limitations/implications
The authors acknowledge that the generalizability of the findings is limited due to the sample being situated within a single national context. The inferences drawn from such a sample in Canada may not be applicable to other countries with different national institutional contexts. In addition, the small size of the sample may limit the generalizability of the findings. The authors also did not specifically consider the quality of the CSR reports in the study. Finally, the work may be affected by the inherent weaknesses associated with survey research, including the inherent bias of the individuals responding to the survey.
Originality/value
The research adds to the growing body of research on voluntary CSR disclosures, with particular reference to the Canadian context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the funding of the CPA-Schulich School of Business Alliance. Although the results of this research paper are a team effort, Giacomo Manetti has especially worked on Sections 1 and 2 while Linda Thorne and Lois Mahoney worked on the entire paper.
Citation
Thorne, L., S. Mahoney, L. and Manetti, G. (2014), "Motivations for issuing standalone CSR reports: a survey of Canadian firms", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 686-714. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2013-1393
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited