IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i8p2823-d162828.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Institutional Context Affect CSR Disclosure? A Study on Eurostoxx 50

Author

Listed:
  • Daniela Coluccia

    (University of Rome, Sapienza, 00185 Roma, Italy)

  • Stefano Fontana

    (University of Rome, Sapienza, 00185 Roma, Italy)

  • Silvia Solimene

    (University of Rome, Sapienza, 00185 Roma, Italy)

Abstract

We propose to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure and institutional/environmental factors among a sample of European listed companies. We find that, by using several traditional explicative variables, institutional factors affect the level of CSR disclosure, in a context where the EU Commission has been paying growing attention to social and environmental accountability of listed companies (see the EU Dir. 95/2014). Our findings are further supported by multivariate regression, where ESG score (measure of CSR disclosure) is regressed on nine variables which represent the expression of institutional factors. By looking at the institutional determinants of CSR disclosure, we are seeking to pose a challenge for future research agenda, in order to understand whether CSR does actually reflect an effective commitment of firms to accounting practices and rules, as a form of social behavior, or whether it is just a tool to manage stakeholders’ perception and to comply with regulation.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniela Coluccia & Stefano Fontana & Silvia Solimene, 2018. "Does Institutional Context Affect CSR Disclosure? A Study on Eurostoxx 50," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-20, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2823-:d:162828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2823/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2823/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charl de Villiers & Ana Marques, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility, country-level predispositions, and the consequences of choosing a level of disclosure," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 167-195, February.
    2. Jonathan P. Doh & Terrence R. Guay, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Policy, and NGO Activism in Europe and the United States: An Institutional‐Stakeholder Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 47-73, January.
    3. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2012. "What drives corporate social performance? The role of nation-level institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(9), pages 834-864, December.
    4. Denis Cormier & Michel Magnan & Barbara Van Velthoven, 2005. "Environmental disclosure quality in large German companies: Economic incentives, public pressures or institutional conditions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 3-39.
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    6. Doidge, Craig & Andrew Karolyi, G. & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-39, October.
    7. Frédérique Déjean & Isabelle Martinez, 2009. "Environmental Disclosure and the Cost of Equity: The French Case," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 57-80, June.
    8. Eugenio D'Amico & Daniela Coluccia & Stefano Fontana & Silvia Solimene, 2016. "Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 178-192, March.
    9. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    10. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    11. Dulacha Barako & Alistair Brown, 2008. "Corporate social reporting and board representation: evidence from the Kenyan banking sector," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 12(4), pages 309-324, November.
    12. Tarun Khanna & Krishna G. Palepu & Suraj Srinivasan, 2004. "Disclosure Practices of Foreign Companies Interacting with U.S. Markets," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 475-508, May.
    13. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7-8), pages 1137-1166, July.
    14. Elizabeth Stanny & Kirsten Ely, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate change," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 338-348, November.
    15. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Jungwon Suh, 2013. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Credit Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(4), pages 679-694, November.
    16. Geert Hofstede, 1983. "The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 14(2), pages 75-89, June.
    17. Collins Ntim & Teerooven Soobaroyen, 2013. "Black Economic Empowerment Disclosures by South African Listed Corporations: The Influence of Ownership and Board Characteristics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 121-138, August.
    18. Yaqi Shi & Michel Magnan & Jeong-Bon Kim, 2012. "Do countries matter for voluntary disclosure? Evidence from cross-listed firms in the US," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(2), pages 143-165, February.
    19. Williams, S. Mitchell, 1999. "Voluntary environmental and social accounting disclosure practices in the Asia-Pacific region: an international empirical test of political economy theory," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 209-238, June.
    20. Steven F. Cahan & Charl De Villiers & Debra C. Jeter & Vic Naiker & Chris J. Van Staden, 2016. "Are CSR Disclosures Value Relevant? Cross-Country Evidence," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 579-611, September.
    21. René Orij, 2010. "Corporate social disclosures in the context of national cultures and stakeholder theory," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(7), pages 868-889, September.
    22. Linda Thorne & Lois S. Mahoney & Giacomo Manetti, 2014. "Motivations for issuing standalone CSR reports: a survey of Canadian firms," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(4), pages 686-714, April.
    23. Gregory Jackson & Androniki Apostolakou, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Western Europe: An Institutional Mirror or Substitute?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 371-394, July.
    24. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    25. Ta-Cheng Chang & Yun-Chia Yan & Li-Chuan Chou, 2013. "Is default probability associated with corporate social responsibility?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 457-472, December.
    26. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12419 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yongtae Kim, 2017. "Country-level institutions, firm value, and the role of corporate social responsibility initiatives," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(3), pages 360-385, April.
    28. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Post-Print hal-01977064, HAL.
    29. Ingram, Robert W. & Frazier, Katherine Beal, 1983. "Narrative disclosures in annual reports," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 49-60, March.
    30. Maria Baldini & Lorenzo Dal Maso & Giovanni Liberatore & Francesco Mazzi & Simone Terzani, 2018. "Role of Country- and Firm-Level Determinants in Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 79-98, June.
    31. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    32. Collins G. Ntim & Teerooven Soobaroyen & Martin J. Broad, 2017. "Governance structures, voluntary disclosures and public accountability," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(1), pages 65-118, January.
    33. Waheed Hussain & Jeffrey Moriarty, 2018. "Accountable to Whom? Rethinking the Role of Corporations in Political CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 519-534, May.
    34. Paul C. Godfrey & Craig B. Merrill & Jared M. Hansen, 2009. "The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 425-445, April.
    35. Momin, Mahmood Ahmed & Parker, Lee D., 2013. "Motivations for corporate social responsibility reporting by MNC subsidiaries in an emerging country: The case of Bangladesh," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 215-228.
    36. Valentina Marano & Tatiana Kostova, 2016. "Unpacking the Institutional Complexity in Adoption of CSR Practices in Multinational Enterprises," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 28-54, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bruna, Maria Giuseppina & Loprevite, Salvatore & Raucci, Domenico & Ricca, Bruno & Rupo, Daniela, 2022. "Investigating the marginal impact of ESG results on corporate financial performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    2. Qiuyang Gu & Chunhua Ju & Fuguang Bao, 2020. "The Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions of Local State-Owned Enterprises: The Role of Home Country Government Involvement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Mirela Clementina Panait & Marian Catalin Voica & Eglantina Hysa & Alfonso Siano & Maria Palazzo, 2022. "The Bucharest Stock Exchange: A Starting Point in Structuring a Valuable CSR Index," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Obiamaka A. Nwobu & Collins C. Ngwakwe, 2020. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting in Africa: The Effect of Macroeconomic Indicators and Political Regime," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 10(10), pages 1203-1219, October.
    5. Bárcena-Ruiz, Juan Carlos & Sagasta, Amagoia, 2022. "International trade and environmental corporate social responsibility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Khan, Muhammad Arif, 2022. "ESG disclosure and Firm performance: A bibliometric and meta analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Zeineb Miniaoui & Faten Chibani & Khaled Hussainey, 2019. "The impact of country‐level institutional differences on corporate social responsibility disclosure engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1307-1320, November.
    8. Salvatore Loprevite & Domenico Raucci & Daniela Rupo, 2020. "KPIs Reporting and Financial Performance in the Transition to Mandatory Disclosure: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-24, June.
    9. Christelle Simo & Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua & Christophe Faugere, 2022. "The Determinants of Micro Finance Institutions’ Decision to Receive a Social Rating: An Institutional and Resource-Dependence Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    10. Carmelo Reverte, 2022. "The importance of institutional differences among countries in SDGs achievement: A cross‐country empirical study," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1882-1899, December.
    11. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Kreuzer, Christian & Sparrer, Christian, 2022. "To sin in secret is no sin at all: On the linkage of policy, society, culture, and firm characteristics with corporate scandals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 762-784.
    12. Eduardo Ordonez-Ponce, 2021. "The Role of Institutional Context for Sustainability Cross-Sector Partnerships. An Exploratory Analysis of European Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salvi, Antonio & Giakoumelou, Anastasia & Bertinetti, Giorgio Stefano, 2021. "CSR in the bond market: Pricing stakeholders and the moderating role of the institutional context," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    2. Mitzi Isabel Cubilla‐Montilla & Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Ana Belén Nieto‐Librero & María Purificación Vicente Galindo & Isabel María García‐Sánchez, 2020. "What companies do not disclose about their environmental policy and what institutional pressures may do to respect," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1181-1197, May.
    3. Tobias Steindl, 2021. "Cultural rule orientation, legal institutions, and the credibility of corporate social responsibility reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 310-332, January.
    4. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    5. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas, 2018. "The Role of Normative CSR‐Promoting Institutions in Stimulating CSR Disclosures in Developing Countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 373-390, July.
    6. Le Luo & Qingliang Tang & Juan Peng, 2018. "The direct and moderating effects of power distance on carbon transparency: An international investigation of cultural value and corporate social responsibility," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1546-1557, December.
    7. Laura Girella & Paola Rossi & Stefano Zambon, 2019. "Exploring the firm and country determinants of the voluntary adoption of integrated reporting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(7), pages 1323-1340, November.
    8. Carmelo Reverte, 2022. "The importance of institutional differences among countries in SDGs achievement: A cross‐country empirical study," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1882-1899, December.
    9. Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, 2017. "Coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as determinants of the voluntary assurance of sustainability reports," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 102-118.
    10. Víctor Amor-Esteban & Isabel-María García-Sánchez & Mª-Purificación Galindo-Villardón, 2018. "Analysing the Effect of Legal System on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the Country Level, from a Multivariate Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 435-452, November.
    11. Walid Ben‐Amar & Mohamed Chelli, 2018. "What drives voluntary corporate water disclosures? The effect of country‐level institutions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1609-1622, December.
    12. Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2019. "Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    13. Eliwa, Yasser & Aboud, Ahmed & Saleh, Ahmed, 2021. "ESG practices and the cost of debt: Evidence from EU countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    15. Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & María Consuelo Pucheta‐Martínez, 2020. "How cultural dimensions, legal systems, and industry affect environmental reporting? Empirical evidence from an international perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2037-2057, July.
    16. Waris Ali & Maha Faisal Alsayegh & Zubair Ahmad & Zeeshan Mahmood & Javed Iqbal, 2018. "The Relationship between Social Visibility and CSR Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-32, March.
    17. Sebastian Utz, 2018. "Over‐investment or risk mitigation? Corporate social responsibility in Asia‐Pacific, Europe, Japan, and the United States," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(2), pages 167-193, April.
    18. Ehsan Poursoleyman & Gholamreza Mansourfar & Mohammad Kabir Hassan & Saeid Homayoun, 2024. "Did Corporate Social Responsibility Vaccinate Corporations Against COVID-19?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 525-551, January.
    19. Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez & Ivo Alexandre Quina‐Custodio, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and Varieties of Capitalism: an International Analysis of State‐Led and Liberal Market Economies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 478-495, November.
    20. Xiangyu Chen & Peng Wan, 2020. "Social trust and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 485-500, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2823-:d:162828. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.