IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/busres/v12y2019i1d10.1007_s40685-019-0088-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Big data analytics in sustainability reports: an analysis based on the perceived credibility of corporate published information

Author

Listed:
  • Jonas Wanner

    (Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg)

  • Christian Janiesch

    (Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg)

Abstract

The credibility of sustainability reports has been the subject of scientific research for several years. The problem is often referred to as the so-called credibility gap, which is based on information asymmetries. The situation is further complicated by the limited rationality of human action as improvements to reports do not necessarily translate into credibility gains. Research has proposed and extracted several methods to overcome the issue. Hitherto, most approaches to solve the problem focused on marketing-oriented approaches. This work takes a new approach and explores the extent to which information technology can increase credibility using the potential of big data analytics. We base our research on the relationship of the quality of information and on the perception of objective truth as postulated in the Habermas Theory of Communicative Action. We use the forecast-oriented Partial Least Squares Methodology for the review of hypotheses extracted from literature and expert surveys. The result confirms potential of the criteria of volume and veracity while velocity and variety do not yield comparable potential concerning sustainability reporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonas Wanner & Christian Janiesch, 2019. "Big data analytics in sustainability reports: an analysis based on the perceived credibility of corporate published information," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 143-173, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:busres:v:12:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40685-019-0088-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s40685-019-0088-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40685-019-0088-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40685-019-0088-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    2. James Guthrie & Federica Farneti, 2008. "GRI Sustainability Reporting by Australian Public Sector Organizations," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 361-366, December.
    3. Giacomo Manetti & Lucia Becatti, 2009. "Assurance Services for Sustainability Reports: Standards and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 289-298, April.
    4. Blackwell, DW & Noland, TR & Winters, DB, 1998. "The value of auditor assurance: Evidence from loan pricing," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 57-70.
    5. Paolo Perego & Ans Kolk, 2012. "Multinationals’ Accountability on Sustainability: The Evolution of Third-party Assurance of Sustainability Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 173-190, October.
    6. Alexandru Adrian TOLE, 2013. "Big Data Challenges," Database Systems Journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 4(3), pages 31-40, October.
    7. Michael Robinson & Anne Kleffner & Stephanie Bertels, 2011. "Signaling Sustainability Leadership: Empirical Evidence of the Value of DJSI Membership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 493-505, July.
    8. Azlan Amran & Shiau Ping Lee & S. Susela Devi, 2014. "The Influence of Governance Structure and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Toward Sustainability Reporting Quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 217-235, May.
    9. Matthias S. Fifka & Maria Drabble, 2012. "Focus and Standardization of Sustainability Reporting – A Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and Finland," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 455-474, November.
    10. Elisabeth Albertini, 2014. "A Descriptive Analysis of Environmental Disclosure: A Longitudinal Study of French Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 233-254, May.
    11. Barry Ackers & Neil Stuart Eccles, 2015. "Mandatory corporate social responsibility assurance practices," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(4), pages 515-550, May.
    12. Giacomo Manetti, 2011. "The quality of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting: empirical evidence and critical points," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 110-122, March.
    13. Saurabh Mishra & Sachin Modi, 2013. "Positive and Negative Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Leverage, and Idiosyncratic Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 431-448, October.
    14. Kristy Hodge & Nava Subramaniam & Jenny Stewart, 2009. "Assurance of Sustainability Reports: Impact on Report Users' Confidence and Perceptions of Information Credibility," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(3), pages 178-194, September.
    15. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    16. Elisabeth Albertini, 2014. "A Descriptive Analysis of Environmental Disclosure: A Longitudinal Study of French Companies," Post-Print halshs-01897681, HAL.
    17. J. Emil Morhardt & Sarah Baird & Kelly Freeman, 2002. "Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(4), pages 215-233, December.
    18. Amanda Ball & David L. Owen & Rob Gray, 2000. "External transparency or internal capture? The role of third‐party statements in adding value to corporate environmental reports1," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, January.
    19. Giacomo Manetti & Simone Toccafondi, 2012. "The Role of Stakeholders in Sustainability Reporting Assurance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 363-377, May.
    20. Patrycja Hąbek & Radosław Wolniak, 2016. "Assessing the quality of corporate social responsibility reports: the case of reporting practices in selected European Union member states," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 399-420, January.
    21. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Owen, David & Unerman, Jeffrey, 2011. "Seeking legitimacy for new assurance forms: The case of assurance on sustainability reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 31-52, January.
    22. Michnik, Jerzy & Lo, Mei-Chen, 2009. "The assessment of the information quality with the aid of multiple criteria analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(3), pages 850-856, June.
    23. Josh Wei-Jun Hsueh, 2018. "Governance Structure and the Credibility Gap: Experimental Evidence on Family Businesses’ Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 547-568, December.
    24. Robert Dixon & Gehan A. Mousa & Anne D. Woodhead, 2004. "The necessary characteristics of environmental auditors: a review of the contribution of the financial auditing profession," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 119-138, June.
    25. Matthias S. Fifka, 2013. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-35, 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. Qaisar Ali & Hakimah Yaacob & Shazia Parveen & Zaki Zaini, 2021. "Big data and predictive analytics to optimise social and environmental performance of Islamic banks," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 616-632, December.
    2. Witness Siwela & Collins C. Ngwakwe, 2024. "Effect of Corporate Environmental Performance on Banks’ Loan Pricing," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(3), pages 178-191, May.
    3. Olena Liakh, 2021. "Accountability through Sustainability Data Governance: Reconfiguring Reporting to Better Account for the Digital Acceleration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-18, December.
    4. Adrian Lehr & Marion Büttgen & Silke Bartsch, 2021. "Don’t Jump on the Bandwagon: Negative Effects of Sharewashing," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 75-123, March.
    5. Hans Ulrich Buhl & Valerie Graf-Drasch & Christian Wiethe, 2023. "What to say and what to do: the disparity of the communication and investment in sustainability targets, given customer expectations," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 485-507, April.
    6. Elena Ionașcu & Marilena Mironiuc & Ion Anghel & Maria Carmen Huian, 2020. "The Involvement of Real Estate Companies in Sustainable Development—An Analysis from the SDGs Reporting Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-24, January.
    7. Michele Galeotti & Rosa Lombardi & Paola Paoloni & Fabiana Roberto, 2022. "Big data and sustainability reports: The current approach to non-accounting data management," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2022(2 Suppl.), pages 95-116.
    8. Patrick Velte, 2022. "Archival research on integrated reporting: a systematic review of main drivers and the impact of integrated reporting on firm value," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(3), pages 997-1061, September.
    9. Paulo Peças & Lenin John & Inês Ribeiro & António J. Baptista & Sara M. Pinto & Rui Dias & Juan Henriques & Marco Estrela & André Pilastri & Fernando Cunha, 2023. "Holistic Framework to Data-Driven Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    10. Xiao, Xinning & Shailer, Greg, 2022. "Stakeholders’ perceptions of factors affecting the credibility of sustainability reports," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).

    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. Patrick Velte & Martin Stawinoga, 2017. "Empirical research on corporate social responsibility assurance (CSRA): A literature review," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(8), pages 1017-1066, November.
    2. Warren Maroun, 2020. "A Conceptual Model for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance Practice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(1), pages 187-209, January.
    3. Katrin Hummel & Christian Schlick & Matthias Fifka, 2019. "The Role of Sustainability Performance and Accounting Assurors in Sustainability Assurance Engagements," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 733-757, February.
    4. Genevé Richard & Elza Odendaal, 2020. "Integrated reporting assurance practices—a study of South African firms," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(4), pages 245-266, December.
    5. Tobias Gerwing & Peter Kajüter & Maximilian Wirth, 2022. "The role of sustainable corporate governance in mandatory sustainability reporting quality," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 517-555, April.
    6. Olivier Boiral & Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria & Marie-Christine Brotherton & Julie Bernard, 2019. "Ethical Issues in the Assurance of Sustainability Reports: Perspectives from Assurance Providers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1111-1125, November.
    7. Natalia Vaz Ogando & Silvia Ruiz Blanco & Belen Fernandez-Feijoo, 2018. "A Provider’s Approach to the Assurance Market of Sustainability Reports in Spain," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-27, June.
    8. Josh Wei-Jun Hsueh, 2018. "Governance Structure and the Credibility Gap: Experimental Evidence on Family Businesses’ Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 547-568, December.
    9. Olivier Boiral & Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria & Marie-Christine Brotherton, 2019. "Assessing and Improving the Quality of Sustainability Reports: The Auditors’ Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 703-721, March.
    10. 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.
    11. Carmelo Reverte, 2021. "Do investors value the voluntary assurance of sustainability information? Evidence from the Spanish stock market," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 793-809, September.
    12. Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2020. "Sustainability Reporting Quality of Peruvian Listed Companies and the Impact of Regulatory Requirements of Sustainability Disclosures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-22, February.
    13. Elies Seguí-Mas & Fernando Polo-Garrido & Helena María Bollas-Araya, 2018. "Sustainability Assurance in Socially-Sensitive Sectors: A Worldwide Analysis of the Financial Services Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Bradbury, Michael & Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility committees and the use of corporate social responsibility assurance services," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2).
    15. Vaz Ogando, Natalia & Ruiz Blanco, Silvia & Fernandez-Feijoo Souto, Belen, 2018. "El mercado de verificación de las memorias de sostenibilidad en España: un análisis desde la perspectiva de la demanda," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 48-62.
    16. Carlos Larrinaga & Adriana Rossi & Mercedes Luque-Vilchez & Manuel Núñez-Nickel, 2020. "Institutionalization of the Contents of Sustainability Assurance Services: A Comparison Between Italy and United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 67-83, April.
    17. Steven DeSimone & Giuseppe D’Onza & Gerrit Sarens, 2021. "Correlates of internal audit function involvement in sustainability audits," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 561-591, June.
    18. Rashid Zaman & Muhammad Bilal Farooq & Fahad Khalid & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2021. "Examining the extent of and determinants for sustainability assurance quality: The role of audit committees," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 2887-2906, November.
    19. Ana Zorio & Maria A. García‐Benau & Laura Sierra, 2013. "Sustainability Development and the Quality of Assurance Reports: Empirical Evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(7), pages 484-500, November.
    20. Teresa Eugénio & Sónia Gomes & Manuel Castelo Branco & Ana Isabel Morais, 2022. "Non-Financial Reporting and Assurance: A New Opportunity for Auditors? Evidence from Portugal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.

    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:spr:busres:v:12:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40685-019-0088-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.