This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by investigating the disclosure practices of biodiversity/extinction (B/E) and threatened species. We use greenwashing theory to understand global companies' motivation to report on B/E information. Data are collected from 200 Fortune Global companies for 3 years. We develop our comprehensive 53 disclosure index and create and test OLS regression model to measure the relationships between B/E disclosures and its determinants factors including environmental performance, industry sector, country, assurance, environmental awards, presence of biodiversity partners, and the number of species' related disclosure. Our results reveal that there are positive significant relationships between B/E disclosure and assurance provided by the Big 4: gaining an environmental award, companies from high biodiversity risk sectors, developing countries, presence of biodiversity partners, and how many specific biodiversity words are published in companies' reports. On the other hand, there are positive insignificant relationships between B/E disclosure and assurance: poor performers and the number of species disclosed in companies' reports. Our findings have important implications for regulators and policymakers. Our evidence appears to be robust when controlling for possible endogeneities.

Purpose This paper aims to examine trends in the content of reporting within 135 UK higher education institutions (HEIs). It explores the extent to which integrated reporting (IR) content elements, reflecting integrated thinking, are disclosed voluntarily and whether HEI-specific features influence the resulting disclosures. Design/methodology/approach Existing IR guidelines given by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the adoption of content analysis have provided the opportunity to examine the trend and extent of IR content elements associated in HEI corporate reports. The evidence was obtained from 405 UK HEI annual reports covering the period 2014-2016. Findings The results indicate a significant increase in the number of IR content elements embedded in HEI annual reports. The HEI-specific characteristics examined, such as the establishment of HEI (before or after 1992), adoption of IR framework and size of HEI, are all significantly and positively associated with IR content elements disclosure. This paper argues that institutional theory, isomorphism and isopraxism are relevant for explaining the changes in the contents of HEI annual reports. The findings also suggest that universities are beginning to adopt an integrated thinking approach to the reporting of their activities. Research limitations/implications The study is based on IR content elements only and could be extended to include the fundamental concepts and basic principles of the IR framework. There are other factors that have a potentially crucial influence on HEI core activities (such as teaching and learning research and internationalisation) which have been omitted from this study. Practical implications The findings will allow policymakers to evaluate the extent to which integrated thinking is taking place and influencing the UK HEI sector in the selection and presentation of information. A further implication of the findings is that an appropriate a sector-wide enforcement and compliance body, for instance, the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG), may consider developing voluntary IR guidance in a clear, consistent, concise and comparable format. Also, it may pursue regulatory support for this guidance. In doing so, it may monitor the compliance and disclosure levels of appropriate IR requirements. Within such a framework, IR could be used to assist HEIs to make more sustainable choices and allow stakeholders to better understand aspects of HEI performance. Social implications The research has implications for society within and beyond the unique UK HEI sector. Universities are places of advanced thinking and can lead the way for other sectors by demonstrating the potential of integrated thinking to create a cohesive wide-ranging discourse and create engagement among stakeholder groups. Specifically, IR builds on the strong points of accounting, for instance, robust quantitative evidence collecting, relevance, reliability, materiality, comparability and assurability, to explain the sustainability discourse into a “language” logical to HEIs organisational decision makers. Consequently, IR may generate better visibility and knowledge of the financial values of exploiting capitals (financial, intellectual, human, manufactured, social and natural) and offer a multifaceted approach to reassess HEIs organizational performance in various sectors that support the growth of integrated thinking. Originality/value This is the first known study to explore HEI characteristics and link them with the level of voluntary IR content elements disclosed in UK HEIs.

This study will identify the factors that may influence companies' success in attaining environmental awards. Based on existing literature, several variables that are expected to have an influence on the receipt of an environmental award were selected and their levels of disclosure were tested empirically using a sample of UK FTSE 100 companies. The selected variables considered were industry membership; stakeholder engagement; external (formal) assurance; the presence of an environmental management system (EMS); and specific environmental activities in the areas of packaging, waste management, recycling, climate change risk, climate change activities, and carbon footprint. The results reveal that the influencing factors for receipt of an environmental award are the presence of an environmental management system (EMS); stakeholder engagement; and disclosure on specific environmental activities (waste management, climate change risk, and climate change activities). The results also show that the level of environmental disclosure and the consequent possibility of receiving an award, are influenced by industry membership; the extent of environmental information disclosure are not the same in all industries. Companies belonging to carbon-intensive industries were found to be more likely to receive an award than companies from non carbon-intensive industries. Contrary to expectations, no evidence was found to support the influence of disclosure on formal or external assurance and some specific environmental activities (packaging, recycling).

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the supply and demand side of sustainability assurance in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on signalling theory, a logistic regression model is used for a sample of 100 of the largest Bangladeshi companies to study the relationships between assurance, sustainability disclosure, industry membership and reporting format. Findings Authors’ results show that companies which produce more sustainability information are more likely to get their sustainability assured, to be from non-carbon intensive industries, and are more likely to integrate their sustainability information with the financial annual reports. Authors’ results support the argument that organisations based in weaker legal environments are more likely to secure assurance as this adds to the credibility and reliability of sustainability reports. Research limitations/implications This paper has limitations which raise some issues for future research. First, the authors have covered only large companies; therefore, future research could examine the differences between small and large companies in relation to assurance. Secondly, the authors’ data consist of company sustainability disclosure information in the fiscal year 2015. Longitudinal studies are recommended to extend this research. Finally, future research could examine the moderating effects of geographical location on the relationship between assurance (and its providers) and other variables. Practical implications The findings of this paper will prove valuable to practitioners and researchers. Practitioners, including assurance providers and sustainability reporting managers will benefit from authors’ study as it covers both the demand and supply side characteristics of assurance. Researchers will benefit from the study as it investigates assurance practices in the developing country of Bangladesh. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine both the supply and demand sides of sustainability assurance in Bangladesh. Authors also introduce reporting format when measuring the relationship between assurance and its determinant factors at micro level. The study also links assurance to signalling theory.

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the existing capital structure and board structure literature by examining the relationship among corporate governance, ownership structure and capital structure. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a panel data of 595 firm-year observations from a unique and comprehensive data set of 119 Chinese real estate listed firms from 2014 to 2018. It uses fixed effect and random effect regression analysis techniques to examine the hypotheses. Findings The results show that the board size, ownership concentration and firm size have positive influences on capital structure. State ownership and firm profitability have inverse influences on capital structure. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that better-governed companies in the real estate sector tend to have better capital structure. These findings highlight the unique Chinese context and also offer regulators a strong incentive to pursue corporate governance reforms formally and jointly with the ownership structure. Finally, the results suggest investors the chance to shape detailed expectations about capital structure behavior in China. Future research could investigate capital structure using different arrangement, conducting face-to-face meetings with the firm’s directors and shareholders. Practical implications The findings offer support to corporate managers and investors in forming or/and expecting an optimal capital structure and to policymakers and regulators for ratifying laws and developing institutional support to improve the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms. Originality/value This paper extends, as well as contributes to the current capital structure and corporate governance literature, by proposing new evidence on the effect of board structure and ownership structure on capital structure. The results will help policymakers in different countries in estimating the sufficiency of the available corporate governance reforms to improve capital structure management.

The Relationships between Reporting Format, Environmental Disclosure and Environmental Performance: an Empirical Study 1. Introduction The evolution of corporate environmental disclosure has been highly topical over the past three decades (Gray et al., 1995; Thorne et al., 2014). Historically, annual financial reports were used as essential documents to communicate with key stakeholders, with environmental reporting viewed as a supplement to financial reporting (Gray et al., 1995). More recently, to meet key stakeholders' growing demands, large companies publish standalone reports to disclose their environmental information (Clarkson et al., 2008; KPMG, 2011; Cho et al., 2015). The standalone reports become remarkable as they "represent a clear engagement of corporations with the increasingly critical issues of environmental and social responsibility" (Michelon et al., 2015, p. 63). Little effort, however, has been made to examine the impact of corporate reporting format on environmental disclosure. Reporting format, in this paper, refers to where a company discloses environmental information. Following Rupley et al.'s (2012) classification, we identify environmental information disclosed in standalone reports as 'companies' environmental reports (CERs)'; we identify environmental information disclosed in annual financial reports as 'noncompanies' environmental reports (Non-CERs)'. Also, we identify companies which disclose environmental information in standalone reports as 'CER companies'; we identify companies which combine financial and environmental information together in annual financial reports as 'Non-CER companies'.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the level of disclosure on content elements of integrated reporting (IR) in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales higher education institutions (HEIs). The authors suggest that integrated thinking is an internal process that organizations can follow to increase the level of disclosure on IR that can be used as an effective mechanism to enhance accountability with stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) guidelines and content analysis are used to analyze IR content elements in HEI reports from 2014-2016. Findings The results indicate a significant increase in the trend and extent of IR content elements. The HEI-specific characteristics examined, such as establishment of HEI; adoption of IR framework and governing board size are all statistically and positively associated with IR content elements disclosure. This paper introduces signalling theory to explore the idea that appropriate communication via integrated thinking can close the gap between the organization and its stakeholders via increased level of disclosure on IR content elements. Practical implications The results will assist policymakers and regulators to assess the benefits of voluntary implementation of IR at HEIs and evaluate possible mandatory implementation of IIRC guidelines. Second, the findings can assist managers of institutions interested in implementing IR. Social implications This study recommends universities to explicitly address IR issues in reporting, as this will increase their impact as leaders of educational thought in addition to their roles as partners, advisors, counselors and assessors. Originality/value This study explores whether HEIs in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales provide disclosure on IIRC content elements as a reflection of integrated thinking and whether the connectivity and interdependence between different departments will help to signal to stakeholders how HEIs create value for society.

Purpose This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the published literature on corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR). Furthermore, it assesses the main limitations reported in previous CSRR studies and offers recommendations for best practice and future research. Design/methodology/approach A review protocol was developed to search nine major databases over a decade (2005–2017) using specific keywords. As a result, 221 articles were identified that deal explicitly with CSRR in both developed and developing countries, and a descriptive analysis was undertaken. Findings Findings of the review show that scholarly work on CSRR across the globe have increased exponentially. However, there still remain quite a few countries and industries that have been underrepresented in CSRR literature. Moreover, methodological- and sampling-related limitations have been noted by a number of scholars in the area. Based on these results, the review provides directions for future research. Originality/value The review provides a categorised bibliography of CSRR research on developed and developing countries from 2005 to 2017, covering a range of journals and countries. The review provides state of the art of the CSRR research and highlights the major loopholes in the current literature. This is a valuable study for academics pursuing research on CSRR as it provides a comprehensive and critical discussion on academic research in the field.