VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE STRATEGY: DETERMINANTS AND OUTCOMESKeywords: Voluntary disclosure, corporate strategy.Business leaders increasingly face pressure from stakeholders to be transparent. There appears however little consensus on the risks and payoffs of disclosing vital information such as corporate strategy. To fill this gap, this study analyzes firm-specific determinants and organisational outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Stakeholder theory and agency theory help to understand whether companies serve their interest to engage with stakeholders and overcome information asymmetries. I connect these theories and propose a comprehensive approach to measure voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. Hypotheses from the theoretical framework are empirically tested through panel regression of data on identified determinants and outcomes and of disclosed strategy through annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, corporate websites and corporate press releases by the 70 largest publicly listed companies in the Netherlands from 2003 These questions triggered the writing of this dissertation, being a professional consultant and public relations executive, trying to understand the dynamics of communicating corporate strategy. Or as the topic is formulated in management research terminology:exploring determinants and organisational outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. 8 Research objective and methodologyBased on the identified gap in business practice and academic research, this section formulates the research objective, research questions and methodology of my research. A justification on the methodology is provided, followed by the pursued usefulness of this research for research and business practice. Research objective and research questionsTo fill the gap in business practice and in academic research on voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy, the research objective of this thesis is formulated as follows: To develop understanding and provide empirical evidence that help leaders of publicly listed companies understand how voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy contributes to corporate success.This research objective drives the following research questions:1. What are determinants of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy?2. What are outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy? MethodologyAs no earlier comprehensive research is known on voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy, literature research is conducted to construct a (preliminary) theoretical framework to identify and formulate the determinants and outcomes of voluntary disclosure of corporate strategy. The hypotheses that are based on these determinants and 9 outcomes are tested in a large-scale quantitative study, based on secondary data, available in the public field. The data are longitudinal, spanning a period of six years.The research questions are answered using the following process:• A theoretical framework is constructed to explain volu...