Inspired by the promotion of gender balance on boards of directors of listed companies in Europe, this study seeks to understand whether the presence of women with different responsibilities is associated with gender policies disclosed in corporate social responsibility or sustainability reports. Using the data of listed companies in Italy, we find a positive association between the presence of women in the role of chairperson and the implementation with disclosure of gender policies. Consistent with gender self-schema, women believe in their values, and pay attention to conflict management when they are in the position of chairperson. We find different results when the women are in the position of chief executive officer (CEO). The position of CEO is usually a male job and our results show a non-significant perception of female problems when a woman occupies the CEO position. This study contributes to corporate social responsibility analysis of the reporting of gender policies.

Materiality is the driver through which companies can select issues to be included in nonfinancial reports favouring the expectations of all stakeholders. The aim of this research is to investigate, under the lens of Stakeholder Theory and Instrumental Stakeholder Theory, the possible relationship between the application of the materiality principle in nonfinancial reports and the stakeholders' engagement processes, with a preliminary focus on different industries that are characterized by different types of stakeholder and on the application of Global Reporting Initiative and/or International Integrated Reporting Council guidelines promoting their direct involvement. A manual content analysis has been performed on the Italian “public interest entities” that published, for the 2017 year, a nonfinancial statement (Legislative Decree No 254/2016). The statistical analysis highlights the importance of industry, Global Reporting Initiative Standards application and stakeholder engagement in the reporting process, in particular in the materiality analysis, to achieve a high level of materiality application and good report quality for stakeholders.

Corporate governance has long been the subject of interest for researchers in business administration. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices decided by boards of directors are now a key issue in the decision‐making process of companies. The relationship between the governance structure and CSR policies is crucial to defining the companies' strategic view. In this paper, we identify how the characteristics of corporate governance impact CSR disclosure. Our findings show that a large board of directors reduces the probability of adhering to practices that involve stakeholders more closely in company activity, while companies with more independent directors have a higher level of stakeholder protection almost by definition. Thus, there is a need for additional ways of involving stakeholders in company activity. Our results also reveal that an overlap between the roles of the CEO and the board chairman is an undesirable influence on a CSR report.

Materiality is the driver through which companies can select issues to be included in nonfinancial reports favouring expectations of all the stakeholders. The aim of this research is to investigate, under the lens of Stakeholder Theory and Instrumental Stakeholder Theory, the possible relationship between the application of materiality principle in non-financial reports and the engagement of stakeholders, with a preliminary focus on different industries that are characterized by different types of stakeholder. We have subjected to a manual content analysis all the Italian listed companies that published a sustainability/integrated report in the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 following guidelines of GRI and IIRC (a total of 148 reports). The next statistical analysis highlights, as research finding, the importance of industry and above all of stakeholder engagement in the reporting process, in particular in the materiality analysis, to achieve a high level of materiality application level and a good report quality for stakeholders.

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the quality of Code of Ethics from the point of view of employees. In particular, the research aims to investigate which are the companies’ characteristics that influence the publication of a Code of Ethics and the Code of Ethics Quality from the employee perspective. Design/methodology/approach The authors use Italian listed companies and perform a manual content analysis on their Code of Ethics based on keywords related to the stakeholder employees. The authors perform regression models to investigate the determinants, using financial reporting data and companies’ information (i.e. industry). Findings The findings show that Code of Ethics are developed among large firms. A healthy and safe environment and a clear leadership are developed by firms with high grow rates. Equal employment opportunities and competent leadership are developed by firms with low financial distress. The need of effective communication for consensus seems more visible in Public Administration. Private sectors pay more attention to competent leadership, while firms in Trade take care on equal opportunities for employees. Originality/value At present, much of the codes of ethics’ research are focussed on the content and the effectiveness of codes of ethics, on the reasons, on the benefits and limitations of this tool, but few studies investigate the quality of codes of ethics and, even fewer the specific stakeholder employees. This study aims to improve the debate related to the elements affecting quality in codes of ethics, with particular attention to the rules that guide the relationship between companies and their employees.