Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Performance: A Meta-Analytic Approach

Abstract

Currently, a lack of consensus exists in the literature on the link between performance and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). A meta-analysis was carried out to shed light on this controversial topic, using the ABI/Inform Complete and EconLit databases as search tools. To isolate articles with substantive, methodological relevance, various filters were used. In addition to other criteria, all articles had to contain certain keywords related to the study’s variables and at least one of the seven keywords indicating empirical data analysis. As a result of this procedure, the meta-analysis included only 95 articles. To process the sample, we employed the procedure developed by Hunter and Schmidt. The results show that the CSRD-performance relationship is not significant enough for practical purposes. However, an analysis of moderating variables revealed that the connection becomes of practical importance when moderated by three key variables: region, type of disclosure, and measures of organization size. This research’s findings make a significant contribution by clarifying the links between CSRD and performance and identifying which variables can explain the diverse results of previous research. Regarding limitations, the meta-analysis was subject to the availability of published research and included only studies that reported Pearson correlation coefficients and standardized beta coefficients.

Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model

“…Thirdly, as Ali et al [16] pointed out, the disclosure of CSR information is a country-dependent phenomenon since different results have been found in different contexts [70,[75][76][77] where these results could be attributed to the differences in national cultures, the regulatory environment and other institutional factors [78]. In this respect, as has been noted in the previous literature, most of the studies that analyze social and environmental disclosure drivers were conducted in developed countries, e.g., see [37,70,79], where SD is proposed as a dialog between firms and their stakeholders who are interested in corporate social and environmental activities [14]. This SD is used to manipulate the perception of the main stakeholders [27], and the following strategy of the company is to satisfy the interests of these stakeholders closer to "weak sustainability" [23].…”

“…So, if the disclosing of information is really analyzed discursively, perhaps words are not always real actions [101]. [102] (N) Freedman and Jaggi [103] (N) Brammer and Pavelin [83] (N) Magness [88] (N) Elijido-Ten [84] (N) Sun et al [91] (+) Kent and Zunker [87] (+) Chiu and Wang [60] (−) Cho et al [35] (+) Roberts [82] (+) Haniffa and Cooke [33] (+) Orlitzky et al [34] (+) Lu and Abeysekera [14] (N) Brine et al [36] (N) Chiu and Wang [60] (+) Buhr [32] (+) Weber [104] (+) Artiach et al [105] (−) Moneva et al [25] Environmental Good (+) Al-Tuwaijri et al [28] (+) Li et al [106] Bad (+) Li et al [106] (+) Cho et al [35] (+) Patten [107] Higher Impact (+) Brammer and Pavelin [83] Overall (+) Clarkson et al [29,30] (+) Clarkson et al [31] (-) Cho and Patten [22] (-) De Villiers and van Staden [53] (N) Husillos and Álvarez-Gil [72] (N) Elijido-Ten [84] (N) Sun et al [91] (N) Freedman and Wasley [108] (N) Ingram and Frazier [109] (+) Weber [104] Sustainability (N) Gallardo-Vázquez et al [37] (+) Herbohn et al [85] (+) Positive and significant relation; (−) Negative and significant Relation; (N) No significant relation. (+) Positive and significant relation; (−) Negative and significant relation; (N) Non-significant re...…”

“…A firm's past and current economic performance has been considered as a formative character and variable of the firm's SP, which has been empirically corroborated [72,80,119,123,156] and in SD [14]. However, recently, after analyzing the prior literature which studies the CSR and financial or EP relation [157,158], or the SP and EP relation [159,160], or the relation between CSR disclosure and performance [37], it has been found more convenient to introduce certain moderating variables that strengthen the connection between the two. Further advancements in this field are thereby facilitated.…”

“…So, no unique relationship has prevailed in empirical studies in the link between SP, business competitiveness and economic success [12], patent in their different social, environment and global dimensions. A positive relationship between environmental disclosure and environmental performance can be found [28][29][30][31], or between SD and performance [32] or corporate social reporting [33,34], but also a negative relation can be found [25,35], or indeed that no significant relationship exists [36], except that it is moderated by three key variables: Region, type of disclosure and measures of organization size [37].…”

Relationship between Green Design and Material Flow Cost Accounting in the Context of Effective Resource Utilization

“…The deterioration of the global environment has led to the rise of corporate social responsibility. The increasingly forceful demands, made by much of society, that companies be responsible for their unethical practices [1]. Various improvement tools have come out.…”