Corporate social responsibility reporting quality, board characteristics and corporate social reputation

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting quality and board characteristics on corporate social reputation of Chinese listed firms. Design/methodology/approach – Firms chosen for this study are drawn from a social responsibility ranking list of Chinese listed firms. The social responsibility rating scores identified by this ranking list are used to measure the social reputation of firms studied. The model-testing method is used to examine hypothesised relationships between CSR reporting quality, board characteristics and corporate social reputation. Findings – The results indicate that CSR reporting quality positively influences corporate social reputation but chief executive officer/chairman duality as a measure of board characteristics has a negative impact on corporate social reputation. Firm’s financial performance and firm size also positively influence corporate social reputation. Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample of firms for a cross-sectional study, and the proxies constructed for various concepts to empirically test hypotheses can limit generalising findings to firms outside the social responsibility ranking list. Future studies can undertake longitudinal analysis and compare socially responsible firms with others to expand empirical findings about corporate social reputation. Originality/value – This paper investigates the influences of CSR reporting quality and board characteristics on corporate social reputation in the context of a developing country, China.

Analysis of Environmental Accounting and Reporting Practices of Listed Banking Companies in Bangladesh

“…In addition, stakeholders have supposition regarding EAR disclosure performance in connection with pollution prevention, bio-diversity, environmental management system, climate change disclosure, and effective and efficient utilization of natural resources [4,[33][34][35]. Accordingly, corporation should report all of the EAR issues to its stakeholders in the name of annual reports, web sites, brochures, stand-alone CSR or sustainability reports [17,32].…”

“…Banks do the business in the society and their financial and non-financial activities receive huge amount of pressure from its various stakeholders including media, NGO, investors, government, customers, and shareholders [4,17,29,[32][33][34]. Stakeholder theory is commonly and widely used as a rationale underlying active EAR disclosure.…”

“…Accordingly, corporation should report all of the EAR issues to its stakeholders in the name of annual reports, web sites, brochures, stand-alone CSR or sustainability reports [17,32]. Prior investigation specified that EAR has become an "action and support tool" for organizations to reach its stakeholders and to enhance overall performance and reputation [33,35,37]. Currently, banks in developing countries like Bangladesh are facing a great deal of challenges from stakeholders regarding environmental and ecological issues, especially from institutional investors [4,17,29].…”

“…Strategic legitimacy explains organizations' desire and motivation for EAR, CSR and Sustainability issues. From the legitimacy perspective EAR reporting is an influential utensil of a company to communicate with society [4,33,34,38]. Legitimacy is important for every organization to manage its strong and reputed position and status in the society and to know the reactions of respondents from the society.…”

“…Effective management is directly associated with good governance, and at the same time it ensures stakeholder expectation from the firm. Corporation is required to understand that sound and faithful relationship with its various stakeholders will lead to survival and financial success in the long-run [32][33][34].…”