Research methodology for corporate disclosure of business social responsibility: conceptual approach

Abstract

The article analyzes the social responsibility of business and the quality of its reflection in corporate reporting. The purpose of the study is to develop methodological solutions for conducting an up-to-date study of the social responsibility of Russian large businesses, based on the information contained in their financial and non-financial statements. The study uses the methods of abduction, meaningful analysis of the current state of the social sphere; logical analysis of research made by scientists and interested organizations in the field of social sphere and business social responsibility, which were assessed on the basis of the social reporting study; logical content analysis of financial and non-financial reporting standards in terms of requirements for disclosure of social aspects; expert analysis of social reporting of Russian companies in various industries, linguistic analysis to analyze the use of certain terms and concepts in financial and non-financial reporting of companies. The information base of the study includes the International Financial Reporting Standards, Sustainable Development Reporting Standards, Basic Performance Indicators of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP); financial and non-financial reporting of companies in the material production industries. As a result of the study, the methodological solutions for the analysis and assessment of the Russian economic entities` social responsibility were substantiated and proposed. On the basis of the analysis of trends in the social sphere along with the identified opportunities and threats for its further development caused by the evolution of digitalization, economy and ecology, a block of the most important problems was formed. Participation in the solution of such problems characterizes the social responsibility of business. The paper proposes certain stages of researching the social responsibility of business. With this article, the authors open a series of publications that will comprehensively and systematically study the problems of accounting, analysis and assessment of the economic entities` social responsibility in a rapidly changing environment and emerging new challenges for society and business, including the development of a research methodology, assessment of the composition, completeness and quality of the information base, taking into account industry-specific features of the studied objects, and analytical methods and procedures.