IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v26y2017i6p807-825.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional Constraints, Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Environmental Reporting Policies

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez
  • Eduardo Ortas
  • José Luis Vicente‐Villardón
  • Igor Álvarez Etxeberria

Abstract

Within the theoretical framework of socio‐political economics, and more specifically of stakeholder theory, this work examines whether companies operating under different institutional constraints and stakeholder pressure tend to emphasize different models of corporate environmental reporting. Furthermore, the paper tests whether different corporate environmental reporting policies are driven by the countries' corporate governance systems. A sample of 3931 international companies was examined through a logistic biplot and conditional mean linear regression models. The main results reveal that companies follow two distinct environmental reporting approaches, which depend on specific stakeholders and institutional requirements. The first model, which is followed by firms within codified law countries, mostly focuses on water and emissions. The second approach, mainly followed by companies operating in common law countries, emphasizes materials and energy issues. This finding reveals that companies gradually modify their environmental strategies to make themselves more compatible with the characteristics of the social and institutional environment, which will result in several corporate benefits. The paper provides several outstanding implications for companies' strategic managers, national institutions and firms' stakeholders, especially for investors and customers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez & Eduardo Ortas & José Luis Vicente‐Villardón & Igor Álvarez Etxeberria, 2017. "Institutional Constraints, Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Environmental Reporting Policies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 807-825, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:26:y:2017:i:6:p:807-825
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.1952
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1952
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.1952?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diego Pérez‐López & Ana Moreno‐Romero & Ralf Barkemeyer, 2015. "Exploring the Relationship between Sustainability Reporting and Sustainability Management Practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 720-734, December.
    2. Isabelle Maignan & David A Ralston, 2002. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe and the U.S.: Insights from Businesses' Self-presentations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 497-514, September.
    3. R. Bock & Murray Aitkin, 1981. "Marginal maximum likelihood estimation of item parameters: Application of an EM algorithm," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 443-459, December.
    4. Denis Cormier & Michel Magnan & Barbara Van Velthoven, 2005. "Environmental disclosure quality in large German companies: Economic incentives, public pressures or institutional conditions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 3-39.
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    6. Rachel N. Birkey & Giovanna Michelon & Dennis M. Patten & Jomo Sankara, 2016. "Does assurance on CSR reporting enhance environmental reputation? An examination in the U.S. context," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 143-152, September.
    7. Ali Fekrat, M. & Inclan, Carla & Petroni, David, 1996. "Corporate environmental disclosures: Competitive disclosure hypothesis using 1991 annual report data," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    8. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    9. Basil Al‐Najjar & Aspioni Anfimiadou, 2012. "Environmental Policies and Firm Value," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 49-59, January.
    10. Carol Adams & Nongnooch Kuasirikun, 2000. "A comparative analysis of corporate reporting on ethical issues by UK and German chemical and pharmaceutical companies," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 53-79.
    11. Stuart L. Hart & Gautam Ahuja, 1996. "Does It Pay To Be Green? An Empirical Examination Of The Relationship Between Emission Reduction And Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 30-37, March.
    12. Roger L. Burritt & Stefan Schaltegger, 2010. "Sustainability accounting and reporting: fad or trend?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(7), pages 829-846, September.
    13. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    14. Céline Kauffmann & Cristina Tébar Less & Dorothee Teichmann, 2012. "Corporate Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting: A Stocktaking of Government Schemes," OECD Working Papers on International Investment 2012/1, OECD Publishing.
    15. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    16. J. Emil Morhardt, 2010. "Corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting on the Internet," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(7), pages 436-452, November.
    17. Asit Bhattacharyya & Lorne Cummings, 2015. "Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance – Stakeholder Engagement Evaluation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 309-325, July.
    18. Chalmers, R. Philip, 2012. "mirt: A Multidimensional Item Response Theory Package for the R Environment," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i06).
    19. C. Christopher Baughn & Nancy L. (Dusty) Bodie & John C. McIntosh, 2007. "Corporate social and environmental responsibility in Asian countries and other geographical regions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 189-205, September.
    20. Kjell Mårtensson & Karin Westerberg, 2016. "Corporate Environmental Strategies Towards Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 1-9, January.
    21. Stephen J. Brammer & Stephen Pavelin & Lynda A. Porter, 2009. "Corporate Charitable Giving, Multinational Companies and Countries of Concern," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 575-596, June.
    22. David G Sirmon & Peter J Lane, 2004. "A model of cultural differences and international alliance performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(4), pages 306-319, July.
    23. Andreas Andrikopoulos & Nikoleta Kriklani, 2013. "Environmental Disclosure and Financial Characteristics of the Firm: The Case of Denmark," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 55-64, January.
    24. Eduardo Ortas & Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez & Igor Álvarez Etxeberria, 2015. "Financial Factors Influencing the Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Disclosure: A Quantile Regression Approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 362-380, November.
    25. Carl J. Kock & Byung S. Min, 2016. "Legal Origins, Corporate Governance, and Environmental Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 507-524, October.
    26. Dierkes, Meinolf & Berthoin Antal, Ariane, 1985. "The usefulness and use of social reporting information," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 29-34.
    27. Gary K Meek & Clare B Roberts & Sidney J Gray, 1995. "Factors Influencing Voluntary Annual Report Disclosures By U.S., U.K. and Continental European Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 26(3), pages 555-572, September.
    28. Tsung-hsiu Tsai, 2008. "The impact of social capital on regional waste recycling," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 44-55.
    29. Torbjörn Tagesson & Veronica Blank & Pernilla Broberg & Sven‐Olof Collin, 2009. "What explains the extent and content of social and environmental disclosures on corporate websites: a study of social and environmental reporting in Swedish listed corporations," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(6), pages 352-364, November.
    30. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2008. "Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 120-136, February.
    31. Burkard Eberlein & Dirk Matten, 2009. "Business Responses to Climate Change Regulation in Canada and Germany: Lessons for MNCs from Emerging Economies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 241-255, March.
    32. Carlos Larrinaga & Francisco Carrasco & Carmen Correa & Fernando Llena & Jose Moneva, 2002. "Accountability and accounting regulation: the case of the Spanish environmental disclosure standard," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 723-740.
    33. Breeda Comyns, 2016. "Determinants of GHG Reporting: An Analysis of Global Oil and Gas Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 349-369, June.
    34. Dierkes, Meinolf & Antal, Ariane Berthoin, 1985. "The usefulness and use of social reporting information," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 29-34, January.
    35. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "Corrigendum to "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings"; [Journal of Accounting and Economics 29 (2000) 1-51]," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 241-241, October.
    36. Ilinitch, Anne Y. & Soderstrom, Naomi S. & E. Thomas, Tom, 1998. "Measuring corporate environmental performance," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(4-5), pages 383-408.
    37. Fernando Llena & Jose M. Moneva & Blanca Hernandez, 2007. "Environmental disclosures and compulsory accounting standards: the case of spanish annual reports," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 50-63, January.
    38. van der Laan Smith, Joyce & Adhikari, Ajay & Tondkar, Rasoul H., 2005. "Exploring differences in social disclosures internationally: A stakeholder perspective," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 123-151.
    39. Ball, Ray & Kothari, S. P. & Robin, Ashok, 2000. "The effect of international institutional factors on properties of accounting earnings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-51, February.
    40. Yuriko Nakao & Akihiro Amano & Kanichiro Matsumura & Kiminori Genba & Makiko Nakano, 2007. "Relationship between environmental performance and financial performance: an empirical analysis of japanese corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 106-118, February.
    41. Freedman, Martin & Jaggi, Bikki, 2005. "Global warming, commitment to the Kyoto protocol, and accounting disclosures by the largest global public firms from polluting industries," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 215-232.
    42. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    43. Matthias S. Fifka, 2013. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-35, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthias S. Fifka, 2013. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-35, January.
    2. Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, 2017. "Coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as determinants of the voluntary assurance of sustainability reports," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 102-118.
    3. Eduardo Ortas & Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez & Igor Álvarez Etxeberria, 2015. "Financial Factors Influencing the Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Disclosure: A Quantile Regression Approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 362-380, November.
    4. Le Luo & Qingliang Tang & Juan Peng, 2018. "The direct and moderating effects of power distance on carbon transparency: An international investigation of cultural value and corporate social responsibility," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1546-1557, December.
    5. Laura Girella & Paola Rossi & Stefano Zambon, 2019. "Exploring the firm and country determinants of the voluntary adoption of integrated reporting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(7), pages 1323-1340, November.
    6. Isabel Gallego‐Álvarez, 2018. "Assessing corporate environmental issues in international companies: A study of explanatory factors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1284-1294, December.
    7. Mitzi Isabel Cubilla‐Montilla & Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Ana Belén Nieto‐Librero & María Purificación Vicente Galindo & Isabel María García‐Sánchez, 2020. "What companies do not disclose about their environmental policy and what institutional pressures may do to respect," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1181-1197, May.
    8. Matthias S. Fifka & Maria Drabble, 2012. "Focus and Standardization of Sustainability Reporting – A Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and Finland," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 455-474, November.
    9. Eugenio D'Amico & Daniela Coluccia & Stefano Fontana & Silvia Solimene, 2016. "Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 178-192, March.
    10. Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2019. "Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    11. Mitzi Cubilla‐Montilla & Ana‐Belén Nieto‐Librero & Ma Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Ma Purificación Vicente Galindo & Isabel‐María Garcia‐Sanchez, 2019. "Are cultural values sufficient to improve stakeholder engagement human and labour rights issues?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 938-955, July.
    12. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    13. Siddique, Md Abubakar & Akhtaruzzaman, Md & Rashid, Afzalur & Hammami, Helmi, 2021. "Carbon disclosure, carbon performance and financial performance: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    14. Víctor Amor-Esteban & Isabel-María García-Sánchez & Mª-Purificación Galindo-Villardón, 2018. "Analysing the Effect of Legal System on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the Country Level, from a Multivariate Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 435-452, November.
    15. van der Laan Smith, Joyce & Gouldman, Andrea L. & Tondkar, Rasoul H., 2014. "Does the adoption of IFRS affect corporate social disclosure in annual reports?," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 402-412.
    16. Elisabeth Albertini, 2017. "What We Know About Environmental Policy: An Inductive Typology of the Research," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 277-287, March.
    17. Hannu Schadewitz & Mikael Niskala, 2010. "Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 96-106, March.
    18. Jeanne Amar & Samira Demaria & Sandra Rigot, 2019. "What motivates CAC 40 companies to disclose information on climate-related financial risks?," Post-Print halshs-02407125, HAL.
    19. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    20. Despina Galani & Efthymios Gravas & Antonios Stavropoulos, 2012. "Company Characteristics and Environmental Policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 236-247, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:26:y:2017:i:6:p:807-825. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.