Organization types and corporate social responsibility reporting in Finnish forest industry

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to literature on corporate social responsibility by comparing CSR reporting between co‐operative organizations and listed companies. The authors aim to illustrate whether the different values and principles of co‐operatives and public limited companies result in differences in CSR reporting between these organization types. Design/methodology/approach - First, the authors introduce the concept of CSR reporting. Second, they extend their framework with some previous literature on co‐operation. Using qualitative methodology, they compare values and objectives as well as communication and reporting of the co‐operative to those of the listed companies. The analyses and the synthesis of CSR reporting and co‐operation literatures provides academics and practitioners with ideas on how to move towards a model of co‐operative CSR reporting. Findings - Values and principles of co‐operation do not significantly guide the CSR reporting of our case co‐operative. Instead, the issues emphasized in CSR reporting of our case co‐operative and the two investor‐owned companies are mostly related to common concern and the latest course of events throughout the world and the current issues in general. The study also indicates that the case co‐operative (Metsäliitto) falls behind in its CSR reporting to those of the listed companies (Stora Enso and UPM‐Kymmene). Research limitations/implications - While the study helps to understand the role of organization type in CSR reporting, as such the findings are limited to the context of the study. Practical implications - The paper provides a good point of departure for students and practitioners interested in CSR reporting and co‐operatives. Originality/value - To the authors' knowledge, so far the role of organization type (and the related differences in business objectives, values etc.) in CSR reporting has not received much of scholarly attention.