Corporate perspectives on CSR disclosure: audience, materiality, motivations

The lack of uniform non-voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure standards and the complexity around different stakeholder demands have resulted in considerable flexibility in corporate compliance with CSR reporting. Covering a wide range of CSR dimensions, this paper investigates corporate views on CSR disclosure. Evidence presented is based on an online survey with 278 corporate professionals, who are familiar with corporate reporting in the UK, such as CSR professionals, managers, CEOs, CFOs and non-executive directors. The findings reveal the primacy of shareholder and institutional investor needs in CSR disclosure decisions. Some practitioners believe multiple reports are needed to ensure appropriate dissemination of CSR information. Fair business practice and environment-related information are perceived as the most important items to disclose. Whilst financial information remains paramount, the relative importance of reporting non-financial information has increased significantly, with the key areas relating to governance, health and safety, environmental impact and pollution control, and human rights information. For many participants, mandatory regulation is considered as the only way for CSR reporting to be taken seriously on the corporate level. This paper contributes to the limited studies that investigate the views of practitioners by means of primary data. The study complements the literature on CSR disclosure by intensifying the clarity of the understanding of corporate perspectives on CSR and by identifying potential factors that influence CSR reporting decisions in the UK context. The findings strengthen the arguments of prior studies about what items of information should be included in CSR reports and how to disclose the company’s CSR information in a more substantive way.