IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v20y2013i3p182-192.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of GRI G3 Application Levels: The Case of the Fortune Global 500

Author

Listed:
  • Stéphane Legendre
  • François Coderre

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to analyze the determinants for the adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 guidelines and GRI G3 application levels (undeclared, C, C+, B, B+, A, A+). Content analysis of the 2009 sustainability reports published by the world's 500 largest companies (Fortune Global 500) was conducted. Based on legitimacy theory and signalling theory, the study yielded two main findings. First, the binary logistic regression reveals that the adoption of GRI G3 guidelines is influenced by company size, profitability, business culture of a country, and industry. These results are consistent with past research on the factors influencing sustainability reporting. Second, the ordinal logistic regression shows that the GRI G3 application level is influenced by the industry in which a firm operates but not by company size, profitability or business culture of a country. In high‐risk industries, the GRI G3 application level is more likely to be considered as a signal to manage the reputational risk of the companies. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Stéphane Legendre & François Coderre, 2013. "Determinants of GRI G3 Application Levels: The Case of the Fortune Global 500," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 182-192, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:20:y:2013:i:3:p:182-192
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1285
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1285
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1285?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. Kittiya Yongvanich & James Guthrie, 2006. "An extended performance reporting framework for social and environmental accounting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 309-321, September.
    2. Sónia Maria da Silva Monteiro & Beatriz Aibar‐Guzmán, 2010. "Determinants of environmental disclosure in the annual reports of large companies operating in Portugal," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 185-204, July.
    3. Rob Gray & Mohammed Javad & David M. Power & C. Donald Sinclair, 2001. "Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3‐4), pages 327-356, April.
    4. David Campbell, 2003. "Intra‐ and intersectoral effects in environmental disclosures: evidence for legitimacy theory?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 357-371, November.
    5. James Guthrie & Federica Farneti, 2008. "GRI Sustainability Reporting by Australian Public Sector Organizations," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 361-366, December.
    6. Patten, Dennis M., 2002. "The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 763-773, November.
    7. Isabel Gallego, 2006. "The use of economic, social and environmental indicators as a measure of sustainable development in Spain," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 78-97, May.
    8. Charles T. Crespy & Van V. Miller, 2011. "Sustainability reporting: A comparative study of NGOs and MNCs," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(5), pages 275-284, September.
    9. Neu, D. & Warsame, H. & Pedwell, K., 1998. "Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 265-282, April.
    10. Jan Bebbington & Carlos Larrinaga & Jose M. Moneva, 2008. "Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 337-361, March.
    11. 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.
    12. Jose‐Manuel Prado‐Lorenzo & Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez & Isabel M. Garcia‐Sanchez, 2009. "Stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility reporting: the ownership structure effect," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 94-107, March.
    13. Chiara Mio, 2010. "Corporate social reporting in Italian multi‐utility companies: an empirical analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(5), pages 247-271, September.
    14. Nan Sun & Aly Salama & Khaled Hussainey & Murya Habbash, 2010. "Corporate environmental disclosure, corporate governance and earnings management," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 25(7), pages 679-700, July.
    15. Lori Holder-Webb & Jeffrey Cohen & Leda Nath & David Wood, 2009. "The Supply of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures Among U.S. Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(4), pages 497-527, February.
    16. 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.
    17. Ans Kolk, 2008. "Sustainability, accountability and corporate governance: exploring multinationals' reporting practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    18. Rob Gray & Mohammed Javad & David M. Power & C. Donald Sinclair, 2001. "Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3-4), pages 327-356.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aluchna, Maria & Roszkowska-Menkes, Maria & Jastrzębska, Ewa & Bohdanowicz, Leszek, 2023. "Sustainability reporting as a social construct : the systematic literature review within socio-political view," Other publications TiSEM 2b64bf0e-2d46-469f-b19e-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Giuseppe Sannino & Manuela Lucchese & Giovanni Zampone & Rosa Lombardi, 2020. "Cultural dimensions, Global Reporting Initiatives commitment, and corporate social responsibility issues: New evidence from Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development banks," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1653-1663, July.
    3. Haitham Nobanee & Maryam Alhajjar & Ghada Abushairah & Safaa Al Harbi, 2021. "Reputational Risk and Sustainability: A Bibliometric Analysis of Relevant Literature," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Manuel Castelo Branco & Catarina Delgado & Carla Marques, 2018. "How do sustainability reports from the Nordic and the Mediterranean European countries compare," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 917-936, October.
    5. Tatsuya Kato, 2022. "The Effects of Corporate Governance on ESG-related Information Disclosure: Evidence from Japanese Firms," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 40, pages 67-100, November.
    6. Patrycja Hąbek, 2017. "CSR Reporting Practices in Visegrad Group Countries and the Quality of Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Cinthia Leonora Murillo‐Avalos & Mitzi Cubilla‐Montilla & Miguel Ángel Celestino Sánchez & Purificación Vicente‐Galindo, 2021. "What environmental social responsibility practices do large companies manage for sustainable development?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 153-168, January.
    8. Blanca de-Miguel-Molina & Vicente Chirivella-González & Beatriz García-Ortega, 2016. "Corporate philanthropy and community involvement. Analysing companies from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 2741-2766, November.
    9. Andrej Miklosik & Peter Starchon & Milos Hitka, 2021. "Environmental sustainability disclosures in annual reports of ASX Industrials List companies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16227-16245, November.
    10. María L. Gallén & Carlos Peraita, 2017. "The Relationship between Femininity and Sustainability Reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 496-508, November.
    11. Roberto Fernández‐Gago & Laura Cabeza‐García & Mariano Nieto, 2018. "Independent directors' background and CSR disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 991-1001, September.
    12. Gölgeci, Ismail & Ferraris, Alberto & Arslan, Ahmad & Tarba, Shlomo Y., 2019. "European MNE subsidiaries' embeddedness and innovation performance: Moderating role of external search depth and breadth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 97-108.
    13. Enrico Massaroni & Alessandra Cozzolino & Mario Calabrese & Ewa Wankowicz & Maura Fiore, 2016. "Reporting di sostenibilit? degli operatori logistici in Europa: analisi degli indicatori," ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 303-334.
    14. Ali Uyar & Abdullah S Karaman & Merve Kilic, 2021. "Institutional drivers of sustainability reporting in the global tourism industry," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(1), pages 105-128, February.
    15. Michel Coulmont & Sylvie Berthelot & Vincent Gagné, 2022. "Sustainability performance indicator trends: a Canadian industry-based analysis," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    16. María del Mar Miras-Rodríguez & Roberto Di Pietra, 2018. "Corporate Governance mechanisms as drivers that enhance the credibility and usefulness of CSR disclosure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(3), pages 565-588, September.
    17. Grigoris Giannarakis & Andreas Andronikidis & Nikolaos Sariannidis, 2020. "Determinants of environmental disclosure: investigating new and conventional corporate governance characteristics," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 294(1), pages 87-105, November.
    18. Milind Kumar Jha & K. Rangarajan, 2020. "Analysis of corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance causal linkage in the Indian context," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-30, December.
    19. Salvatore Loprevite & Domenico Raucci & Daniela Rupo, 2020. "KPIs Reporting and Financial Performance in the Transition to Mandatory Disclosure: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-24, June.
    20. Bona-Sánchez, Carolina & Pérez-Alemán, Jerónimo & Santana-Martin, Domingo J., 2017. "Sustainability disclosure, dominant owners and earnings informativeness," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 625-639.
    21. Andrea Chiarini, 2017. "Environmental Policies for Evaluating Suppliers' Performance Based on GRI Indicators," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 98-111, January.
    22. Milind Kumar Jha & K. Rangarajan, 2020. "The approach of Indian corporates towards sustainable development: An exploration using sustainable development goals based model," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1019-1032, September.
    23. Cornelia Beck & Geoffrey Frost & Stewart Jones, 2018. "CSR disclosure and financial performance revisited: A cross-country analysis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(4), pages 517-537, November.

    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. Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & Isabel M. Garcia‐Sanchez & Beatriz Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, 2015. "Effect of Financial Reporting Quality on Sustainability Information Disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 45-64, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Roberto Fernández‐Gago & Laura Cabeza‐García & Mariano Nieto, 2018. "Independent directors' background and CSR disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 991-1001, September.
    4. Emerald Edem Welbeck & Godfred Matthew Yaw Owusu & Rita Amoah Bekoe & John Amoah Kusi, 2017. "Determinants of environmental disclosures of listed firms in Ghana," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Concetta Carnevale & Maria Mazzuca & Sergio Venturini, 2012. "Corporate Social Reporting in European Banks: The Effects on a Firm's Market Value," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 159-177, May.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez & María J. Barroso-Méndez & María L. Pajuelo-Moreno & Julio Sánchez-Meca, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Performance: A Meta-Analytic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-33, February.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Bouten, Lies & Everaert, Patricia & Van Liedekerke, Luc & De Moor, Lieven & Christiaens, Johan, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility reporting: A comprehensive picture?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 187-204.
    12. Xiangan Ding & Ying Qu & Mohsin Shahzad, 2019. "The Impact of Environmental Administrative Penalties on the Disclosure of Environmental Information," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-24, October.
    13. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    14. Claudia Arena & Saverio Bozzolan & Giovanna Michelon, 2015. "Environmental Reporting: Transparency to Stakeholders or Stakeholder Manipulation? An Analysis of Disclosure Tone and the Role of the Board of Directors," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 346-361, November.
    15. Sónia Maria da Silva Monteiro & Beatriz Aibar‐Guzmán, 2010. "Determinants of environmental disclosure in the annual reports of large companies operating in Portugal," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 185-204, July.
    16. Higgins, Colin & Walker, Robyn, 2012. "Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 194-208.
    17. Jose‐Manuel Prado‐Lorenzo & Isabel Gallego‐Alvarez & Isabel M. Garcia‐Sanchez, 2009. "Stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility reporting: the ownership structure effect," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 94-107, March.
    18. Beck, A. Cornelia & Campbell, David & Shrives, Philip J., 2010. "Content analysis in environmental reporting research: Enrichment and rehearsal of the method in a British–German context," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 207-222.
    19. Radhakrishnan, Suresh & Tsang, Albert & Liu, Rubing, 2018. "A Corporate Social Responsibility Framework for Accounting Research," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 274-294.
    20. Brunella Arru, 2015. "Indagine sulla comunicazione della responsabilit? sociale delle societ? quotate italiane," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(4), pages 15-46.

    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:wly:corsem:v:20:y:2013:i:3:p:182-192. 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: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.