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

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  • 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.

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  • 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
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    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.
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    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.

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