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Corporate social reporting, embracing the triple bottom line reporting concept, entails the reporting of economic, social and environmental performance as opposed to the more narrow focus on conventional financial reporting. Many corporations are now engaging in environmental and social reporting in an effort to communicate the social and environmental effects of organisations‟ operations to particular interest groups within society. The main objective of this thesis is to examine corporate motivations and hesitations to undertake social reporting in Malaysia. Most studies have so far applied quantitative method on themes identification to determine rationales for corporate social reporting. Little attention has been given to in-depth primary and secondary data to understand rationales for corporate social reporting in a national context. In addition to motivation, this study fills the gap in the literature by investigating corporate reluctance for social reporting. A qualitative approach was adopted for this study. A mixed method of data collection, consisting of both semi-structured interviews and corporate social reports, was used. A total of 20 interviews were conducted with representatives of six reporting and six non-reporting corporations, and eight non-corporate respondents representing the Malaysian political and social sectors. In addition to primary data, corporate social information in annual reports and corporate websites of six reporting corporations was also collected to support the interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to identify salient themes to explain both corporate motivation and hesitation for social reporting. The analysis was divided into two levels: corporation and society. At the corporate level, results identify public relations as the central motivation for social reporting. More specifically, the concepts of image and identity, issues management, two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical communication, autocommunication, and publicity are used to explain the adoption of social reporting. Image and identity and issues management were also among the concepts applied to explain corporate hesitation for social reporting. However, the results also support stockholder theory and reveal the lack of public relations understanding to be the cause of the low acceptance of social reporting. In-depth analysis revealed organisational legitimacy as the main reason to explain both motivation and hesitation for social reporting. Corporations require stakeholder support for their continual existence. At the societal level analysis, the concept of political economy was applied to explain the limited social reporting practice in the Malaysian context. Finally, the implications for both practising as well as neglecting social reporting are discussed using the concept of the risk society.

No / Our aim is to increase understanding of the potential effects of culture and corporate governance on social disclosures. The ethnic background of directors and shareholders is used as a proxy for culture. Corporate governance characteristics include board composition, multiple directorships and type of shareholders. The dependent variable, disclosure in annual reports of Malaysian corporations, is measured by an index score as well as in terms of number of words. Our results indicate a significant relationship between corporate social disclosure and boards dominated by Malay directors, boards dominated by executive directors, chair with multiple directorships and foreign share ownership. Four of the control variables (size, profitability, multiple listing and type of industry) were significantly related to corporate social disclosure with the exception of gearing. This study has public policy implications for Malaysia as well as a number of other countries in the Asia¿Pacific region.

Background: Companies today are under increasing pressure from their stakeholders to become more and more transparent regarding the way they deal with the impact on the environment and the communities where they operate in. This type of information is mainly provided by means of sustainability reports. Several guidelines have been developed to aid report makers on the way. Currently however these sustainability reports still differ widely in the quantity of information provided which makes them difficult to compare and it is therefore important to understand the factors that can influence the amount of information being published. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors having an impact on the amount of sustainability information published by Swedish companies using the guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Method: Telephone interviews were conducted with eleven of the twenty-three Swedish companies listed in the GRI register in order to get their point of view regarding these factors. Results: The study identified that the willingness to communicate with more than one stakeholder group is the most important factor that can influence the amount of information disclosed in sustainability reports. The authors also argue that a proactive attitude towards identifying legitimation strategies instead of an adaptive approach can also influence the degree of disclosure. Finally, a positive attitude towards the GRI guidelines may also contribute to producing a more detailed report.

Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der Definition von Corporate Social Performance im ersten Teil. Hierbei wird zuerst geklärt, weshalb eine Definition notwendig ist und ob in empirischen Studien verwendete Maße die verwendeten Definitionen abbilden. Nachfolgend wird ein Definitionsvorschlag aus bekannten Definitionen entwickelt. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird geklärt, welche Faktoren dazu führen, dass Unternehmen eine soziale Berichterstattung haben und ob diese Art der Berichterstattung auch zur finanziellen Leistung von Unternehmen beitragen kann.

<p>Background: Companies today are under increasing pressure from their stakeholders to become more and more transparent regarding the way they deal with the impact on the environment and the communities where they operate in. This type of information is mainly provided by means of sustainability reports. Several guidelines have been developed to aid report makers on the way. Currently however these sustainability reports still differ widely in the quantity of information provided which makes them difficult to compare and it is therefore important to understand the factors that can influence the amount of information being published.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors having an impact on the amount of sustainability information published by Swedish companies using the guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).</p><p>Method: Telephone interviews were conducted with eleven of the twenty-three Swedish companies listed in the GRI register in order to get their point of view regarding these factors.</p><p>Results: The study identified that the willingness to communicate with more than one stakeholder group is the most important factor that can influence the amount of information disclosed in sustainability reports. The authors also argue that a proactive attitude towards identifying legitimation strategies instead of an adaptive approach can also influence the degree of disclosure. Finally, a positive attitude towards the GRI guidelines may also contribute to producing a more detailed report.</p>

O objetivo geral da presente pesquisa consiste em averiguar a percepção dos usuários externos dos relatórios anuais das empresas quanto à qualidade das informações sociais e ambientais neles contidas. As principais justificativas para a realização do estudo são: (i) os relatórios anuais das empresas são considerados importante meio de evidenciação; (ii) o número de empresas que divulgam informações socioambientais tem aumentado consideravelmente; (iii) o mercado de capitais é considerado importante usuário da informação contábil e foco de muitos estudos, mas não o único; por isso, se fazem necessários estudos que possam averiguar a qualidade da informação para os demais usuários. A pesquisa, de caráter descritivo, foi conduzida por uma survey, utilizando questionários como instrumento de coleta de dados. Os questionários foram hospedados no site do Formsite.com. Considerou-se a amostra por acessibilidade, composta de 169 representantes de empresas de capital aberto, 438 analistas credenciados na CVM e 220 acadêmicos, representados por professores de programas de pós-graduação em ciências contábeis recomendados pela CAPES. Foram obtidas 211 respostas válidas, representando um índice de resposta de aproximadamente 30%. Antes da análise dos dados, foi averiguada a confiabilidade do instrumento e o efeito da não resposta. O teste de confiabilidade demonstrou satisfatória a consistência interna do instrumento. O teste da não resposta apontou a não rejeição da hipótese de que não existe diferença significativa entre os respondentes pontuais e retardatários. Após os testes de consistência e não resposta, realizou-se, inicialmente, a análise descritiva dos dados, que consistiu na organização, sumarização, descrição da amostra, evidenciada por meio de tabelas e gráficos. Na segunda parte da análise, foram realizados testes de significância, com a finalidade de explorar relações de semelhanças/dessemelhanças entre os grupos estudados, por meio do teste paramétrico ANOVA e dos testes não paramétricos Qui Quadrado, Teste Exato de Fischer e Teste de Mann-Whitney. As análises demonstraram que os usuários consideram úteis tanto as informações sociais e ambientais, quanto a DVA. No entanto, usuários que não reconhecem a utilidade dessas informações não as utilizam, especialmente, analistas. Os respondentes concordam que as informações sociais e/ou ambientais divulgadas nos relatórios anuais das empresas têm por finalidade atender a acionistas, administradores, credores, empregados, governo, investidores institucionais e, notadamente, à sociedade. Os usuários consideram a preocupação com a imagem da empresa o principal motivo, dentre os sugeridos, para a evidenciação de informações sociais e/ou ambientais e entendem que, como consequência da referida evidenciação, as empresas passam a utilizar o relatório anual como meio de promoção. Os usuários são favoráveis a normas que exijam a evidenciação de informações de caráter social e ambiental e preferem que essas sejam evidenciadas, no relatório anual, em uma seção separada. Os usuários entendem que a DVA tem por fim demonstrar a contribuição da empresa para a riqueza nacional, a contribuição da empresa para a sociedade e a carga tributária. Os analistas demonstraram ser menos satisfeitos com as características qualitativas das informações. Os resultados apontam que a percepção dos usuários, quanto às informações sociais e/ou ambientais, bem como em relação à DVA, é divergente. Adicionalmente, analisou-se, por meio da Regressão Logística, a existência de relação entre o uso das informações sociais e/ou ambientais, inclusive a DVA, para tomada de decisões e a qualidade dessas informações, sob a perspectiva dos usuários. Os resultados apresentados pelas regressões logísticas não suportam que as características qualitativas sejam atributos que tornem as informações sociais e/ou ambientais, incluindo a DVA, úteis aos usuários. Os resultados apresentados não são, portanto, coerentes com a teoria. / This research has as propose to investigate the perception of external users of company annual reports about the quality of social and environmental information. The main reasons for conducting the study are: (i) the companies\' annual reports are considered important means of disclosure, (ii) the number of companies that disclose environmental information has increased considerably, (iii) the capital market is considered important user of accounting information and focus of many studies, but not the sole, so that investigations are necessary to ascertain the quality of information for other users. A survey was conducted by using questionnaires as a tool for data collection. The questionnaires were staying at the site Formsite.com. We considered the accessibility of sample composed of 169 representatives from public companies, 438 analysts registered in CVM and 220 academics, represented by teachers in graduate programs in accounting recommended by CAPES. We obtained 211 valid responses, representing a response rate of approximately 30%. Before data analysis, was determined the reliability of the instrument and the effect of non-response. Reliability testing demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency. The test of no response indicated the nonrejection of the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between punctual and late respondents. After the tests of consistency and non-response, there was initially a descriptive analysis of data, which consisted in the organization, summarization, description of the sample, as evidenced by tables and graphs. In the second part of the analysis, significance tests were performed, aiming to explore relationships of similarities/dissimilarities between groups through parametric test ANOVA and nonparametric tests Chi-Square, Fisher\'s exact test and Mann- Whitney. Analysis showed that users find useful both social and environmental information, as DVA. However, users who do not recognize the usefulness of this information does not use them, especially analysts. The respondents agree that social and/or environmental information disclosed in company annual reports are designed to attend shareholders, managers, creditors, employees, government, institutional investors and, especially, to society. Users consider the concern with corporate image the main reason, among those suggested for the disclosure of social and/or environmental information and understand that as a consequence of that disclosure, the companies started to use the annual report as a means of promotion. The users are in favor of regulations requiring disclosure of social and environmental information and prefer that these be shown in the annual report in a separate section. Users understand that DVA is intended to demonstrate the company\'s contribution to national wealth, the company\'s contribution to society and the tax burden. Analysts have been shown to be less satisfied with the qualitative characteristics of information. The results indicate that user´s perspective, about the social and/or environmental information, as well as about DVA, is divergent. Additionally, we analyzed, by logistic regression, the existence of a relationship between the use of social and/or environmental information, including DVA, for decision making and the quality of the information from the user´s perspective. The results presented by logistic regressions do not support that the qualitative features are attributes that make the social and/or environmental information, including DVA, useful to users. The results presented are not consistent with the theory.

O objetivo geral da presente pesquisa consiste em averiguar a percepção dos usuários externos dos relatórios anuais das empresas quanto à qualidade das informações sociais e ambientais neles contidas. As principais justificativas para a realização do estudo são: (i) os relatórios anuais das empresas são considerados importante meio de evidenciação; (ii) o número de empresas que divulgam informações socioambientais tem aumentado consideravelmente; (iii) o mercado de capitais é considerado importante usuário da informação contábil e foco de muitos estudos, mas não o único; por isso, se fazem necessários estudos que possam averiguar a qualidade da informação para os demais usuários. A pesquisa, de caráter descritivo, foi conduzida por uma survey, utilizando questionários como instrumento de coleta de dados. Os questionários foram hospedados no site do Formsite.com. Considerou-se a amostra por acessibilidade, composta de 169 representantes de empresas de capital aberto, 438 analistas credenciados na CVM e 220 acadêmicos, representados por professores de programas de pós-graduação em ciências contábeis recomendados pela CAPES. Foram obtidas 211 respostas válidas, representando um índice de resposta de aproximadamente 30%. Antes da análise dos dados, foi averiguada a confiabilidade do instrumento e o efeito da não resposta. O teste de confiabilidade demonstrou satisfatória a consistência interna do instrumento. O teste da não resposta apontou a não rejeição da hipótese de que não existe diferença significativa entre os respondentes pontuais e retardatários. Após os testes de consistência e não resposta, realizou-se, inicialmente, a análise descritiva dos dados, que consistiu na organização, sumarização, descrição da amostra, evidenciada por meio de tabelas e gráficos. Na segunda parte da análise, foram realizados testes de significância, com a finalidade de explorar relações de semelhanças/dessemelhanças entre os grupos estudados, por meio do teste paramétrico ANOVA e dos testes não paramétricos Qui Quadrado, Teste Exato de Fischer e Teste de Mann-Whitney. As análises demonstraram que os usuários consideram úteis tanto as informações sociais e ambientais, quanto a DVA. No entanto, usuários que não reconhecem a utilidade dessas informações não as utilizam, especialmente, analistas. Os respondentes concordam que as informações sociais e/ou ambientais divulgadas nos relatórios anuais das empresas têm por finalidade atender a acionistas, administradores, credores, empregados, governo, investidores institucionais e, notadamente, à sociedade. Os usuários consideram a preocupação com a imagem da empresa o principal motivo, dentre os sugeridos, para a evidenciação de informações sociais e/ou ambientais e entendem que, como consequência da referida evidenciação, as empresas passam a utilizar o relatório anual como meio de promoção. Os usuários são favoráveis a normas que exijam a evidenciação de informações de caráter social e ambiental e preferem que essas sejam evidenciadas, no relatório anual, em uma seção separada. Os usuários entendem que a DVA tem por fim demonstrar a contribuição da empresa para a riqueza nacional, a contribuição da empresa para a sociedade e a carga tributária. Os analistas demonstraram ser menos satisfeitos com as características qualitativas das informações. Os resultados apontam que a percepção dos usuários, quanto às informações sociais e/ou ambientais, bem como em relação à DVA, é divergente. Adicionalmente, analisou-se, por meio da Regressão Logística, a existência de relação entre o uso das informações sociais e/ou ambientais, inclusive a DVA, para tomada de decisões e a qualidade dessas informações, sob a perspectiva dos usuários. Os resultados apresentados pelas regressões logísticas não suportam que as características qualitativas sejam atributos que tornem as informações sociais e/ou ambientais, incluindo a DVA, úteis aos usuários. Os resultados apresentados não são, portanto, coerentes com a teoria. / This research has as propose to investigate the perception of external users of company annual reports about the quality of social and environmental information. The main reasons for conducting the study are: (i) the companies\' annual reports are considered important means of disclosure, (ii) the number of companies that disclose environmental information has increased considerably, (iii) the capital market is considered important user of accounting information and focus of many studies, but not the sole, so that investigations are necessary to ascertain the quality of information for other users. A survey was conducted by using questionnaires as a tool for data collection. The questionnaires were staying at the site Formsite.com. We considered the accessibility of sample composed of 169 representatives from public companies, 438 analysts registered in CVM and 220 academics, represented by teachers in graduate programs in accounting recommended by CAPES. We obtained 211 valid responses, representing a response rate of approximately 30%. Before data analysis, was determined the reliability of the instrument and the effect of non-response. Reliability testing demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency. The test of no response indicated the nonrejection of the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between punctual and late respondents. After the tests of consistency and non-response, there was initially a descriptive analysis of data, which consisted in the organization, summarization, description of the sample, as evidenced by tables and graphs. In the second part of the analysis, significance tests were performed, aiming to explore relationships of similarities/dissimilarities between groups through parametric test ANOVA and nonparametric tests Chi-Square, Fisher\'s exact test and Mann- Whitney. Analysis showed that users find useful both social and environmental information, as DVA. However, users who do not recognize the usefulness of this information does not use them, especially analysts. The respondents agree that social and/or environmental information disclosed in company annual reports are designed to attend shareholders, managers, creditors, employees, government, institutional investors and, especially, to society. Users consider the concern with corporate image the main reason, among those suggested for the disclosure of social and/or environmental information and understand that as a consequence of that disclosure, the companies started to use the annual report as a means of promotion. The users are in favor of regulations requiring disclosure of social and environmental information and prefer that these be shown in the annual report in a separate section. Users understand that DVA is intended to demonstrate the company\'s contribution to national wealth, the company\'s contribution to society and the tax burden. Analysts have been shown to be less satisfied with the qualitative characteristics of information. The results indicate that user´s perspective, about the social and/or environmental information, as well as about DVA, is divergent. Additionally, we analyzed, by logistic regression, the existence of a relationship between the use of social and/or environmental information, including DVA, for decision making and the quality of the information from the user´s perspective. The results presented by logistic regressions do not support that the qualitative features are attributes that make the social and/or environmental information, including DVA, useful to users. The results presented are not consistent with the theory.

Die Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der Definition von Corporate Social Performance im ersten Teil. Hierbei wird zuerst geklärt, weshalb eine Definition notwendig ist und ob in empirischen Studien verwendete Maße die verwendeten Definitionen abbilden. Nachfolgend wird ein Definitionsvorschlag aus bekannten Definitionen entwickelt. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird geklärt, welche Faktoren dazu führen, dass Unternehmen eine soziale Berichterstattung haben und ob diese Art der Berichterstattung auch zur finanziellen Leistung von Unternehmen beitragen kann.

Ce travail doctoral vise à mieux connaître les conceptions des dirigeants de la RSE dans les banques libanaises ainsi que l’intérêt qu’ils accordent à leurs parties prenantes en analysant leurs pratiques managériales. La responsabilité sociale est devenue un concept très répandu dans l’environnement des affaires et les domaines académiques occidentaux. Nous nous sommes intéressée aux caractéristiques de la RSE dans des banques réputées être performantes dans un contexte économique et social instable dû aux conflits politiques en présence d’un État anéanti. Notre recherche porte sur les vingt premières banques au Liban dont le total de leur actif représente 95% du total actif des banques commerciales opérantes au Liban sur une période s’étalant de 2010 à 2012. Ce secteur est considéré comme le catalyseur principal de croissance dans un contexte économique ouvert et libéral. Nous avons opté pour la recherche qualitative et nous nous sommes appuyée sur une épistémologie interprétativiste et une démarche de recherche par exploration hybride dans une logique abductive. Nous devons dire que l’expression « RSE » était mal interprétée par certains dirigeants interviewés. Leurs dires tirés des entrevues que nous avons menées ainsi que les rapports annuels et sites Internet s’assimilent à des publicités trompeuses et des actions philanthropiques.Nous avons pu constater que les actions dites RSE au Liban prennent des aspects ou des formes génériques ou périphériques selon la nomination de Martinet et Payaud (2008). / This doctoral work aims at knowing better the conceptions of the managers of the CSR in the Lebanese banks as well as the interest which they grant to their stakeholders by analyzing their managerial practices. The social responsibility became a very wide-spread concept in the environment of the business and the western academic domains. We were interested in the characteristics of the CSR in renowned banks to be successful in an unstable economic and social environment due to the political conflicts in the presence of an annihilated government. Our research concerns the first twenty banks in Lebanon which total of their asset represents 95% of the total asset of the effective commercial banks in Lebanon between 2010 and 2012. This sector is considered as the main catalyst of growth in an open and liberal economic environment. We opted for the qualitative research and we leaned on an interpretativiste epistemology and an approach of research by hybrid exploration in an abductive logic. We have to say that the expression "CSR" was badly interpreted by certain interviewed managers. Their speeches revealed by the interviews, as well as annual reports and web sites assimilate to misleading advertising and philanthropic actions. We were able to notice that the said CSR actions in Lebanon take generic or peripheral forms according to Martinet and Payaud (2008).