Communication from the board of directors: An empirical study on readability in Spanish language on Sustainability Reporting
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article analyses the readability of the communication in Spanish language from the board of directors based on the study of narrative texts at Sustainability Reports of IBEX35 companies, which includes the 35 largest listed companies in Spain given their market capitalization. It undertakes an empirical study with two purposes: first, to describe the readability scale of these texts, and second, to ascertain whether or not compliance on sustainability influences the readability of disclosure. The study was carried out on the narrative texts of six GRI data standards related to compliance with laws and regulations, included in 116 Sustainability Reports of IBEX35 Spanish-listed companies in the period 2015-2018. Readability was measured using two indices for Spanish language readability: the Fernandez-Huerta and the Inflesz indices. These indices are based on the Flesch Reading Ease Formula for English narrative texts. Findings suggest that communication from the board concerning Sustainability Reports needs improvement since, in general, these reports are difficult to read. Finding also suggest that compliance with GRI standards could be related to low readability difficulty of reports and non-compliance to high readability difficulty.
Downloads
Article Details
The Journal of Communication of SEECI recognizes and promotes copyright rights, as well as the need to disseminate knowledge in an accessible and equitable manner. Our journal operates under a Creative Commons License CC BY-NC 4.0, which allows authors and users to:
- Share and Adapt: Copy, redistribute, and adapt the material published in the journal in any medium or format.
- Attribution: Properly acknowledge authorship and provide a link to the license, indicating if any changes have been made.
- Non-Commercial: Do not use the material for commercial purposes without the express permission of the authors and the journal.
- Authors retain copyright and may enter into non-exclusive agreements for self-archiving, deposit, or distribution of the publisher's version published in this journal, including institutional, national, or international repositories, and personal websites.
References
ACCA, NetBalance. (2007). Disclosures on stakeholder engagement. Sydney, Australia: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52045752e4b0330b6437dade/t/52dcda2de4b050564e0d8d96/1390205485389/stakeholder_report.pdf
Adams, C. & Zutshi, A. (2004). Corporate social responsibility: Why business should act responsibly and be accountable. Australian Accounting Review, 14(3), 31–39. doi: 10.1111/j.1835-2561.2004.tb00238.x
Adelberg, A. H. (1979). Narrative disclosures contained in financial reports: Means of communication or manipulation. Accounting and Business Research, 10, 179–189. doi: 10.1080/00014788.1979.9729157
Aerts, W. & Cormier, D. (2009). Media legitimacy and corporate environmental communication. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(1), 1–27. doi: 10.1016/j.aos.2008.02.005
Amran, A., Shiau Ping, L. & S. Susela, D. (2014). The Influence of Governance Structure and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Toward Sustainability Reporting Quality. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23, 217–235. doi: 10.1002/bse.1767
Ansoff, I. (1965). Corporate strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Arena, C., Bozzolan, S. & Michelon, G. (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, 22, 346–361. doi: 10.1002/csr.1350
Barrio, I. (2008). Validación de la Escala INFLESZ para evaluar la legibilidad de los textos dirigidos a pacientes. Anales del Sistema Sanitario de Navarra, 31(2), 135-152. Retrieval from http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1137-66272008000300004
Baumann-Pauly, D., Wickert, C., Spence, L. J. & Scherer, A. G. (2013). Organizing corporate social responsibility in small and large firms: size matters. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(4), 693-705. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1827-7
Bewley, K. Li, Y. (2000). Disclosure of environmental information by Canadian manufacturing companies: A Voluntary Disclosure Perspective. Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management, 1, 201–226. doi: 10.1016/S1479-3598(00)01011-6
Bloomberg, (2020, enero 9). Materiality assessment. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/impact/approach/materiality-assessment/
Boesso, G. & Kumar, K. (2007). Drivers of corporate voluntary disclosure: a framework and empirical evidence from Italy and the United States. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 20(2), 269-296. doi: 10.1108/09513570710741028
Boiral, O., Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., & Testa, F. (2017). SA8000 as CSR-washing? The role of stakeholder pressures. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24, 57–70. doi: 10.1002/csr.1391
Boiral, O. (2013). Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26, 1036-1071. doi: 10.1108/ AAAJ-04-2012-00998
Boiral, O., Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., & Brotherton, M. C. (2017). Assessing and Improving the Quality of Sustainability Reports: The Auditors' Perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 155, 703-721. doi: 10.1007/s10551-017-3516-4
Bowen, R. M., Davis, A. K., & Matsumoto D. A. (2005). Emphasis on pro forma versus GAAP earnings in quarterly press releases: Determinants, SEC intervention and market reactions. The Accounting Review 80(4): 1011–1038. https://doi.org/10.2308/accr.2005.80.4.1011
Branco, M. C. & Rodrigues, L. L. (2006). Communication of corporate social responsibility by Portuguese banks: a legitimacy theory perspective. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 11(3), 232-248. doi: 10.1108/13563280610680821
Branco, M. C., & Rodrigues, L. L. (2008). Factors influencing social responsibility disclosure by Portuguese companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4): 685–701. doi: 10.1007/s10551-007-9658-z
Brown, S., & Hillegeist, S. A. (2007). How disclosure quality affects the level of information asymmetry. Review of Accounting Studies, 12(2–3), 443–477. doi: 10.1007/s11142-007-9032-5
Brundtland, G. H., & Khalid, M. (1987). Brundtland Commission (WCED) report: World Commission on Environment and Development.
Bucholz, R. A., & Rosenthal S. B. (2005). Toward a contemporary conceptual framework for stakeholder theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 58(1–3), 137–148. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/25123506
Chan, M. C. C., Watson, J. & Woodliff, D. (2014). Corporate Governance Quality and CSR Disclosures. Journal of Business Ethics, 125(1), 59-73. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1887-8
Chatterji, A. K., Levine, D. I., & Toffel M. W. (2007). Do corporate social responsibility ratings predict corporate social performance? Working paper. Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://cutt.ly/fyaqzaG
Chen, J. C., & Roberts, R. W. (2010). Toward a more coherent understanding of the organization–society relationship: A theoretical consideration for social and environmental accounting research. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(4), 651–665. doi: 10.1007/s10551-010-0531-0
Cho, C. H., & Patten, D. M. (2007). The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 3(7–8), 639–647. doi: 10.1016/j.aos.2006.09.009
Cho, C. H., Michelon G., & Patten D. M. (2012). Impression management in sustainability reports: An empirical investigation of the use of graphs. Accounting and the Public Interest, 12, 16–37, doi: 10.2308/apin-10249
Clarke J., & Gibson-Sweet M. (1999). The use of corporate social disclosures in the management of reputation and legitimacy: a cross sectoral analysis of UK Top 100 Companies. Business Ethics, 8, 5–13. doi: 10.1111/1467-8608.00120
Clarkson, P. M., Li, Y., Richardson, G. D., & Vasvari FP. (2008). Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: an empirical analysis. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 33(4/5), 303–327. doi: 10.1016/j.aos.2007.05.003
Clarkson, M. B. E. (1995). A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92–117. doi: 10.2307/258888
Clatworthy, M. A., Jones, M. J. (2001). The effect of thematic structure on the variability of annual report readability. Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal, 14, 311–326. doi: 10.1108/09513570110399890
Clerck, B. & Aerts, W. (2016). Measuring the Readability of Sustainability Reports: A Corpus-Based Analysis Through Standard Formulae and NLP. International Journal of Business Communication. 57(1) 52 –85. doi: 10.1177/2329488416675456
Cormier, D., & Magnan, M. (2013). The economic relevance of environmental disclosure and its impact on corporate legitimacy: An empirical investigation. Business Strategy and the Environment (Online first). DOI: 10.1002/bse.1829
Cormier, D., & Magnan, M. (2015). The economic relevance of environmental disclosure and its impact on corporate legitimacy: An empirical investigation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(6), 431–450. doi: 10.1002/bse.1829
Cormier, D., & Gordon, I. M. (2001). An examination of social and environmental reporting strategies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 14(5), 587–616. doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000006264
Cormier, D., & Magnan, M. (1999). Corporate environmental disclosure strategies: Determinants, costs and benefits. Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 14(4), 429–451. doi: 10.1177/0148558X9901400403
Corporate Register. (2013). CR perspectives 2013 - Global CR Reporting Trends and Stakeholder Views. Retrieved from https://www.corporateregister.com/a10723/67880-13th-17513040C2227142800T-Gl.pdf [16 June 2017].
Courtis, J. K. (1998). Annual report readability variability: Tests of the obfuscation hypothesis. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 11(4), 459–471. doi: 10.1108/09513579810231457
Credibility gap [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam Webster Online. Retrieved 2017, from http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/credibility%20gap
Crowther, D. (2000). Corporate reporting, stakeholders and the internet: mapping the new corporate landscape. Urban Study, 37(10), 1837–1848. doi: 10.1080/00420980020080451
Dale, E., & Chall, J. S. (1948). A formula for predicting readability: Instructions. Educational Research Bulletin, 27(2), 37-54. doi: 10.2307/1473669
Deegan, C. (2002). The legitimising effect of social and environmental disclosures—A theoretical foundation. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 15(3), 282–311. doi: 10.1108/09513570210435852
Dhaliwal, D. S., Li, O. Z., Tsang, A., & Yong G. Y. (2011). Voluntary nonfinancial disclosure and the cost of equity capital: The initiation of corporate social responsibility reporting. The Accounting Review, 86, 59–100. doi: 10.2308/accr.00000005
Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 amending Directive 2013/34/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups Text with EEA relevance. Official Journal of the European Union, num. 57, of 15 November 2014, pp. L330/1 to L330/9. Retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/95/oj
DuBay, W. (2004). The principles of readability. Costa Mesa: Impact Information. Retrieved form http://www.impact-information.com/impactinfo/readability02.pdf
Dyllick, T., & Hockerts, K. (2002). Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability. Business Strategy and the Environment, 11(2), 130–141. doi: 10.1002/bse.323
Elijido-Ten, E., Kloot, L. & Clarkson, P. (2010). Exploring the application of stakeholder influence strategies to environmental disclosures: an exploratory study from a developing country, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 23(8), 1032-1059. doi: 10.1108/09513571011092547
Escrig‐Olmedo, E., Muñoz‐Torres, M. J., & Fernández‐Izquierdo, M. Á. (2013). Sustainable development and the financial system: Society's perceptions about socially responsible investing. Business Strategy and the Environment, 22(6), 410–428. doi: 10.1002/bse.1755
Farewell, S., Fisher, I., & Daily, C. (2014). The lexical footprint of sustainability reports: A pilot study of readability. Paper presented at the American Accounting Association Annual Meeting and Conference on Teaching and Learning in Accounting, Sarasota, FL.
Fernández Huerta, J. (1959). Medidas sencillas de lecturabilidad. Consigna (Revista pedagógica de la sección femenina de Falange ET y de las JONS), 214, 29-32.
Flammer, C. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and shareholder reaction: The environmental awareness of investors. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), 758–781. doi: 10.5465/amj.2011.0744
Flesch, R. (1948). A new readability yardstick. Journal of Applied Psychology, 32, 221–233. doi: 10.1037/h0057532
Fonseca, A., McAllister, M. L., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2014). Sustainability reporting among mining corporations: a constructive critique of the GRI approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 84, 70-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.11.050
Freeman, R. E. (1983). Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Advances in Strategic Management, 1(1), 31-60.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman Publishing.
Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1), 51–71. doi: 10.1023/B:BUSI.0000039399.90587.34
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). (2018), Mapping G4 to the GRI Standards. Global Version 4.0, 2018. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Global Reporting Initiative. Retrieved from https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/media/1098/mapping-g4-to-the-gri-standards-disclosures-full-overview.pdf
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). (2013). G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines: Reporting Principles and Standard Disclosures. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Global Reporting Initiative. Retrieved from https://respect.international/g4-sustainability-reporting-guidelines-reporting-principles-and-standard-disclosures/
Gray, R. (2000). Current developments and trends in social and environmental auditing, reporting and attestation: A review and comment. International Journal of Auditing, 4(3), 247–268. doi: 10.1111/1099-1123.00316
Gray, R. H., Kouhy, R., & Lavers, S. (1995). Corporate social and environmental reporting: A review of the literature and a longitudinal study of UK disclosure. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 8(2), 47–77. doi: 10.1108/09513579510146996
Gunning, R. (1952). The technique of clear writing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Gutierrez, I. & Surroca, J., (2014). Revisiting corporate governance through the lens of the Spanish evidence. Journal of Management and Governance, 18(4), 989-1017. doi: 10.1007/s10997-012-9250-5
Hackston, D., & Milne, M. (1996). Some determinants of social and environmental disclosures in New Zealand companies. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 9(1), 77–108. doi: 10.1108/09513579610109987
Hahn, R. & Kühnen, M. (2013). Determinants of sustainability reporting: A review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 59, 5-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.005
Haniffa, R. M. & Cooke, T. E. (2005). The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 24(5), 391–430. Retrieved from https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jappol:v:24:y:2005:i:5:p:391-430
Harris, T. L. & Hodges, R. E. (1995). The Literacy Dictionary, The Vocabulary of Reading and Writing. Newark, DE, USA: International Reading Assn.
Hill, RP., Ainscough, T., Shank, T., & Manullang, D. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing: A global perspective. 1002 YU ET AL. Journal of Business Ethics, 70(2), 165–174. doi: 10.1007/s10551‐006‐9103‐8
Holder-Webb, L., Cohen, J. R., Nath, L., & Wood, D. (2009). The supply of corporate social responsibility disclosures among U.S. firms. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(4), 497–527. doi: 10.1007/s10551-008-9721-4
Jensen, M. C. (2001). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 14(3), 8–21. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-6622.2001.tb00434.x
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305–360. doi: 10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X
Joutsenvirta, M. (2009). A language perspective to environmental management and corporate responsibility. Business Strategy and the Environment, 18, 240–253. doi: 10.1002/bse.574
Junior, R. M., Best, P. J., & Cotter, J. (2014). Sustainability reporting and assurance: a historical analysis on a world-wide phenomenon. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), 1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1637-y
Karamanou, I., Vafeas, N. (2005). The association between corporate boards, audit committees, and management earnings forecasts: An empirical analysis. Journal of Accounting Research, 43, 453–486. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2005.00177.x
Kaymak, T. & Bektas, E. (2017). Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance: Information Disclosure in Multinational Corporations. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 24, 555–569. doi: 10.1002/csr.1428
Kim, Y., Park, MS., & Wier, B. (2012). Is earnings quality associated with corporate social responsibility? The Accounting Review, 87(3), 761–796. doi: 10.2308/accr-10209
Kincaid, J. P., Fishburne, R. P., Rogers, R. L., & Chissom, B. S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count and Flesch Reading Ease Formula) for Navy enlisted personnel. Retrieved from http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a006655.pdf
Klare, G. R. (1963). The measurement of readability. Ames: Iowa State University Press.
Kolk A. (2010). Trajectories of sustainability reporting by MNCs. Journal of World Business, 45(4), 367–374. Retrieved from https://ssrn.com/abstract=1426270
KPMG. (2017). The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2017. Retrieved from https://cutt.ly/uyaqx9r
Laksmana, I., Tietz, W., & Yang, Y. W. (2012). Compensation discussion and analysis (CD&A): readability and management obfuscation. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 31(2), 185–203. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2011.08.003
Legible (2020 enero 6). Analizador de legibilidad de texto. Retrieved from http://www.legible.es
Lehavy, R., Li, F., & Merkley, K. (2011). The effect of annual report readability on analyst following and the properties of their earnings forecasts. Accounting Review, 86, 1087-1115.
Lerach, W. S. (2002). Plundering America: How American investors got taken for trillions by corporate insiders – The rise of the new corporate kleptocracy. Stanford Journal of Law, Business, and Finance, 69, 69–126.
Li, F. (2008). Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 45, 221-247. doi: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2008.02.003
Lungu, C., Caraiani, C., & Dascălu, C. (2011). Research on Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting. Corporate Social Responsibility, XIII, 29. Retrieved from https://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/article_1019.pdf
Luo, J., Meier, S., Oberholzer-Gee, F. (2012). No news is good news: CSR strategy and newspaper coverage of negative firm events. Working paper, Harvard Business School. Retrieved from https://cutt.ly/lyaqc0c
Marín, L., Rubio, A., Ruiz de Maya, S. (2012). Competitiveness as a strategic outcome of corporate social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 19, 364–376. doi: 10.1002/csr.1288
Martínez-Ferrero, J., Ruiz-Cano, D., & García-Sánchez, I. M. (2016). The causal link between sustainable disclosure and information asymmetry: the moderating role of the stakeholder protection context. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23, 319–332. doi: 10.1002/csr.1379
McBarnet, D. E. (2007). The New Corporate Accountability: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law. Cambridge University Press.
McLaughlin, G. H. (1969). SMOG grading: A new readability formula. Journal of Reading, 12, 639-646. Retrieved from https://ogg.osu.edu/media/documents/health_lit/WRRSMOG_Readability_Formula_G._Harry_McLaughlin__1969_.pdf
Melo, T., Garrido-Morgado, A. (2012). Corporate reputation: a combination of social responsibility and industry. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 19(1), 11–31. doi: 10.1002/csr.260
Merkl-Davies, D. M., Brennan, N. M. (2007). Discretionary disclosure strategies in corporate narratives: Incremental information or impression management? Journal of Accounting Literature, 26, 116–194. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rru/oapubs/10197-2907.html
Mermod, A. Y., & Idowu, S. O. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Business World. Springer: Berlin Heidelberg, Germany.
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886. doi: 10.2307/259247
Moratis, L. & Brandt, S. (2017). Corporate stakeholder responsiveness? Exploring the state and quality of GRI‐based stakeholder engagement disclosures of European firms. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24, 312–325. doi: 10.1002/csr.1408
Moreno, A., & Casasola, A. (2016). A Readability Evolution of Narratives in Annual Reports: A Longitudinal Study of Two Spanish Companies. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 30(2), 202–235. doi: 10.1177/1050651915620233
Morhardt, J. E., Baird, S., & Freeman, K. (2002). Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 9(4), 215–233. doi: 10.1002/csr.26
Chan, M. C., Watson, J., & Woodliff, D. (2014). Corporate Governance Quality and CSR Disclosures. Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, 125(1), 59-73. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1887-8
Neu, D., Warsame, H., & Pedwell, K. (1998). Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23(33), 265-282. Retrieved from https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:23:y:1998:i:3:p:265-282
O’Donovan, G. (2002). Environmental disclosures in the annual report: Extending the applicability and predictive power of legitimacy theory. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 15(3), 344–371. doi: 10.1108/09513570210435870
O’Dwyer, B., Unerman, J., Hession, E. (2005). User needs in sustainability reporting: perspectives of stakeholders in Ireland. European Accounting Review, 14(4): 759–787. doi: 10.1080/09638180500104766
O’Dwyer, B., & Owen, D. (2005). Assurance Statement Practice in environment, social and sustainabulity report: a critical evaluation. The British Accounting Review, 37, 205–229. doi: 10.1016/j.bar.2005.01.005
Odriozola, M. & Baraibar-Diez, E. (2017). Is Corporate Reputation Associated with Quality of CSR Reporting? Evidence from Spain. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 24, 121–132. doi: 10.1002/csr.1399
OECD (2015). G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/corporate/principles-corporate-governance/
Parsons, R., & McKenna, B. J. (2005). Constructing social responsibility in mining company reports. In T. Lê & M. Short (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Critical Discourse Analysis Theory into Research (pp. 595-608). Retrieved from https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:101929
Pei-Yi Y., E., Qian Guo, C., & Van Luu, B. (2018). Environmental, social and governance transparency and firm value. Business Strategy and the Environment, 27(7), 987-1004. doi: 10.1002/bse.2047
Perego, P., & Kolk, A. (2012). Multinationals’ accountability on sustainability: The evolution of third-party assurance of sustainability reports. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(2), 173-190. doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1420-5
Phillips, R., Freeman, R. E. & Wicks, A. C. (2003). What stakeholder theory is not. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(4), 479-502. doi: 10.5840/beq200313434
Rahim, M., & Alam, S. (2013). Convergence of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in weak economies: The case of Bangladesh. Journal of Business Ethics, 121, 607–620. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1699-x
Rennekamp, K. (2012). Processing fluency and investors’ reactions to disclosure readability. Journal of Accounting Research, 50 (5), 1319–1354. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-679X.2012.00460.x
Reverte, C. (2009). Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure ratings by Spanish listed firms. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(2), 351–366. doi: 10.1007/s10551-008-9968-9
Reverte, C. (2012). The impact of better corporate social responsibility disclosure on the cost of equity capital. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 19: 253–272. doi: 10.1002/csr.273
Roberts, R. W. (1992). Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: an application of stakeholder theory. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17(6), 595-612. doi: 10.1016/0361-3682(92)90015-K
Rodriguez-Fernandez, M. (2016). Social responsibility and financial performance: The role of good corporate governance. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 19(2), 137-151. doi: 10.1016/j.brq.2015.08.001
Rutherford, B. A. (2003). Obfuscation, textual complexity and the role of regulated narrative accounting disclosure in corporate governance. Journal of Management and Governance, 7, 187-210. doi: 10.1023/A:1023647615279
Sacconi, L. (2004). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a model of “extended ” corporate governance. An explanation based on the economic theories of social contract, conformism. LIUC Papers in Ethics, Law and Economics, 147, 1-49. Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/p/liu/liuced/142.html
Scherer, A. G., & Palazzo, G. (2011). The new political role of business in globalized world: a review of a new perspective on CSR and its implications for the firm, governance, and democracy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4), 899–931. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00950.x
Schons, L., & Steinmeier, M. (2016). Walk the talk? How symbolic and substantive CSR actions affect firm performance depending on stakeholder proximity. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23, 358–372. doi: 10.1002/csr.1381
Smeuninx, N., De Clerck, B., & Aerts, W. (2016). Measuring the Readability of Sustainability Reports: A Corpus-Based Analysis Through Standard Formulae and NLP. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(1), 52 –85. doi: 10.1177/2329488416675456
Smith, M., & Taffler, R. (1992). The chairman’s statement and corporate financial performance. Accounting & Finance, 32(2), 75-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-629X.1992.tb00187.x
Snider, J., Hill, R. P., & Martin, D. (2003), Corporate social responsibility in the 21st century: a view from the world’s most successful firms, Journal of Business Ethics, 48(2), 175-187. doi: 10.1023/B:BUSI.0000004606.29523.db
Subramaniam, N., Hodge, K., & Ratnatunga, J. (2006). Corporate Responsibility Reports Assurance Trends and the Role of Management Accountants. JAMAR, 4(2), 1–9. Retrieved from https://www.cmawebline.org/images/stories/JAMAR%202006%20Summer/JAMAR-v4-2-Corporate%20Responsibility.pdf
Sydserff, R. & Weetman, P. (1999). A texture index for evaluating accounting narratives: an alternative to readability formulae. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 12(4), 459–488. doi: 10.1108/09513579910283503
Szigriszt Pazos, F. (1993). Sistemas predictivos de legibilidad del mensaje escrito: fórmula de perspicuidad. [Tesis doctoral]. Retrieved from https://eprints.ucm.es/1785/1/T17773.pdf
Tagesson, T., Blank, V., Broberg, P., & Collin, S. O. (2009). What explains the extent and content of social and environmental disclosures on corporate websites: a study of social and environmental reporting in Swedish listed corporations. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16(6) 352–364. doi: 10.1002/csr.194
Tamimi, N., & Sebastianelli, R. (2017). Transparency among S&P 500 companies: an analysis of ESG disclosure scores. Management Decision, 55(8), 1660-1680. doi: 10.1108/MD-01-2017-0018
The Financial Reporting Council Limited (2018). The UK Corporate Governance Code. London. UK. The Financial Reporting Council Limited, FRC.
Torugsa, N. A., & O’Donohue, W. (2012). Capabilities, proactive CSR and financial performance in SMEs: empirical evidence from an Australian manufacturing industry sector. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(4), 483–500. doi: 10.1007/s10551-011-1141-1
Townsend, S., Bartels, W., & Renaut, J. P. (2010). Reporting change. Change, 1-33. Retrieved from http://www.sustainability.com/library
Tullberg, J. (2013). Stakeholder theory: Some revisionist suggestions. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 42(1), 127–135. doi: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.11.014
Van Der Laan Smith, J., Adhikari, A., & Tondkar, R. H. (2005). Exploring differences in social disclosures internationally: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 24(2), 123–151. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccpubpol.2004.12.007
Van Wensen, K., Broer, W., Klein, J., & Knopf, J. (2011). The state of play in sustainability reporting in the EU. Brussels, Belgium: European Union. Retrieved from https://www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The-State-of-Play-in-Sustainability-Reporting-in-the-European-Union.pdf
Verrecchia, R. E. (1983). Discretionary disclosure. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 5, 179–194. doi: 10.1016/0165-4101(83)90011-3
Villalonga, B. & Amit, R., (2016). “How do family ownership, control and management affect firm value?”. Journal of Financial Economics, 80(2), 385-417. doi: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2004.12.005
Wang, Z., Hsiech, T. & Sarkis, J. (2018). CSR Performance and the Readability of CSR Reports: Too Good to be True?. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 25 (1), 66 –79. doi 10.1002/csr.1440
Wheeler, D., & Elkington, J. (2001). The end of the corporate environmental report? Or the advent of cybernetic sustainability reporting and communication. Business Strategy and the Environment, 10(1), 1–14. doi: 10.1002/1099-0836(200101/02)10:1<1::AID-BSE274>3.0.CO;2-0