Keywords
Disclosure
Sustainability Report
Corporate Social Responsibility
Stakeholder
How to Cite
Abstract
Purpose – This paper evaluates the influence of the institutional environment on the extent of social and environmental disclosure of companies from institutionally distant countries.
Design/methodology/approach – We analyze basic materials, oil and gas, and public utility companies with shares traded on the Brazilian stock exchange (BM&FBovespa) and Canadian stock exchange (Toronto Stock Exchange) from 2007 to 2015. Quantitative methods are adopted through descriptive statistics and panel data analysis. The econometric modeling considers environmental and social disclosure as dependent variables, independent variables that represent the political, financial, educational and labor systems, and firm size, ROA, and indebtedness as control variables.
Findings – In the case of the companies operating in Brazil, the extent of environmental and social disclosure is positively related to the political and labor systems, and negatively related to the financial system. In Canada, disclosure is negatively influenced by the financial system and the education system. The control variables, which represent characteristics of financial performance, were not significant.
Originality/value – The study shows that isomorphic forces operate in the institutional field and affect the adoption of socially responsible behavior. By basing the study on institutionally distinct countries, such as Brazil and Canada, it reinforces the influence of the national business system on the extent of disclosure of environmental and social practices.
If a paper is approved for publication, its copyright has to be transferred by the author(s) to the Review of Business Management – RBGN.
Accordingly, authors are REQUIRED to send RBGN a duly completed and signed Copyright Transfer Form. Please refer to the following template: [Copyright Transfer]
The conditions set out by the Copyright Transfer Form state that the Review of Business Management – RBGN owns, free of charge and permanently, the copyright of the papers it publishes. Although the authors are required to sign the Copyright Transfer Form, RBGN allows authors to hold and use their own copyright without restrictions.
The texts published by RBGN are the sole responsibility of their authors.
The review has adopted the CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 allowing redistribution and reuse of papers on condition that the authorship is properly credited.