Factors influencing the development of CSR reporting practices: Experts’ versus preparers’ points of view

Abstract

Reporting of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is nowadays becoming an important and rapidly growing phenomenon in the world. The current increase in the number of companies reporting on CSR data is caused by many different factors, including stakeholder pressures, the economic crisis, growing awareness of sustainability issues as well as the appearance of more and more new reporting requirements initiated by national governments and stock exchanges. Despite the growing popularity of CSR reporting, it is still only a small percentage of companies that decide to regularly disclose their data on CSR activities. Therefore, the question is raised as to what factors influence the development of CSR reporting practices. The paper presents the results of the research, which aimed to answer the above question, highlighting especially the role of government in the process. The study was carried out using two web-based surveys. The questionnaires were distributed to respondents from different European Union member states. The first group of respondents consisted of specialists, consultants, researchers and academics specializing in the field of CSR reporting - ‘experts’ - and the second group consisted of CSR managers, employees involved in developing CSR reports - ‘preparers’. The results suggest that report ‘preparers’ and external ‘experts’ have different views on some aspects, e.g., reasons to issue a CSR report. The survey also shows that there is a need for the greater participation of government in the development of sustainability reporting practices.