Social Responsibility Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This chapter analyzes research in social responsibility (SR) reporting in higher education institutions (HEI), addressing different aspects: a longitudinal assessment, the theoretical approaches, the adopted methodologies, and its main results. A systematic literature review is undertaken. To do so, the ISI Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases were used to retrieve the articles for analysis. The articles were limited to business and management research area. Findings show that literature on SR reporting in HEIs is still in its infancy and it is very heterogeneous, with only 24 articles addressing this theme. Most articles resorted to qualitative methodologies, emphasizing the case study. Findings also show a lack of normalization regarding reporting. Stakeholders' theory and the seek for legitimacy are crucial in SR disclosing in HEIs. Several contributions emerge, namely the provision of a comprehensive review of the current state of research on SR reporting in HEIs and, consequently, a call for increasing the awareness of such organizations towards the importance of this theme.