Presenting a core-periphery model of voluntary CSR disclosure in Australian annual reports

Abstract

The relationship between perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance and desirable outcomes is well established in corporate governance literature. Over the past two decades in particular, there has been an increased recognition of this relationship by executive managers and a concomitant increase in the quantity and detail of CSR activities being voluntarily reported by companies has been observed. The increasing level of voluntary CSR reporting has been attributed to two main corporate strategies: to conform to social expectations and to legitimize business operations to salient stakeholder groups within the community. Whilst there has been extensive academic interest in the concept of CSR, it has focused almost exclusively on normative definitions of the concept, and/or the presentation of empirical evidence that details ‘why companies report their CSR activities’ and ‘what CSR activities they report’. What is lacking in the literature, however, is a focus on the ‘patterns of strategic CSR reporting’ by companies. Based on the recognition of voluntary reporting patterns in the Australian industry, we present a core/periphery model of strategic CSR disclosure. The model allows for predicting how companies will voluntarily disclose their CSR performance given the issues, events and/or crises that affect their industry environments.