An Evaluation Framework for CSR Reporting

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to present a framework for evaluating the quality of CSR reports. The evaluation framework is based on three lines of argument. First we argue that CSR reporting ideally ought to enable the stakeholders to evaluate a company’s CSR commitment in four different ways, including cross-sector comparison. Second, we argue that CSR concerns – or ought to concern – the ethical responsibilities of companies, implying that CSR reports should be evaluated on the basis of their ability to provide a fair and reasonably transparent sketch of the ethical behaviour of a given company. Third, we argue in favour of a specific normative framework for evaluating the current practice of CSR reporting. Finally, we use the normative framework to sketch the contours of a framework for evaluating the quality of CSR reports.