An Evaluation Framework for Scoring Corporate Sustainability Reports in Taiwan

Abstract

Recently, an increasing number of Taiwanese companies have engaged in economic, environmental, and social disclosures through sustainability reports to demonstrate social responsibility. However, the quality and the contents of information disclosure have yet to be translated into meaningful and comprehensive reports. This article proposed a framework to evaluate the quality and the contents of the voluntary information disclosure of sustainability reports in Taiwan. The proposed framework is based on the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guideline, scorecard, and other award scoring systems that were converted into comprehensive scoring systems to evaluate 16 reports published by companies operating in Taiwan. In all, 44 indicators within 18 criteria were recognized through expert questionnaires and the fuzzy Delphi method. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was applied to determine the relative weightings of the 18 criteria, after which a multiple-criteria decision-making evaluation framework was launched for scoring sustainability reports. An illustrative example in the 2009 Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Reports Award is presented to demonstrate the process of choosing the best reports. Not only can the proposed model within country level assess the quality and the contents of sustainability reports, but also it can promote voluntary information disclosure in Taiwan.