Factors Influencing Levels of CSR Disclosure by Forestry Companies in China

Feifei Lu,Anne Toppinen,Dalia D’Amato,Zuomin Wen,Robert Kozak

doi:10.3390/su9101800

Abstract

Abstract: With the international community’s increasing concern for social and environmental problems, the fulfilment and disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been advocated and promoted across the world. Forestry companies, which are particularly sensitive to environmental and social issues, are increasingly developing and improving their levels of CSR disclosure. However, information on emerging country contexts is still lacking. To fill this gap, this study focuses on Chinese forestry companies’ CSR disclosure and introduces new disclosure indices through content analysis of annual reports by listed companies between 2011–2015. It then builds a correlation analysis of the factors influencing these companies’ disclosure indices in order to gain a better understanding of the current situation for CSR implementation by forestry companies in emerging economies like China. Although context-specific, our findings can provide a reference for researchers and policy makers, and promote sustainable development via improved CSR disclosure by forestry companies, especially in developing regions.

Highlights

In recent years, with the international community’s increasing concern for social and environmental problems, a wide range of stakeholders and issues apart from meeting core shareholder interests, has become increasingly influential in determining the long-term viability of businesses [1,2]
A descriptive analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure indices (CSRDI, i.e., the qualitative summative rating of information disclosed in the reports for different items) was conducted for the 42 Chinese forestry companies in this sample based on their annual reports (Table 2)
This study analyses the disclosure development of CSR reports published by the leading listed Chinese forestry companies from 2011 to 2015

Summary

Introduction

With the international community’s increasing concern for social and environmental problems, a wide range of stakeholders and issues apart from meeting core shareholder interests, has become increasingly influential in determining the long-term viability of businesses [1,2]. The improvement and disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been advocated and promoted across the world [3,4] International institutions, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and ISO26000, have encouraged enterprises to undertake their due share of economic, environmental, and social responsibilities In 2002, 2006, and 2013, the GRI released the revised versions of Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, respectively, G2, G3, and G4) This has exerted a positive influence on CSR disclosure on a global scale [7]. This offers a unique opportunity for research to utilize recently published data

Objectives

Results

Conclusion