Social Reporting Using GRI Disclosures: A Case of Apparel Industry

Abstract

In recent times, social responsibility has emerged as one of the critical issues for corporations globally. The importance given to social responsibility and sustainability in corporate board rooms is noticeable through sustainable reporting. One such reporting system is to report through the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the GRI framework and investigate the social reporting of apparel firms in the global context. Using a sample of 37 global apparel firms from the sustainability disclosure database who report GRI, a content analysis is performed and measured the level of firms’ social disclosures. Results indicate that out of the four sub-categories of social disclosures, labour practices and decent work, and human rights are the most disclosed social sub-categories, whereas the society sub-category is least disclosed among apparel firms. Furthermore, the large firms are likely to publish sustainability reports compared to the small and medium enterprises. However, the size of the firm does not impact the level of social disclosure. Though the firms in the European region are more likely to publish sustainability reports compared to firms located in other regions, however, the level of their social disclosures are comparatively low.