This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the evolving research landscape at the intersection of digital technology, corporate reporting, and disclosure practices. Analysing data from Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions (2015–2024), this study maps the intellectual structure of the field through citation, co-citation, and co-authorship networks, as well as keyword co-occurrence. Our findings reveal a significant academic shift toward digital themes, yet a persistent dominance of traditional domains such as financial reporting and governance. Notably, critical areas such as digital transformation, data analytics, risk management, and stakeholder engagement remain markedly underrepresented. This disconnect suggests a misalignment between scholarly focus and the practical challenges corporations face. The key implication of this work is that a significant realignment of research priorities is urgently needed to address critical practical challenges and ensure the relevance of academic output in the digital age. This study provides a comprehensive map of the field’s evolution and issues an urgent call for research to bridge the identified gap. The objective of this future work must be to transform corporate disclosures, making them resilient, technologically advanced (e.g., via interactive dashboards and blockchain audit trails), and directly responsive to a diverse array of stakeholders.

ABSTRACT This study examines how the textual tone of annual reports shapes market attention and investigates the moderating effect of firm profitability, firm size, and Tobin's Q. Based on a comprehensive sample of Chinese A‐share listed firms from 2007 to 2022, we find that a positive tone in annual reports significantly increases market attention. Moreover, firm profit strengthens this relationship, whereas firm size and Tobin's Q weaken it. These results suggest that the credibility and effectiveness of a positive tone are enhanced when corroborated by strong financial performance. Our findings remain robust to alternative variable measurements, endogeneity tests, and multiple sample specifications. This research contributes to signaling theory and impression management literature by identifying a critical boundary condition for the efficacy of tonal strategies, with important implications for investors, regulators, and corporate disclosure practices.

Recent and imminent changes to UK corporate law underscore the potential of corporate disclosure rules for modernising financial markets and advancing sustainable development goals. In practice, these changes have also been leading to more corporate disclosure of context-dependent and hard-to-quantify ‘soft information’, in particular through forward-looking and non-financial reporting. This article examines the impact of soft information reporting on the UK secondary financial markets and the algorithmic traders that increasingly populate them. It notes that different algorithmic trading strategies are variably equipped to deal with the increase in soft information disclosure stemming from recent and upcoming UK corporate law reform. Specifically, it argues that increased soft information disclosure poses particular challenges for announcement algorithmic trading but offers new opportunities to fundamental algorithmic trading. Because announcement algorithmic trading is broadly undesirable, this is a welcome, if seemingly unintended, consequence of reform. It also illustrates the value of corporate disclosure rules in complementing existing algorithmic trading regulation to improve the efficiency of modern financial markets, in the UK and beyond.

Greenwashing is a generic term used for breaches of various legal provisions ranging from unfair competition, securities rules and unethical advertising to wrong corporate disclosure. This paper focuses on corporate disclosure rules with a focus on banks as deposit taking institutions. Against the background of the large needs for private sources of sustainability financing in order to meet the objectives of the European Climate Law (ECL), the EU sustainability corporate reporting and due diligence as well as the EU Taxonomy constitute an ambitious legislative framework aimed at establishing harmonized and comparable sustainability corporate data among firms and across time. This framework is a cornerstone for combating greenwashing because it raises the responsibility for inaccurate disclosure. The success of the regulatory framework will heavily rely on its credible implementation, including penalties, that will contribute to anchoring the expectations and conditioning the behaviour of economic agents. The paper concludes that this regulatory framework is far reaching and effective. The paper also formulates a number of recommendations for the way forward and sets out that any future legal framework for greenwashing should be linked to the corporate sustainability disclosure framework.

ABSTRACT This case study is built on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and requires that students examine and compare financial institutions and assess financial stability. Students are expected to extract public XBRL data, transform that data into informative accounting measures, and load their findings to prepare for evaluation. The case aims to develop students’ data analytic skills and accounting intelligence using open-source software and data. In addition to an examination of accounting measures, students will apply textual analysis to evaluate corporate disclosures. This project provides detailed instructions for the use of Python code to extract the XBRL data from the SEC Edgar database and for the use of Excel and/or Python to develop visualizations that communicate their findings. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: G21; G33; M41.

How does the market respond to textual novelty: Joint analysis of similarity and sentiment on Japanese corporate disclosures

This study provides a bibliometric review based on 1,891 Scopus-indexed records to integrate the trends and conceptual framework discussed in environmental accounting and corporate disclosure research. The results show intensive research growth since 2015, mainly led by Chinese, American, and Australian authors. Three categories were generated through thematic analysis: environmental strategies, corporate social responsibility, and accountability modes. Environmental accounting has developed from reporting to a strategic management tool, which is closely related to corporate governance, reputation, and sustainability performance. Additional findings show that the strength of international collaboration networks has increased over time, especially with Chinese and European institutions, reflecting a trend towards increasingly globalized research collaboratives. The keyword co-occurrence map indicates a shift in research priorities, from early attention to environmental cost accounting to the latest emphasis on climate-related disclosure, ESG integration, and low-carbon transition strategies. It also shows an increasing academic focus on regulatory drivers, including IFRS S2, the EU CSRD, and national emission policies. The cross-cluster comparison of differences implies a growing similarity in environmental responsibility accounting, corporate strategy, and stakeholder expectations, which underlines a move towards more consistent and decision-useful sustainability reporting systems.

Growing attention to environmental accountability has brought corporate disclosure to the center of accounting and sustainability reporting, especially in service sectors such as hospitality. However, there is still limited and scattered evidence on what drives environmental disclosure at the firm level in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ghana. This study examines the factors that influence environmental disclosure among hospitality firms, with a focus on how organizational and financial characteristics shape reporting behavior. The analysis uses data from 192 hotels and catering establishments across Ghana’s 10 administrative regions, drawing on firm-level indicators such as employee size, financial capacity, CSR engagement, and asset structure. Using an ex post facto design within a non-experimental, cross-sectional framework, the study applies structural equation modeling with estimation conducted in Jamovi to assess the relationships among variables. The employee size shows a strong positive association with environmental disclosure (β ≈ 1.01), highlighting the role of organizational capacity in supporting reporting practices. Corporate social responsibility engagement also exhibits a significant positive association with disclosure practices (β = 0.74, p < 0.001), suggesting that firms with established CSR commitments are more inclined toward transparency. Financial strength, reflected in total income and long-term assets, shows a clear positive influence on environmental disclosure (β = 0.97, p < 0.001). In simple terms, firms with more resources are better positioned to support structured and consistent reporting. Organizational maturity also has a positive effect, though a weaker one (β = 0.0966, p < 0.08). This suggests that experience matters, but younger firms can sometimes move faster, especially when they are responding to competitive pressure or new regulatory expectations. These results call for the need for stronger institutional support, clearer reporting standards, and targeted capacity-building efforts to improve environmental disclosure in the hospitality sector. They also leave room for further work on how regulation functions in practice and how disclosure patterns vary across different sectors.

Digital platform organisations are often portrayed as globally scalable, yet national institutional environments shape their structures and strategies. Drawing on institutional theory, this study examines how Uber Technologies Inc. adapts its business model, governance, and organisational boundaries across contrasting regulatory regimes. The paper compares the firm's responses in the United States and Turkey, two contexts characterised by different regulatory trajectories. Using qualitative document analysis of legal decisions, regulatory texts, corporate disclosures, and media sources, the study analyses adaptation across four dimensions: regulatory strategy, platform governance, labour intermediation, and organisational positioning. The findings show that adaptation is contingent rather than uniform. In the U.S., prolonged regulatory ambiguity enabled continued operation and organisational learning through reframing, boundary renegotiation, and the gradual integration of regulatory expectations into contractual and technological systems. In contrast, Turkey's centralised intervention-imposed constraints prompted strategic retrenchment and role redefinition, with Uber abandoning labour intermediation and repositioning itself as a digital interface for licensed taxi drivers. The study highlights retrenchment and organisational reconfiguration as underexamined forms of platform adaptation in restrictive institutional environments.

Purpose In the context of enhancing the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this paper aims to explore the nature and level of sustainability reporting by New Zealand and South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Design/methodology/approach The study uses a mixed-methods approach, involving the content analysis of relevant reporting documents from 2020 to 2022, and semi-structured interviews with purposively selected SOE role players. Findings The findings indicate that, overall, the sustainability reporting of the sampled SOEs in both countries is low, and there is an inconsistent trend in the three years considered. The sustainability reporting of South African SOEs appears to be better compared to that of New Zealand SOEs. Originality/value This paper represents one of the only comparative papers on this topic in the context of SOEs in two countries renowned for robust corporate disclosures. The authors discuss the research, policy and practice implications of this study and conclude by providing avenues for future research.

This study examines the first corporate disclosures issued under the IFRS Sustainability Standards, with full alignment to IFRS S2, using natural language processing and text mining techniques, and contributes evidence to an underexplored phase of sustainability reporting research. Focusing on an emerging market setting, the analysis covers the 2024 reports of 18 firms included in the Borsa Istanbul Sustainability 25 Index. The reports are evaluated through readability metrics (Flesch–Kincaid, Gunning Fog, and SMOG), conceptual concentration measures (TF–IDF), semantic proximity analysis (Cosine Similarity), and network-based methods. The findings indicate a strong degree of technical discipline and standard adherence in the first year of implementation, alongside a pronounced barrier to linguistic accessibility. Average Gunning Fog and Flesch–Kincaid scores of 18.94 and 14.90 suggest that meaningful interpretation of these disclosures requires advanced academic proficiency. The observed technical density reflects the detailed and standard-driven structure of IFRS-based sustainability reporting and points to a persistent tension between technical precision and interpretability, consistent with the Managerial Obfuscation perspective (H1). High levels of semantic overlap further indicate that, under conditions of reporting uncertainty, firms rely heavily on established disclosure patterns, reinforcing professional convergence through both coercive (regulatory alignment) and mimetic (uncertainty-driven emulation) isomorphism (H2). In contrast, distinct narrative configurations identified through principal component and network analyses are evaluated as potential credibility-enhancing signals within the framework of Signaling Theory (H3). Overall, IFRS Sustainability Standards reporting functions in emerging markets as a learning-oriented and strategically relevant disclosure mechanism that may potentially mitigate information asymmetry through its linguistic properties.

Workplace sexual harassment remains a significant challenge to gender equality, dignity, and safety in professional environments. In India, the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 marked an important step toward institutionalizing preventive and remedial mechanisms against workplace harassment. The Act mandates the constitution of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) and requires the inclusion of an external member from a non-governmental organization or an association committed to women’s rights. This provision recognizes the crucial role of civil society in ensuring impartiality, transparency, and accountability in workplace grievance redressal systems. This paper examines the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in strengthening sexual harassment redressal mechanisms within workplaces. It evaluates how NGO participation contributes to awareness generation, procedural fairness in inquiry processes, survivor support, and compliance monitoring under the legal framework established by the landmark judgment in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan and subsequently codified in the POSH Act. Drawing upon available reports, corporate disclosures, and government data, the study highlights the growing number of reported complaints alongside the persistent problem of underreporting due to fear of retaliation and institutional bias. The research further analyzes the practical challenges faced in implementing the statutory requirement of NGO participation, including tokenistic representation, limited training of committee members, and weak compliance mechanisms, particularly in the informal sector. The study argues that effective collaboration between employers, government institutions, and civil society organizations is essential for building safer and more equitable workplaces. Strengthening NGO engagement through capacity-building, structured monitoring frameworks, and broader outreach initiatives can significantly enhance the effectiveness of workplace sexual harassment redressal mechanisms and advance the broader goals of gender justice and human rights protection.

Purpose Based on the current problems of serious homogenization of social responsibility reports and poor quality of information disclosure, this study aims to explore whether specificity disclosure of social responsibility reports can effectively reduce the cost of debt financing. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the impact of specificity disclosure in social responsibility reports on the cost of corporate debt financing, using machine learning text analytics on a sample of social responsibility reports of China’s A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2021. Findings This study finds that the specificity of disclosure in corporate social responsibility reports can significantly reduce the cost of corporate debt financing, and the results remain robust across various robustness tests. The effect is more pronounced under conditions of higher corporate risk, such as excessive leverage or intense product market competition. Further analysis suggests that the effect is stronger when industry disclosure is homogeneous, firms’ disclosure environments are better and information dissemination is more intense. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence for optimizing corporate disclosure strategies, improving regulatory frameworks and creditor risk assessment.

ABSTRACT Why does corporate greenwashing persist, even amid intensifying environmental regulation? This study addresses this paradox by examining the Vertical Reform of Environmental Agencies (VREA), a major institutional restructuring in China that centralized environmental regulatory authority and strengthened the independence of local environmental enforcement. Exploiting this reform as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that the VREA significantly curbs ESG-related greenwashing behaviour. We identify three mechanisms driving this effect: enhanced regulatory scrutiny, heightened reputational and compliance sensitivity among politically connected firms, and increased perceived risk among firms with prior violations. The reform’s impact is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises, financially constrained firms, and those operating in regions with a speculative culture; in contrast, larger firms and those led by environmentally experienced executives exhibit a muted response. Our findings highlight that beyond the design of environmental policy instruments, the institutional configuration of regulatory authority plays a critical role in shaping corporate disclosure incentives. By restructuring bureaucratic power and weakening local protectionism, vertically integrated governance can serve as an effective institutional constraint on opportunistic sustainability disclosures.

ABSTRACT This study examines auditors’ perceptions of how task-specific artificial intelligence (AI) impacts the effectiveness and efficiency of auditing corporate disclosures, particularly management reports. Based on a survey of employees of a Big 4 audit firm in Germany, we analyze experiences with an AI tool designed to assist in detecting misstatements in management reports, e.g., by automatically identifying and matching disclosure requirements with reported content. The results indicate that the AI tool enhances audit effectiveness and efficiency although this result is less pronounced in supporting the detection of more complex qualitative issues. Perceptions of the AI tool’s impact are shaped not only by its technological features but also by auditors’ roles, expertise, and engagement with digital transformation. Auditors’ perceptions of potential deskilling effects and level of trust in AI outputs also vary across these attributes, emphasizing the relevance of implementation strategies, training, and transparent communication when integrating AI into audit workflows. Data Availability: The participants of this study consented only to the publication of aggregated data. Therefore, individual response data cannot be shared publicly. JEL Classifications: M4; M42; O33; D83.

Purpose Corporate readability—the ease with which stakeholders comprehend a company's written communications—is essential for fostering transparency, trust, and informed decision-making. In financial services, including banking, clear and accessible corporate disclosures are critical for regulatory compliance, customer relations, and institutional credibility. This study emphasizes the present-day importance of the readability gap—the persistent mismatch between the complexity of corporate disclosures and stakeholders' ability to understand them— and examines the evolution of corporate readability research across different countries over several decades, highlighting its relevance to financial services marketing and discussing its alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a quantitative bibliometric literature review approach based on metadata analysis rather than a systematic literature review. Using data from the Web of Science Core Collection, 1,714 documents published between 1981 and 2025 were analyzed with Bibliometrix in R and Python-based network analysis tools. Findings The findings reveal notable disparities between developed and developing countries in corporate readability research. Developed economies, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, have prioritized readability in financial disclosures, particularly in the context of regulatory transparency and investor relations, contributing to institutional trust and market stability (SDG 16). In contrast, developing countries, including China and India, have increasingly focused on the role of digital transformation in corporate readability, particularly in sustainability and financial reporting (SDG 12). Additionally, addressing linguistic diversity and financial literacy challenges in emerging markets supports SDG 10 by promoting equitable access to corporate information. Practical implications The study highlights the importance of improving readability strategies to enhance stakeholder engagement across industries, including financial services. For financial institutions, ensuring clarity in customer communications, financial reports, and regulatory disclosures can enhance trust and long-term relationships. In developing markets, leveraging digital tools and multilingual communication strategies can help bridge information gaps and improve financial literacy, fostering greater transparency and market participation. Social implications Enhancing corporate readability contributes to a more inclusive and transparent business environment, which is particularly relevant in sectors such as banking, insurance, and financial services, where trust and comprehension are critical. By improving the accessibility of corporate disclosures, organizations can support financial inclusion, responsible consumption, and sustainable governance practices. Originality/value This study is among the first to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of corporate readability research, clearly outlining how it differs from previous studies by integrating a global scope, linking to SDGs, and offering sector-specific implications for financial services. It identifies key trends and regional differences with broad implications for business communication and financial services marketing. By aligning readability with SDGs, the study underlines its importance in promoting transparency, trust, and informed decision-making in corporate and financial contexts.

Sexual harassment at the workplace constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights, dignity, equality, and the constitutional guarantee of safe working conditions. The enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) marked a transformative moment in Indian labour jurisprudence by institutionalizing preventive, remedial, and punitive mechanisms against workplace harassment. Over a decade after its implementation, the POSH framework has evolved significantly through judicial interpretation, corporate governance reforms, technological workplace transformations, and emerging gender-sensitivity norms. This article critically examines the development of sexual harassment law in India after the POSH Act, focusing on legislative evolution, compliance challenges, employer liability, procedural safeguards, and recent judicial decisions from 2023–2026. The study analyses landmark Supreme Court and High Court rulings clarifying Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) jurisdiction, limitation periods, evidentiary standards, and procedural fairness. Recent regulatory developments—including mandatory corporate disclosures and proposed statutory amendments—demonstrate a shift from formal compliance toward substantive workplace equality.

Purpose This study systematically reviews sustainability performance disclosure (SPD) research published between 2015 and September 2025 to identify key determinants influencing corporate disclosure beyond traditional firm-level and governance factors. It maps the intellectual structure, examines dominant theoretical perspectives, and traces methodological trends, highlighting emerging themes and underexplored contexts. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review of 72 peer-reviewed articles from high-ranking journals was conducted. An integrative analytical framework examined thematic patterns, theoretical underpinnings, methodological approaches, and geographical coverage. Articles were rigorously screened using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure analytical consistency and scholarly relevance. Findings The review identifies board governance, institutional pressures, ownership structure, firm size, auditor type, and firm age as consistent determinants of SPD. Recent studies emphasize the moderating roles of regulatory frameworks, stakeholder engagement, and digitalization in enhancing disclosure transparency. Quantitative, correlational designs dominate the literature, particularly in Asia and Europe, while Africa, South America, and Oceania remain underrepresented. Theoretical grounding is primarily in legitimacy, stakeholder, and agency theories, with increasing adoption of institutional and resource-based perspectives. Research limitations/implications Despite a systematic selection process, relevant studies may have been excluded due to database restrictions, keyword choices, and the exclusion of grey literature. Practical implications The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers, regulators, and corporate managers by identifying institutional and contextual mechanisms that can strengthen the quality, comparability, and credibility of sustainability disclosures. Originality/value This review advances SPD scholarship by offering an up-to-date, integrative synthesis and a forward-looking research agenda that addresses persistent theoretical, methodological, and contextual gaps.

To address the largely unmitigated societal impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, this study proposes a Tripartite Ethical Policy Framework for AI governance in global industries. The framework comprises three key components: AI ethics, technical implementation, and institutional governance. Drawing on current international standards, it integrates six core principles (i.e., human-centricity, fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy, and safety) and translates them into three actionable ethical domains: data, algorithms, and autonomy. An empirical analysis of corporate disclosures in Japan reveals a gap between stated commitments and actual implementation, highlighting the need for stronger governance and credible accountability. By embedding AI ethics in internal and external audits, the framework enhances transparency, strengthens oversight, and promotes responsible AI use. Its emphasis on adaptability provides a foundation for AI audit and responsible innovation amid rapid technological change.

Purpose This study investigates whether and how trade frictions affect firms' sustainability disclosure. Additionally, it assesses the moderating effects of firms' industry, export and governance characteristics on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2006 to 2016. It designs a quasi-natural experiment based on antidumping and countervailing event shocks to conduct empirical analysis. Findings Firms exposed to trade frictions significantly enhance sustainability disclosure, especially in environmental and social aspects. Path analysis reveals that trade frictions prompt firms to enhance sustainability disclosure by intensifying product market competition and capital market financing constraints. Furthermore, the effect of trade frictions on sustainability disclosure is more pronounced among heavily polluting, manufacturing and innovative firms, firms with larger export scales and fewer export destinations, state-owned enterprises and firms with more internal control deficiencies and higher institutional shareholdings. Moreover, firms can mitigate the adverse impacts of trade frictions on risk management level, financing capability and operating performance by enhancing sustainability disclosure. Research limitations/implications This study has several limitations. First, we treat all firms subject to trade investigations uniformly, without distinguishing between different types of antidumping and countervailing measures. Future research can examine whether specific types of trade remedy measures trigger distinct disclosure responses and result in different outcomes. Second, our sample is restricted to Chinese listed firms from 2006 to 2016, a period predating the recent escalation of global trade tensions. Extended time periods can provide insights into the long-term effects of trade frictions on corporate behaviour. Third, our analysis focuses exclusively on China. Given significant cross-country differences in institutional contexts and sustainability priorities, such as some economies prioritising economic growth over environmental protection, future research can extend these findings by conducting comparative analyses across diverse institutional settings. Practical implications This study offers valuable insights for managers of different types of firms in making scientific sustainability disclosure decisions to cope with trade uncertainty and achieve sustainable development. It also provides implications for policymakers in improving sustainability disclosure systems to enhance corporate communication with both product and capital markets. Originality/value This study verifies the promoting effect of trade frictions on corporate sustainability disclosure, enriching the literature on trade frictions and sustainable development and deepening the understanding of corporate disclosure behaviours in response to negative external shocks.