Corporate social reporting practices in Western Europe: legitimating corporate behaviour?

This study identifies factors that influence all types of social disclosures. A sample of 150 annual reports from six European countries was examined using content analysis. The results indicate that company size, industrial grouping and country of domicile all influence corporate social reporting patterns. It was found that ‘super-large’ companies are significantly more likely to disclose all types of corporate social information. Industry membership was found to be related to the decision to report environmental and some employee information, but not to ethical disclosures. In addition, while size and industry membership were important in all six countries, the amount and nature of information disclosed varies significantly across Europe. Whilst legitimacy theory can be employed to explain differences related to size and industry membership, an initial analysis indicates that the reasons for differences across countries are much more complex and we offer suggestions as to how these may be explored in further research