Premium
Assessing corporate environmental reporting motivations: differences between ‘close‐to‐market’ and ‘business‐to‐business’ companies
Author(s) -
HaddockFraser Janet,
Fraser Iain
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
corporate social responsibility and environmental management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.519
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1535-3966
pISSN - 1535-3958
DOI - 10.1002/csr.147
Subject(s) - business , environmental reporting , closeness , sustainability reporting , marketing , accounting , product (mathematics) , industrial organization , corporate social responsibility , public relations , mathematical analysis , mathematics , geometry , political science
In this paper we examine whether proximity to market affects the extent and form of corporate environmental reporting of companies listed in the FTSE 250. The reason for examining this issue is that it is frequently asserted, but not demonstrated, that closeness to market will correlate positively with proactive communication of environmental activities. Our results show that this assertion is, in particular reporting contexts, true. In particular, we find that companies who are close to market, or are brand‐name companies, are highly likely to adopt one of the several forms of environmental reporting considered (particularly reporting on product life‐cycle or supply chain and reporting through the BitC benchmark system). We also show that companies proximate to market are more likely to be the target of media attention, but are unable within the bounds of the research to assess whether this is a cause of increased environmental reporting or an effect of it. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.