Premium
How a Two‐Step Approach Discloses Different Determinants of Voluntary Social and Environmental Reporting
Author(s) -
Bouten Lies,
Everaert Patricia,
Roberts Robin W.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of business finance and accounting
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.282
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1468-5957
pISSN - 0306-686X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5957.2012.02290.x
Subject(s) - operationalization , voluntary disclosure , turnover , sample (material) , environmental reporting , accounting , business , econometrics , actuarial science , psychology , economics , management , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , chromatography
Previous research on the determinants of voluntary social and environmental disclosure assumes that the determinants underlying the company's decision to disclose and the disclosure level are the same. This paper addresses the influence of this assumption on: (i) the operationalization of the dependent variables; (ii) the estimation method; and (iii) the subsequent empirical results, using both a sample of listed Belgian and US firms. Overall, the findings suggest that not distinguishing between the determinants underlying the decision to disclose and the disclosure level may be misleading.