Open AccessVoluntary coercion? Conditions for sustainable reporting by small and medium-sized enterprises
Author(s) -
Przemysław Mućko,
Andrzej Niemiec,
Wanda Skoczylas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
zeszyty teoretyczne rachunkowości
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2391-677X
pISSN - 1641-4381
DOI - 10.5604/01.3001.0015.5744
Subject(s) - business , accounting , sustainability , originality , stakeholder , small and medium sized enterprises , sustainability reporting , stakeholder theory , voluntary disclosure , sample (material) , coercion (linguistics) , value (mathematics) , marketing , finance , public relations , qualitative research , ecology , social science , chemistry , chromatography , machine learning , sociology , political science , computer science , biology , linguistics , philosophy
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants and possibilities of dis-seminating sustainability reporting among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the basis of the accounting theory, legal regulations, and the opinions of SME representa-tives.Methodology/approach: A review of the literature and other sources. Cluster analysis, the k-means method, and the one-way ANOVA test were used to prepare the results of the survey conducted through AAP.Findings: Only stakeholder theory provides explanations that are useful for identifying the determinants of the dissemination of sustainability reporting among SMEs. The major-ity of SMEs are indirectly obliged to report, as a result of maintaining relationships with entities that are required to report non-financial information on the entire value chain. In our survey, we identified two groups. The first represents skeptics. They do not report non-financial information and do not support the introduction of a single, simplified, EU sus-tainability reporting standard for SMEs. The second group believes that SMEs should report non-financial data. They are usually entities that already report such information.Research limitations/implications: The limitations of the study are due to sample se-lection and size. In the implications, we emphasized the advantages of indirectly obliging SMEs to report non-financial information by requiring that their key stakeholders collect such information.Originality/value: The article fills a gap in the literature by providing empirical research on non-financial reporting in SMEs.Keywords: non-financial reporting, corporate sustainability reporting, small and medium enterprises.