Ver artículo

An extensive conceptual literature that examines the motives for, and consequences of, firms making voluntary disclosures, emphasises the significance of legal, competitive, strategic, and financial factors (Grossman 1981, Milgrom 1981, Verrecchia 1983, Trueman 1997, Hughes & Sankar 1997, Evans & Sridhar 2002), and distinguishes between various types of voluntary disclosure, according to both their subject (eg earnings and/or sales forecasts, corporate governance and changes in senior management, and social and environmental policies or performance) and the media through which such disclosures are made (eg Lang & Lundholm 1993, 2000, Skinner 1994, Soffer et al. 2000, Baginski et al. 2002, Cullen & Christopher 2002, Miller 2002, Cormier & Magnan 2003, Hutton et al. 2003, Sinclair-Desgagne & Gozlan 2003). The increased interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) among consumers, investors, employees, creditors, legislators, and regulators has coincided with the growing incidence and sophistication of corporate social reporting (Gray et al. 1995, Deegan et al. 2000). The majority of large businesses volunteer information concerning the impact of their activities on society and the manner in which these impacts are managed within the firm (Gray et al. 1995, 2001, Hackston & Milne 1996, Deegan & Gordon 1996). In response, a number of empirical studies analyse the pattern of voluntary social disclosure, many of which examine either the incidence or content of corporate annual reports and/or separate social, environmental, and employee health and safety reports (eg Guthrie & Parker 1989, Gray et al. 1995, Robertson …