Building a European Portrait of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

This article offers an original overview of non-financial disclosure on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by concentrating on information released through corporate social, environmental and sustainability reports. It compares and contrasts corporate social disclosure practices among ninety European companies with respect to the amount and kind of information released (CSR themes and topics), by stakeholder-based categories. The paper draws on the assumption that corporate social disclosure can be considered as the most direct expression of the companies' attitudes and behaviours regarding social responsibility. The principal finding of this study is: firms' disclosure is currently restricted to specific CSR themes. The resulting corporate socially responsible portrait is linked to seven major themes that are: operational efficiency, maximum safety, environmental protection, quality & innovation, open dialogue, skill development, and responsible citizenship.