The worldwide diffusion of the global reporting initiative: what is the point?

Abstract This study analyzes the worldwide diffusion of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) from the viewpoint of both a macro- and a microanalysis using data from the first decade of this century. For the macroanalysis, logistic curves were used to demonstrate the different stages and patterns in the dissemination of GRI in the different regions of the world that were examined. For the microanalysis, two indices—instability and concentration—were used to analyze and assess GRI diffusion across different sectors of activity. The findings are thus of considerable importance to the understanding of sustainability reporting worldwide. Moreover, they point to probable trends in sustainability reporting over the next few years.

[1]  A. G. Lagodimos,et al.  The state of ISO 14001 certification in Greece , 2007 .

[2]  David J. Teece,et al.  The Diffusion of an Administrative Innovation , 1980 .

[3]  David L. Levy,et al.  The Contested Politics of Corporate Governance , 2010 .

[4]  Bart J. Bronnenberg,et al.  A Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Global Diffusion of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 Certification , 2007, Manag. Sci..

[5]  Ambika Zutshi,et al.  An integrated management systems approach to corporate social responsibility , 2013 .

[6]  Uwafiokun Idemudia,et al.  Corporate social responsibility and developing countries , 2011 .

[7]  M. Delmas.  The diffusion of environmental management standards in Europe and in the United States: An institutional perspective , 2002 .

[8]  D. Huisingh,et al.  Inter-linking issues and dimensions in sustainability reporting , 2011 .

[9]  Fiorenzo Franceschini,et al.  Clustering of European countries based on ISO 9000 certification diffusion , 2010 .

[10]  Paul Stoneman,et al.  Handbook of the economics of innovation and technological change , 1995 .

[11]  J. M. Moneva,et al.  GRI and the camouflaging of corporate unsustainability , 2006 .

[12]  Rafael Lucian,et al.  CSR Information Disclosure on the Web: A Context-Based Approach Analysing the Influence of Country of Origin and Industry Sector , 2008 .

[13]  J. Diller,et al.  ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy , 2002, International Legal Materials.

[14]  Andreas Rasche,et al.  Towards a Model to Compare and Analyze Accountability Standards: The Case of the UN Global Compact , 2008 .

[15]  M. Kemp.  Corporate Social Responsibility in Indonesia: Quixotic Dream or Confident Expectation? , 2001 .

[16]  Richard Welford,et al.  Corporate social responsibility in Europe, North American and Asia: 2004 Survey Results , 2005 .

[17]  R. Barkemeyer,et al.  CSR priorities of emerging economy firms: is Russia a different shape of BRIC? , 2011 .

[18]  C. Searcy,et al.  An analysis of indicators disclosed in corporate sustainability reports , 2012 .

[19]  Pedro M. Saraiva,et al.  ISO 9001 certification forecasting models , 2011 .

[20]  David L. Goetsch,et al.  ISO 14000: Environmental Management , 2000 .

[21]  M. Azim,et al.  Corporate Social Reporting Practice: Evidence from Listed Companies in Bangladesh , 2009 .

[22]  S. Tywoniak,et al.  The Reputation of the Corporate Social Responsibility Industry in Australia , 2009 .

[23]  Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo,et al.  CSR codes and the principal-agent problem in supply chains: four case studies , 2011 .

[24]  M. Casadesus,et al.  The future of standardised quality management in tourism: evidence from the Spanish tourist sector , 2010 .

[25]  J. Spangenberg,et al.  A methodology for CSR reporting: assuring a representative diversity of indicators across stakeholders, scales, sites and performance issues , 2008 .

[26]  Frederic Marimon i Viadiu,et al.  ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards: A projection model for the decline phase , 2009 .

[27]  Madhu Khanna,et al.  Non-mandatory Approaches to Environmental Protection , 2002 .

[28]  Chi Ming Tam,et al.  Towards implementation of ISO 14001 environmental management systems in selected industries in China , 2005 .

[29]  Robert B. Pojasek,et al.  ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility , 2011 .

[30]  Martí Casadesús,et al.  ISO 14001 diffusion after the success of the ISO 9001 model , 2008 .

[31]  Konstantinos Evangelinos,et al.  Development of an Evaluation Methodology for Triple Bottom Line Reports Using International Standards on Reporting , 2009, Environmental management.

[32]  Alan Willis,et al.  The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in the Social Screening of Investments , 2003 .

[33]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[34]  José Mariano Moneva Abadía,et al.  Origins and development of sustainability reporting: Analysis of the Latin American context , 2011 .

[35]  Domènec Melé,et al.  Corporate Ethical Policies in Large Corporations in Argentina, Brazil and Spain , 2003 .

[36]  M. Porter,et al.  Strategy and society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. , 2006, Harvard business review.

[37]  Martí Casadesús,et al.  How integrated are environmental, quality and other standardized management systems? An empirical study ☆ , 2009 .

[38]  Arno Scharl,et al.  Communicating sustainability: A web content analysis of North American, Asian and European firms , 2008 .

[39]  Fiorenzo Franceschini,et al.  A new forecasting model for the diffusion of ISO 9000 standard certifications in European countries , 2004 .

[40]  Mustaruddin Saleh,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure in an Emerging Market: A Longitudinal Analysis Approach , 2009 .

[41]  Philip L. Cochran,et al.  Integrated and Decoupled Corporate Social Performance: Management Commitments, External Pressures, and Corporate Ethics Practices , 1999 .

[42]  A. Rasche,et al.  Discourse Ethics and Social Accountability , 2007 .

[43]  Martí Casadesús,et al.  Do integration difficulties influence management system integration levels , 2012 .

[44]  J. L. Quintero,et al.  La responsabilidad social corporativa y el desempeño financiero: un análisis en empresas mexicanas que cotizan en la bolsa , 2011 .

[45]  Kristi Yuthas,et al.  Moral Discourse and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting , 2008 .

[46]  Charles P. Koerber.  Corporate Responsibility Standards: Current Implications and Future Possibilities for Peace Through Commerce , 2009 .

[47]  R. Ingram,et al.  ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE AND CORPORATE DISCLOSURE , 1980 .

[48]  Frederic Marimon Viadiu,et al.  ISO 9001 diffusion analysis according to activity sectors , 2011, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[49]  Halina Szejnwald Brown,et al.  The rise of the Global Reporting Initiative: a case of institutional entrepreneurship , 2009 .

[50]  D. F. Greer,et al.  Industrial Organization and Public Policy , 1980 .

[51]  I. García‐Sánchez,et al.  Stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility reporting: the ownership structure effect , 2009 .

[52]  Michel Ogrizek,et al.  The effect of corporate social responsibility on the branding of financial services , 2002 .

[53]  Michael J. Pisani,et al.  CSR, Sustainability and the Meaning of Global Reporting for Latin American Corporations , 2010 .

[54]  W. Visser.  Research on corporate citizenship in Africa , 2006 .

[55]  R. Tassabehji,et al.  An Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Identity and Ethics Teaching in Business Schools , 2007 .

[56]  Iñ´aki Heras Saizarbitoria,et al.  ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards: an international diffusion model , 2006 .

[57]  Peter M. Clarkson,et al.  Revisiting the Relation between Environmental Performance and Environmental Disclosure: An Empirical Analysis , 2006 .

[58]  Ahmed Sherif,et al.  Environmental management systems' awareness: an investigation of top 50 contractors in Egypt , 2010 .

[59]  C. Mitchell,et al.  Corporate social and environmental reporting and the impact of internal environmental policy in South Africa , 2009 .

[60]  S. Waddock.  Building the Institutional Infrastructure for Corporate Social Responsibility , 2006 .

[61]  M. Toffel,et al.  Organizational Responses to Environmental Demands: Opening the Black Box , 2008 .

[62]  Giacomo Manetti.  The quality of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting: empirical evidence and critical points , 2011 .

[63]  Peter Glavič,et al.  A model for integrated assessment of sustainable development , 2005 .

[64]  David L. Levy,et al.  Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting , 2009 .

[65]  Martí Casadesús,et al.  Certification intensity level of the leading nations in ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 standards , 2010 .

[66]  Michelle Brown,et al.  Reporting on community investment , 2009 .

[67]  Frederic Marimon,et al.  Comparative analysis of diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard by sector of activity , 2011 .

[68]  Jorge A. Arevalo,et al.  Assessing corporate responsibility as a contribution to global governance: the case of the UN Global Compact , 2008 .

[69]  Martí Casadesús,et al.  Implementing environmental with other standardized management systems: Scope, sequence, time and integration , 2009 .

[70]  Scott J. Callan,et al.  Corporate financial performance and corporate social performance: an update and reinvestigation , 2009 .

[71]  Reinhard Steurer,et al.  Empirical Findings on Business–Society Relations in Europe , 2006 .

[72]  María J. Montes-Sancho,et al.  An Institutional Perspective on the Diffusion of International Management System Standards: The Case of the Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001 , 2007 .

[73]  Francesco Perrini,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause , 2006 .

[74]  Mikael Niskala,et al.  Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland , 2010 .

[75]  Ladislao Luna Sotorrío,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility of the Most Highly Reputed European and North American Firms , 2008 .

[77]  Andreas Rasche,et al.  Discourse Ethics and Social Accountability: The Ethics of SA 8000 , 2007, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[78]  Peter M. Clarkson,et al.  An examination of environmental reporting and its relation to corporate environmental performance , 2007 .

[79]  F. A. Sobhani,et al.  Corporate sustainability disclosure practices of selected banks: A trend analysis approach , 2011 .

[80]  J. Frynas.  Corporate Social Responsibility and Societal Governance: Lessons from Transparency in the Oil and Gas Sector , 2010 .

[81]  A. Jacquemin.  The New Industrial Organization: Market Forces and Strategic Behavior , 1987 .

[82]  D. Jamali.  The Case for Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries , 2007 .

[83]  J. Wiseman,et al.  An evaluation of environmental disclosures made in corporate annual reports , 1982 .

[84]  Richard Welford,et al.  A comparative study of corporate social responsibility in Bangladesh and Pakistan , 2009 .