Quality of sustainability reporting based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines: the impact of company characteristics
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Date
2018
Authors
He, Wanting
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Abstract
With the rise in stakeholders’ demand for more transparency and information disclosure, companies are increasingly publishing sustainability reports to improve their public image. The purpose of this thesis is to explore characteristics of companies that have high quality sustainability reports. Based on the extant literature; location, organization size, third-party verification, and ISO certification are potential factors that influence a company’s reporting performance. A statistical rating method, developed using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) principles, is used to grade sustainability reports. GRI appears to be the most widely used and dominant sustainability reporting guideline. Hypotheses are tested using ANOVA and regression
techniques. The results reveal that firm size and ISO certification influence the quality of sustainability reports.
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Keywords
GRI, Sustainability report, Firm size, Third-party verification, Location, ISO