Reputation Management in CSR reports - mapping theoretical perspectives

Abstract

From a societal point of view environmental accounting can fill the role of information- provider in the struggle for sustainability. On the one hand, CSR reporting is used by companies to account for their social and environmental responsibility. On the other hand, CSR reporting is used by companies to manage their reputation. The purpose of this study is to make a theoretical overview of what theories are used for explaining how companies’ respond to external pressure by using CSR reporting as a mean to manage their reputation. Therefore, a map over theories is developed to illustrate how ideas within theories developed and how theories connect to each other. This overview is used outline essences from different theoretical perspectives used to describe and explain the use of CSR reports as an instrument for responding to external pressure and managing corporate responsibility. This paper is a work in progress starting to map out theoretical perspectives dealing with corporate social disclosure in general and reputation management through corporate social disclosure in particular. How a unified assumption is dealt with through different theoretical approaches is discussed. It is argued that the emphasis of different theories provides different explanations which can be used to drive research in the field from different theoretical approaches.