Giacomo Manetti

Motivations for issuing standalone CSR reports: a survey of Canadian firms

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the companies’ motivations to issue or not issue voluntary standalone corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports in the Canadian context. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors realized a questionnaire survey that asked Canadian companies why they do or do not issue standalone CSR reports, what their motivations and costs are, and the extent to which they comply with GRI guidelines. Findings - – The results show that larger firms issue standalone CSR reports. As larger firms have more political visibility and are subject to greater external scrutiny than smaller firms (Watts and Zimmerman, 1986), the findings indicate that firms primarily issue standalone CSR reports in response to external scrutiny by stakeholders, which is consistent with a stakeholder perspective. The survey also identifies that ancillary motivations for Canadian firms for issuing standalone CSR reports are consistent with legitimacy and signalling perspectives. Research limitations/implications - – The authors acknowledge that the generalizability of the findings is limited due to the sample being situated within a single national context. The inferences drawn from such a sample in Canada may not be applicable to other countries with different national institutional contexts. In addition, the small size of the sample may limit the generalizability of the findings. The authors also did not specifically consider the quality of the CSR reports in the study. Finally, the work may be affected by the inherent weaknesses associated with survey research, including the inherent bias of the individuals responding to the survey. Originality/value - – The research adds to the growing body of research on voluntary CSR disclosures, with particular reference to the Canadian context.

The Use of Social Media for Engaging Stakeholders in Sustainability Reporting

Purpose - This study aims to assess if online interaction through social media, particularly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, represents an effective stakeholder engagement mechanism in order to define the contents of social, environmental or sustainability reporting (SESR). Design/methodology/approach - After examining 332 worldwide sustainability reports for the year 2013, drawn up according to the guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), we conducted a content analysis on the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages of the organisations who rely on these types of social media. This was done in order to assess the scope of interaction between the organisation and its stakeholders. Findings - We found that a small number of organisations use social media to engage stakeholders as a means of defining the contents of SESR, and that the level of interaction is generally low. Rather than assuming a deliberative approach that is aimed at forging a democratic consensus on how to address specific CSR or SESR issues, these types of interaction focus on gathering divergent socio-political views in an agonistic perspective. - Research limitations/implications Further research could complement this exploratory research with statistical analyses. It could focus on how comments/replies by users are used by organisations and examine the impacts of SESR on companies’ performances. - Originality/value We contribute to the literature on social accounting by understanding whether social media can be reliable instruments of stakeholder engagement and by examining the relevance of information that is voluntarily disclosed by corporations in SESR.

Stakeholder engagement and public information through social media: a study of Canadian and American public transportation agencies

This study uses theories on dialogic accounting to assess whether online interaction through social media is used as a mechanism of public information and stakeholder engagement by Canadian and American public transportation agencies. We embraced a quantitative methodology in which content analysis was performed on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of 35 transit operators in Canada and the United States. We categorized the contents of 1,222 Facebook posts and 2,615 tweets, assessed which level and what type of interaction was effectively reached for every category, tracked whether and how agencies reply to comments on their posts, and assessed the general tenor of the discussion. Our results show that public transportation agencies often take advantage of their presence on social media to provide the public with information on their services and to perform activities associated with stakeholder engagement. However, we have found some significant differences in the utilization of social media by public transportation agencies, all of which are discussed in the “Conclusion” section of this article. Twitter is most often used for public information messages, while Facebook appears to be used more to publish content in a dialogic perspective that creates two-way, collaborative conversations with users. In terms of practical implications, our study suggests that a broader and more continuous commitment to interaction between users and stakeholders on social media would create new opportunities for improving transparency and, indirectly, the services of public agencies.

Facebook as a tool for supporting dialogic accounting? Evidence from large philanthropic foundations in the United States

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the utilization of the social network, Facebook, as an instrument of stakeholder engagement and dialogic accounting in American charitable foundations, specifically non-profit organizations that are dedicated to philanthropy. Design/methodology/approach - The research motivation involves whether online interaction through Facebook could represent a channel of dialogic accounting that engages organizational stakeholders. This paper aims to understand if this dialogue is geared to generate a consensus necessary to deliberate over decisions that are shared between all stakeholders, or if a divergent and agonistic perspective, which highlights struggles and differences between actors, prevails. The present study employs a form of content analysis that takes into account the Facebook pages of the 100 largest American philanthropic foundations. Findings - The primary goal of the analysis is to examine the discrepancies in terms of how (and how much) large organizations are using Facebook. The study wants to provide more details on which kind of information large organizations are willing to disclose and collect on Facebook, and to evaluate the level and type of interaction between foundations and users. Research limitations/implications - Further research could build on the present study by providing in-depth case studies and extending the analysis to other social media and other types of organizations. Originality/value - Social media represent a powerful mechanism to engage stakeholders in a polylogic conversation. However, the scholarly literature confirms that further studies are necessary to understand how companies and organization can exploit this potential.

Defining the Content of Sustainability Reports in Nonprofit Organizations: Do Stakeholders Really Matter?

The aim of the article is to investigate the role of stakeholder engagement and participation in nonprofit organizations’ sustainability reporting, according to the literature on third sector and stakeholder theory. To verify the levels of involvement, the authors conducted an empirical survey, using content analysis, on a sample of 54 sustainability reports of nonprofit organizations included in the Global Reporting Initiative database as of September 1, 2012. In order to strengthen the results obtained from the content analysis, the authors shared their findings with the organizations of the sample. The survey showed that there were some criticisms regarding stakeholder participation in the targeted research field. These are considered in the conclusions. Questions for the future included whether stakeholder engagement is moving from being simply a way to consult and influence stakeholders to being an effective instrument for involving them in nonprofit organizations’ reporting and decision-making processes, through mutual commitment.

La valutazione del patrimonio museale : il caso del Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze

Il presente lavoro mira ad individuare le prassi per la valutazione dei beni culturali di proprieta delle pubbliche amministrazioni attraverso lo studio del caso del Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze. Dopo aver esaminato le principali indicazioni della prassi e della dottrina in tema di valutazione dei beni culturali, gli autori affrontano un caso di studio nel quale e stato adottato, per l’inventariazione dell’intero patrimonio museale, uno dei metodi in precedenza discussi, ossia la stima degli esperti, quale proxy del valore di mercato delle collezioni. Con riferimento al caso di studio si indicano le motivazioni a supporto del metodo adottato e le difficolta incontrate nella conduzione del processo valutativo. Dall’indagine condotta emergono alcuni limiti ed alcuni potenziali sviluppi della ricerca, evidenziati nelle conclusioni, sui criteri di valutazione del patrimonio museale.

The management of the plague in Florence at the beginning of the Renaissance: The role of the partnership between the Republic and the Confraternita of Misericordia

The role of charities in the administration of health care and poverty, and the use of accounting in their control mechanisms, is a relatively unexplored topic in the accounting history literature. This study aims to enrich the literature by studying how accounting systems were used in the management of the plague by a charity organisation – the Confraternita of Misericordia – during the first decades of the Renaissance in Florence, focusing on the role of the partnership between the Republic of Florence and the Misericordia. This research is the result of the analysis of rare documents, statutes and account books concerning the administration of the Misericordia from 1490 to 1530. Our analysis employs Foucault’s theories on the ‘government of the poor’ and Dean’s thoughts on ‘technologies of government’ and ‘policing the poor’ to highlight the link between religious values, political power and the accountability practices of the Misericordia.

The Quality of Annual Reporting by Italian Museums: An International Comparison

ABSTRACT We study the quality of disclosure and the level of accountability of Italian museums using MPADI2 index (Wei et al. 2008; Botes et al. 2013) on a sample of 13 annual reports which, given the legal status of some entities, encompasses the activity of 93 Italian public and private museums, many of which are within the most visited in Italy and worldwide. The results allow for an international comparison with the annual reports of a panel of USA, UK and European museums which have undergone the same MPADI2 analysis, giving an interesting insight about museum different disclosing practices across countries.

The contribution of network governance to preventing opportunistic behaviour by managers and to increasing stakeholder involvement: the Eroski case

This present work is an exploratory analysis of network governance models that are characterised by widespread distribution of decision-making and control, auditing and supervisory functions in company structure, frequently through stakeholder engagement in the management system. In the study, we verify the way in which NG can involve stakeholder representatives in the governance bodies and in the decision-making process, also preventing opportunistic behaviour of management, according to the stakeholder-agency theory. A case study of network governance is presented regarding the Spanish cooperative Eroski - a self-governing organisation, with direct participation by representatives of the various stakeholder categories in the main governing bodies. In the conclusions, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the network governance system and its implications for theory and practice and we describe an incremental approach, on an entirely voluntary basis, for implementing this governance model in other corporations, including non-cooperative ones.

Voluntary Organizations as Social Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from Tuscany.

The aim of this article is to illustrate the business model adopted by Italian Voluntary organizations (VOs), in order to point out a clear contradiction between the institutional structure and the activities actually performed, and consequently the social enterprise nature of the organizations. With this purpose in mind, a collective analysis of the 2004 - 2008 activity statements of VOs in Tuscany (a region in central Italy) was carried out, in which the type and origin of their revenues as well as the nature of their expenses were identified. The results show that Tuscan VOs have features of social enterprises due to a high incidence of earned-income revenues within the total income. In comparison, typical revenues of not-for-profit organizations, such as those derived from fund-raising activities or the management of assets conferred by the founders, take on a lesser importance. The interpretation of these data might change radically if the financial value of the donation of services (volunteer work) were assessed in the statement of activities. However, this assessment of value, although recommended by the national accounting procedure, is hardly ever done in Italian VOs.