sample_literature_review.docx
Branco and Rodrigues (2008) investigate the factors that influence social responsibility disclosure by Portuguese companies listed on Portuguese Stock Exchange in 2004. The study compares the internet and annual reports as media of social responsibility disclosure and analyzes what influence disclosure. The study uses content analysis to measure the level of social responsibility disclose in company website and on the annual report. A scoring system that added the scores for each company was used to assign a point for each social responsibility disclosure theme pertaining to any of the categories considered. The study divided the disclosure into four categories namely environmental, human resource, product and consumers and community involvement. The independent variables or factors that influence social responsibility used in this study include international experience, company size, consumer proximity, environmental sensitivity and media exposure. The control variable used includes profitability and leverage. International experience is measured by the percentage of sales outside Portugal to total sales as reported in the segment data of the financial statements. Total asset is measured using the total assets as reported on the balance sheet. Consumer proximity is of binary measure of high profile and low profile. A high profile companies are those in household goods and textile, beverages, food and drug retailers, telecommunications services, electricity, gas distributions, water and bank sectors. All other sectors are considered low profile. Environmental sensitivity is also of binary measure of more sensitive and less sensitive. More sensitive sectors are identified as mining, oil and gas, chemicals, construction and building materials, forestry and paper, steel and other metals, electricity, gas distribution and water. Other sectors are considered less sensitive. Measurement for media exposure is based on the number of articles mentioned in two Portuguese newspapers. The study used multiple regression models to analyze the relationship between total social responsibility disclosure and each of the independent variables. The result shows that company size and media exposure have a positive significant relationship with social responsibility disclosure.
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