Publication: How Do Multinationals Report Their Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts?: Evidence from Global Reporting Initiative Data
Date
2017-12
ISSN
Published
2017-12
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper examines the role of
multinational enterprises in sustainability reporting. The
study assesses how multinational enterprise status
correlates with a company's average disclosure rate and
probability of reporting on economic, labor and social,
environmental, and governance indicators. It uses a unique
data set that offers company-level information on
sustainability reporting from the Global Reporting
Initiative, which covers 2,020 companies in 81 countries and
54 sustainability indicators. The summary statistics show
that multinational enterprises and large domestic companies
have higher average disclosure rates than small and
medium-size enterprises. However, the econometric analysis
suggests that multinational enterprise status does not
matter for the average disclosure rate, but company size
shows a strongly positive correlation. Differentiating by
type of multinational enterprise reveals that the
relationship becomes positive and significant for private
companies. By contrast, the correlation between
multinational enterprise status and the average disclosure
rate does not vary by listing status, sector, region, or
income level. Focusing on the relationship by development
category also shows no significant correlation. Finally,
accounting for the heterogeneity of the sustainability
indicators, the study analyzes the relationship between
multinational enterprise status and the probability of
disclosure at the detailed indicator level, and confirms a
significant correlation for 12 indicators.
Citation
“Winkler, Deborah. 2017. How Do Multinationals Report Their Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts?; How Do Multinationals Report Their Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts? Evidence from Global Reporting Initiative Data : Evidence from Global Reporting Initiative Data. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8274. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29010?locale-attribute=fr License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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