Web-based Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in Finnish Listed Companies

Abstract

This is a study of voluntary social responsibility reporting practices in Finnish listed companies. The online Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) publications of thirty-two randomly selected, various size businesses were researched and analyzed employing a quantitative method. The aim of the analysis was to find correlational relationships between the charasteristics of a company and the volume of its CSR reporting output using selected numeric variables. The results indicate a linear relationship between a company’s size and the extent of its CSR reporting. The overall objective of the thesis was to give a snapshot of how much, regarding which topics and through what kind of publications do Finnish listed companies report CSR. The study does not consider non-listed companies or any internally produced material that is not available online. A brief literature review forms a basis for the empirical part and selected frameworks from existing research have been applied. The nature of this study is descriptive and it does not analyze CSR from a business strategic or ideological point-of-view.