Standalone CSR Reports: A Canadian Analysis

Abstract

This research examines whether firms who issue these reports are really more sociallyresponsible or if they are merely trying to convince stakeholders that they are. We use theCSID index as an independent evaluation of firms’ level of CSR and find that firms that issuestandalone CSR reports every year do have significantly higher Total CSR, CSR Strengths andCSR Weaknesses than firms that never issue these reports. Additionally, we find that firms thatissue standalone CSR reports in some years have higher Total CSR and CSR Strengths scoresthan firms that never issue standalone CSR reports. Our results provide support for theexplanation that firms who issue standalone CSR reports do so as a signal of their superiorcommitment to social responsibility actions. We found minimal support for the argument thatfirms who issue standalone CSR reports are more profitable.Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability Reports