Abstract
This paper examines voluntary sustainability reporting practices in Poland. The number of these types of reports published by companies from year to year increases however the form, content and quality of these reports varies. Disclosure of economic, social and environmental performance demonstrates social responsibility of a company and therefore, the author first has analysed in this paper the level of implementation of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept in Polish companies. Then the attention was focused on sustainability reports published in 2011. The questionnaire to evaluate the quality and type of the disclosed information in sustainability reports consisted of twenty three criteria grouped in five categories. The author discusses the overall results as well as results obtained in the particular categories. The analyses indicate that sustainability reporting is not widespread among companies in Poland. On the other hand, increasing demands/expectations from stakeholders in this direction are not observed. In 2011, 32 reports were published, 6 of them have been audited by independent organizations and 19 have been developed in accordance with the GRI guidelines (Global reporting initiative sustainability reporting guidelines). Corporate social responsibility in Poland is a relatively new concept and although all events suggestive of the development of this concept, it is still little known and rarely implemented among entrepreneurs. The results of the study indicate that sustainability reporting practices in Poland, despite a few good examples and valuable disclosures, are at its early stage of development.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartels, W., Iansen-Rogers, J., Kuszewski, J.: Count me in. The readers’ take on sustainability reporting. http://www.kpmg.com/GR/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Sustainability/Documents/CountMeIn.pdf (2008). Accessed 10 Mar 2013
Buhr, N.: Histories of and rationales for sustainability reporting. In: Unerman, J., Bebbington, J., O’Dwyer, B. (eds.) Sustainability Accounting and Accountability, pp. 57–69. Routledge, Abingdon (2007)
Chen, S., Bouvain, P.: Is corporate responsibility converging? A comparison of corporate responsibility reporting in the USA, UK, Australia, and Germany. J. Bus. Ethics 87, 299–317 (2009)
Clausen, J., Loew, T., Westermann, U.: Sustainability reporting in Germany: summary of the results and trends of the 2005 ranking. http://www.ranking-nachhaltigkeitsberichte.de (2005). Accessed 14 Mar 2013
Davis-Walling, P., Batterman, S.A.: Environmental reporting by the Fortune 50 firms. Environ. Manag. 21(6), 865–875 (1997)
Dhaliwal, D., Li, O.Z., Tsang, A.H., Yang, Y.G.: Voluntary non-financial disclosure and the cost of equity capital: the case of corporate social responsibility reporting. Working Paper. University of Arizona http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1343453 (2009). Accessed 12 Jan 2013
Eccles, R.G., Krzus, M.P.: One Report. Integrated Reporting for a Sustainable Strategy. Wiley, New Jersey (2010)
Edelman Trust barometer. http://www.edelman.com/p/6-a-m/edelman-trust-barometer-2009-paradise-lost/ (2009). Accessed 14 Feb 2013
Epstein, M.J.: Making Sustainability Work. Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental, and Economic Impacts. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield (2008)
European Commission. Corporate Social Responsibility National public policies in the European Union. European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. European Communities. http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=331&langId=en (2007). Accessed 25 Jan 2013
Flash Eurobarometer. Europeans’ attitudes towards the issue of sustainable consumption and production. Analytical report. No 256. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/pdf/FL256_analytical%20report_final.pdf (2009). Accessed 21 Jan 2013
Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC of 25 July 1978 on the annual accounts of certain types of companies, OJL 222, 14.8.1978
Gazdar, K.: Reporting Nonfinancials. Wiley, Chichester (2007)
GRI: Sustainability Reporting Statistics 2010. https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/GRI-Reporting-Stats-2010.pdf (2010). Accessed 21 Jan 2013
Hąbek, P., Szewczyk, P.: Społeczna odpowiedzialność przedsiębiorstw a zarządzanie jakością. Wydawnictwo Politechniki Śląskiej, Gliwice (2010)
Kaplan, R. S., Norton, D. P.: The balanced scorecard—measures that drive performance. Harvard Bus. Rev. 70(January/February), 71–79 (1992)
Kolk, A.: Sustainability reporting, VBA Journal 3. http://dare.uva.nl/document/17861 (2005). Accessed 23 Feb 2013
Maignan, I., Ralston, D.A.: Corporate social responsibility in Europe and the U.S.: insights from businesses’ self-representations. J. Int. Bus. Studi. 33(3), 497–514 (2002)
Morhardt, J.E.: Scoring corporate environmental reports for comprehensiveness: a comparison of three systems. Environ. Manag. 26(6), 881–892 (2001)
Morhardt, J.E., Baird, S., Freeman, K.: Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria. Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Manag. 9, 215–233 (2002)
Nam, Y., Barnett, G.A., Kim, D.: Corporate hyperlink network relationships in global corporate social responsibility system. Qual. Quant. (2013). doi:10.1007/s11135-013-9831-7
PARP: Ocena stanu wdrażania standardów społecznej odpowiedzialność biznesu. http://badania.parp.gov.pl/files/74/75/77/13079.pdf (2011). Accessed 21 Jan 2013
Responsible Business Forum. Responsible Business in Poland 2011. Best Practices. http://odpowiedzialnybiznes.pl/pl/praktyka-csr/dobre-praktyki/raporty/raport-2011/raport-2011-do-pobrania.html (2011). Accessed 23 February 2013
Reynolds, M., Yuthas, K.: Moral discourse and corporate social responsibility reporting. J. Bus. Ethics 78, 47–64 (2008)
Schaltegger, S., Burritt, R.: Corporate sustainability accounting a catchphrase for compliant corporations or a business decision support for sustainability leaders? In: Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M., Burritt, R. (eds.) Sustainability Accounting and Reporting, pp. 37–59. Springer, Dordrecht (2006)
Simnett, R., Vanstraelen, A., Chua, W.F.: Assurance on sustainability reports: an international comparison. Account. Rev. 84(3), 937–967 (2009)
Tohmatsu, D.T.: Deloitte sustainability reporting scorecard. Deloitte and Touche global environment and sustainability services group, Copenhagen, pp. 3. Retrieved Nov 7, 2012 from http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-Global/Local%20Assets/Documents/DTT_ERS_FullScorecard_032106.pdf (2002). Accessed 10 Jan 2013
UNEP: Społeczna odpowiedzialność biznesu w Polsce. Wstępna analiza. UNEP, Warszawa (2007)
Welzel, C., Peters, A., Höcker, U., Scholz, V.: The CSR Navigator. Public Policies in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Bertelsmann Stiftung/GTZ. http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-68748122BA178978/bst_engl/hs.xsl/87048_87070.htm (2007). Accessed 15 January 2013
Wolniak, R., Drzewowska, E.: Humanistyczne aspekty TQM na przykładzie angielskiej organizacji. Problemy Jakości 1/2009, 39–45 (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This publication has been prepared under the project funded by the National Science Centre Poland awarded on the basis of a decision number DEC-2011/03/B/HS4/01790.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hąbek, P. Evaluation of sustainability reporting practices in Poland. Qual Quant 48, 1739–1752 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-013-9871-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-013-9871-z