Stakeholders' Perceptions of Corporate Social Reporting in Bangladesh

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 97; no. 2; pp. 311 - 324
• Main Authors: Belal, Ataur R., Roberts, Robin W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.12.2010; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Series: Journal of Business Ethics
• Subjects: Accountability; Bangladesh; Business and Management; Business audits; Business Ethics; Business structures; Corporate responsibility; corporate social reporting (CSRep); Corporate social responsibility; Corporations; Corruption; Developing countries; Disclosure; Economic growth; Education; Environmental auditing; Ethics; Factories; Green businesses; Human rights; Industrial development; International market; Interviews; LDCs; Management; Management audits; Manual workers; Manufacturing; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Right to know; Social accounting; Social conditions; Social perception; Social responsibility; Stakeholder; Stakeholders; stakeholders’ perceptions; Transparency; Wages & salaries; Bangladesh; corporate social reporting (CSRep); Bangladesh; stakeholders; stakeholders’ perceptions; accountability
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-010-0511-4

Recent calls in the corporate social reporting (CSRep) literature have emphasized the importance of giving voice to non-managerial stakeholder groups in the social reporting process. The research, presented in this paper, employs recent work in stakeholder theory and CSRep to examine the perceptions of a diverse set of non-managerial stakeholders in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh. A series of semistructured interviews were conducted with individuals who identify with various non-managerial stakeholder groups. Interviewees generally believed that the motivation and practice of CSRep in Bangladesh is developing in response to pressures from international markets and is producing largely cosmetic responses. Also, they expressed concerns that, given the economic, political, and social conditions in Bangladesh, premature adoption of strict CSRep standards may lead to increased corruption and other unintended consequences. Whilst some of the interviewees sharply criticized the current process of imposing social accounting codes/standards on developing countries which fail to consider the important local socio-economic context, the findings suggest that there is overwhelming support for mandatory externally verified CSRep based on the principles of peoples' right to know, full disclosure/completeness, and relevance, which are anchored in the broader principles of transparency and stakeholder accountability.