مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد اهمیت دادن بازارهای مالی به افشاگری مسئولیت اجتماعی شرکت – وایلی 2018

Asymmetric information refers to some agents having more information than others. Corporate insiders are a good example of agents who have more valuable information than outsiders, giving them a greater depth of understanding of their companies (Hutton et al. 2009). This implies a violation of the strong form of market efficiency, and it seems that in a world of asymmetric information, insiders have useful information that is not necessarily reflected in the change of stock prices (Kim and Verrecchia 1997). Investors are always seeking ways to reduce information asymmetry. Information disclosure helps to improve firm-level transparency, which in turn reduces the risk to investors caused by information asymmetry (Clarkson et al. 1994; Healy and Palepu 2001). However, a long-held tenet of business enterprise in Western capitalist systems has been the primacy of capital providers in spurring investment and growth through profit maximisation, which has led to a limited focus on financial measurements and disclosure as a means to evaluate performance and the effective discharge of managerial accountability (Kim and Verrecchia 1991; Brockman et al. 2008; Rosa and Liberatore 2014). In recent years, the terms ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) and ‘sustainability’ have become commonplace. There has been a growing awareness of the impact of corporate behaviour not only on shareholders but also on other stakeholders. Moreover, there has also been an increasing willingness to consider a greater variety of persons and groups to be ‘legitimate stakeholders’ with interests that deserve consideration, such as employees, customers, suppliers and creditors, as well as local communities, developing nations and the environment. Thus, a desire to encourage companies to act responsibly, to ensure development is sustainable and to allow all stakeholders to make informed assessments of corporate activities and practices necessarily leads to a consideration of disclosing CSR reports (or sustainability reports). Therefore, to ensure organisations’ long-term survival there are widespread attempts to incorporate social and environmental information into traditional financial reporting, which gives companies a means to report on how non-financial factors interact with financial ones and ultimately drive a company’s value (Mock et al. 2007; Thorne et al. 2014). However, the impact of a firm’s information disclosure on information asymmetry between managers and investors can only be effective if the firm’s disclosure is credible and relevant.