Sustainability Reporting: Examining the Community Impact of the S&P500 Companies

Victoria Pistikou, Floros Flouros, Georgios A. Deirmentzoglou () and Konstantina K. Agoraki
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Victoria Pistikou: Department of Economics, Democritus University of Thrace, 69100 Komotini, Greece
Floros Flouros: Department of History, Politics and International Relations, Neapolis University Pafos, 8042 Paphos, Cyprus
Georgios A. Deirmentzoglou: Department of Economics and Business, Neapolis University Pafos, 8042 Paphos, Cyprus
Konstantina K. Agoraki: Department of Tourism Studies, University of Piraeus, 18534 Piraeus, Greece

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-25

Abstract: In recent decades, sustainability reporting has received increasing business and academic attention. However, the management literature is limited regarding recent trends in the issues disclosed in these reports. In this era of multiple socio-economic crises (e.g., the global energy crisis, the Russo–Ukrainian war, and the COVID-19 pandemic), large companies have an even greater responsibility to the communities in which they operate. Given the above, the aim of this study was to examine recent sustainability reports and identify issues related to community impact. Specifically, the sustainability reports of S&P500 companies were analyzed using the Structural Topic Model in R. The results showed that the most common topics in sustainability disclosures related to community impact were “donations” and “STEM education”. Although “donations” as a topic was expected, “STEM education” emerged to highlight the importance of technology in today’s business world. These findings have important managerial and theoretical implications for sustainability reporting.

Keywords: sustainability reporting; community impact; social sustainability; S&P500; STEM education; donations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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