Variáveis Institucionais e o disclosure socioambiental das empresas que atuam no setor de papel e celulose

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility has gained greater importance over time. Existing literature points to evidence that the institutional characteristics of each country exert influence on the social and environmental disclosures of organizations. This research aims to verify the effects of certain institutional variables in the social responsibility reports of companies operating in the pulp and paper sector, a segment with great economic importance globally that receives significant pressure from various stakeholders to act responsibly, both socially and environmentally. Several variables were considered, including the Gross Domestic Product, Legal System, Worldwide Governance Indicators, Human Development Index, and the company's size. Reports for twenty-seven organizations operating in Brazil, Canada, the United States, Japan, and Sweden between 2015 and 2018, were analyzed. Descriptive statistics showed that the most publicized category by the organizations observed is environmental, and the least belongs to the group of aspects related to human resources. The results showed that a country's GDP positively impacts economic and environmental disclosures. Having a common-law legal system negatively influences economic disclosures, as well as product and consumer disclosures. Governance indicators, on the other hand, exert positive effects on information related to human resources. The HDI only has a negative relationship with the group of social variables, contrary to the study's expectations. The findings allow us to conclude that, although the sector of the analyzed companies exerts a determining effect on the choice of the most evident category in the reports, it is possible to affirm the existence of a relation of impact, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, of certain institutional variables on the socio-environmental disclosure of organizations.