Corporate social responsibility reporting in Mexico: local and global dimensions

Abstract

This thesis investigates corporate social responsibility reporting in Mexico. It is built across three studies. First, we analysed the content and semantic properties of annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate websites of 73 Mexican and foreign companies operating in Mexico to describe the extent to which these companies disclose their corporate social responsibility. Second, with the data gathered in the first study, we built thirteen disclosure scores to explore whether corporate governance and corporate social responsibility reporting in annual reports can be seen as complementary mechanisms used by companies to enhance relations with stakeholders. Third, we conducted an in-depth case study of a Mexican company acquired by a multinational company; we analysed the sustainability reports and news items during the time prior to and after the purchase to investigate the changes in corporate social responsibility reporting as a result of the acquisition. Our study contributes to the scarce literature exploring corporate social responsibility reporting in Mexico and adds to the methodological research in the field by conducting a survey of corporate social responsibility reporting across industries and reporting media and by utilising a content analysis approach of considerable measurement detail. We provide empirical evidence to previous literature suggesting that foreign ownership may have a positive impact on themes of disclosure such as the environment, but have a negative impact on community. We also contribute to corporate social responsibility reporting research in the context of mergers and acquisitions, by providing empirical evidence which suggests that company responses in the form of corporate social responsibility disclosure to institutional pressures consider both stakeholders salience and business culture.