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The purpose of this paper is to examine the social responsibility disclosure (SRD) on the internet by Portuguese companies which are engaged in processes of obtaining or enhancing a good social responsibility reputation and are confident of having a good social performance pertaining to the human resources area – the best companies to work for (BCWF).

A matched pair approach is used to address the empirical question of whether the SRD on the internet of the BCWF differs from that of a benchmark group of companies selected by matching industry and size. Using a resource‐based perspective (RBP) the hypothesis that the BCWF disclose more social responsibility information is analysed.

Results suggest that BCWF do disclose more items of social responsibility information than control companies, which allows thinking that companies which want to have a good social responsibility reputation and think that their social performance relating to their employees is good, recognize the need to use SRD also to influence their perception of its reputation.

The sample is small. There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process and the use of a limited content analysis method.

It adds to the scarce research on SRD by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data and extends prior research using RBPs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a descriptive comprehensive analysis of sustainability reporting (SR) and assurance in Portugal after the onset of the most recent economic crisis.

The authors analyze 290 sustainability reports for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and find those that include assurance statements and characterize them.

The authors present evidence supporting the view that the Portuguese sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) market follows the international trends and suggest that the most recent economic crisis had a negative effect in terms of publication of sustainability reports but not in terms of its quality and assurance.

The authors merely provide descriptive evidence of SR and the assurance thereof in Portugal.

The authors contribute significantly to the literature on SRA in peripheral countries and in the period of crisis.

This study examines social responsibility information disclosure on the Internet by Portuguese listed companies in 2003 and also analyses annual reports as a disclosure medium for those companies which disclose such information on their web pages. The results are interpreted through the lens of legitimacy theory, according to which companies disclose social responsibility information to present a socially responsible image so that they can legitimise their behaviours to their stakeholder groups. Companies in sectors that have a larger potential impact on the environment or in industries with a high visibility among consumers seem to exhibit greater concern to improve the corporate image through social responsibility information disclosure. Results thus suggest that legitimacy theory may be an explanation of social responsibility disclosure by Portuguese listed companies.

The relationship between stakeholders and organizations has been gaining more focus in strategic organizational management. The scenario of increased accountability required by society and by the competitive business environment itself demands ethical, fair, and sustainable practices from companies. In this sense, effective and fair stakeholder management becomes relevant. Thus, stakeholder theory proves to be a valid theoretical perspective for this challenge. In its conceptualization, stakeholder theory has pointed out different issues for strategic management practices, and how to treat the stakeholder fairly has been one of the concerns of the proponents of the theory (Bosse, Phillips, & Harrison, 2009). In this regard, principles of organizational justice have been incorporated into stakeholder management models. The authors argue that organizational justice, including its basic dimensions of distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice, can positively impact the bottom line of organizations through synergy in value creation and by encouraging reciprocal behavior between the firm and stakeholders.

The purpose of the paper is to provide an illustrative picture of how large corporations in a peripheral country such as Portugal engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and discuss the motivations underlying these practices.

In this study, a case study methodology was used to explore CSR practices and the underlying motivations in two Portuguese companies.

The results obtained suggest that some specificity may be present in the way of defining corporate responsibility for society by Portuguese companies. The Portuguese companies analysed seem to display an historical preference for corporate paternalism. This suggests that moral reasons can motivate firms (and individuals within them) to engage in social responsibility activities.

This work focuses on two specific case studies, but other cases might find diverse findings.

It adds to the scarce research on CSR by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data. It contributes to the growing body of evidence which seems to suggest that cultural differences associated with different countries affect CSR dynamics.

This descriptive paper seeks to explore the role of Portuguese academics within corporate social responsibility and disclosure (CSR&D) research. It aims to give some insight into the nature and the extent of research on CSR&D being undertaken by Portuguese authors.

This review specifically targeted international journals to see how much Portuguese research had penetrated the international business, management and accounting (BMA) academic discourse. The research that is reported in this paper is based on an electronic search of the online databases which include journals in these areas. The paper reviews journal articles published in BMA journals over the period 1998 to 2008.

The paper reaches several conclusions: the volume of published research in international journals is still very low; most papers focus on CSR; research is overwhelmingly empirical in orientation; and most papers focus on Portugal. Hence, there is great scope for expanding the amount of research on CSR&D in Portugal, as well as improving the diversity of its content and its geographical coverage.

The paper is not expected to be a complete study, but rather a stimulus for future research. It is intended to provide a basis for comparison with further studies on CSR&D research in Portugal with studies from other geographical areas.

The paper provides the first survey on CSR&D research in Portugal. It also provides the first opportunity to reflect on the current state of these still emerging academic fields.

This study investigates the use of the internet by the largest companies based in Sweden and Spain to communicate their engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Its purpose is to analyse to what extent, if any, are there differences in the CSR communication on the web sites companies from these two countries.

The paper examines CSR communication on the internet by companies based in Sweden and Spain. Non-parametric statistics are used to analyse some factors that influence disclosure, namely country, industry affiliation, profitability, and size.

Findings suggest that in spite of the existence of a high degree of similarity between CSR communication practices, companies from Spain place social responsibility information in more prominent sections and devote more space to said information. Swedish companies are found to disclose more their codes of conduct/ethics and CSR-related press clips and published articles.

The sample is small. There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process.

It adds to the scarce research on CSR communication by companies in these countries by providing new empirical data and extends prior research comparing such practices in different international models of CSR.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the disclosure of information on the fight against corruption in the sustainability reports of Portuguese companies.

Anti-corruption disclosure in the sustainability reports for 2009 of Portuguese firms, published on the website of the Portugal’s Business Council for Sustainability Development, is analysed. Three hypotheses are tested about associations between such disclosure and firm-specific variables.

Companies with a high visibility in terms of risk of corruption (companies in sectors with higher risk and government-owned companies) and companies that engage in association with the United Nations Global Compact seem to exhibit greater concern to improve the corporate image through disclosure.

There may be content analysis issues associated with subjectivity in the coding process and the use of a limited content analysis method.

This paper adds to the scarce research on the fight against corruption in corporate social responsibility and the reporting thereof by providing new empirical data.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether Portuguese banks use their web sites as a medium to disclose social responsibility information and identify what types of this kind of information they disclose, and compare such disclosure with similar disclosure in annual reports.

Examines social responsibility information disclosure on the internet by Portuguese banks in 2004 and compares the internet and 2003 annual reports as disclosure media using content analysis.

Banks with a higher visibility among consumers seem to exhibit greater concern to improve the corporate image through social responsibility information disclosure. Results thus suggest that legitimacy theory may be an explanation of social responsibility disclosure by Portuguese banks.

The sample is small, although it is constituted by all the relevant Portuguese banks.

Contributes to the scarce literature on social responsibility disclosure by financial institutions. A proxy for public visibility of banks which has not been previously used is proposed in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine changes in levels of voluntary environmental disclosures of Cimpor and Secil in response to increased public awareness of its activities resulting from the co‐incineration controversy in Portugal.

The annual reports of Cimpor and Secil for the period 1994‐2003 are analysed. The extent of environmental disclosure directly relating to the co‐incineration and the locations of the co‐incineration sites is also assessed.

Findings suggest that Cimpor used environmental disclosure as a mechanism of managing its legitimacy which was threatened by the co‐incineration controversy. However, the strategy adopted by Cimpor may be described as one of trivializing or skirting the issue, by not directly addressing it. Secil has directly addressed the issue since its inception.

First, only two companies and their reaction to one environmental event are examined. Second, only annual reports are analysed. Third, the content analysis method employed simply quantifies disclosure in annual reports.

The paper adds to the scarce research on environmental disclosure by Portuguese companies by providing new empirical data. It uses legitimacy theory in a situation in which companies are placed in the spotlight and see their legitimacy threatened not because they have done something detrimental to the environment but because the potential for detrimental environmental impacts resulting from their activities became the focus of the public and media attention.