Social Reporting by Companies Listed on the Alternative Investment Market

Journal of Business Ethics · 2008 · Volume 79 · Issue 3

Abstract

While the existing literature focuses on the disclosure of social information mainly by large companies, this paper concentrates on the disclosure of social information by small- and medium-sized companies (SME) listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the U.K. The paper investigates the prevalent view that SMEs are unlikely to report social information due to their financial constraints and the perception that they have very little social conduct on which to report. Our overall evidence illustrates that, contrary to this view, SMEs report social information regardless of their financial constraints, most likely in the same manner as large companies do, because they realise the significance of social reporting in establishing and retaining their corporate reputation.

Keywords

social reporting, corporate reputation, stakeholder pressure, small- and medium-sized companies

Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.