Sustainability reporting by firms in the Nigerian economy: social versus environmental disclosure

Abstract

Purpose: There is need for specialization on individual categories of sustainability information disclosure. An attempt has been made in this study to make a comparison between the environmental and social categories of sustainability disclosure.Methodology:Guided by the G4 sustainability reporting guidelines, environmentally sensitive companies in the Nigerian economy were analyzed for 6 years (2009-2014).Separate assessments and comparisons were made between environmental reporting and social reporting on the impact, influence and significance of the relationships using Stata13SE analytical tool. Findings: The results shows that firms performed better on social reporting than on environmental reporting in terms of higher sustainability disclosure rates and significant relationships.Research Implications: The current trend of reporting sustainability information disclosure under both social and environmental reporting is encouraging considering the fact that disclosure on sustainability issues in Nigeria is voluntary. Practical Implications:Firms in environmentally sensitive sectors are disclosing sustainability information than expected. Originality/Value:The uniqueness in comparing sustainability disclosures between environmental information and social information