Although several studies have analyzed the role that specific corporate governance
mechanisms have on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting practices, their findings have
not been conclusive and the evidence from developing countries is scarce. The theoretical support for
this relationship in the previous literature is found in Stakeholder, Agency, Legitimacy, and Good
Management theories. Undoubtedly, as the institutional environment has an important impact on
CSR reporting practices, it would be relevant for this field of research to analyze this relationship
in companies from emerging countries. It is suggested for the sake of convenience to consider
different levels of corporate governance mechanisms together due to the high interdependence
among them. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyze whether different levels of corporate
governance mechanisms (at the institutional, group, and firm level) are determinant factors of the
CSR reporting practices in BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The final
sample was composed of 281 companies. On the basis of our results, we conclude that institutional
corporate governance mechanisms influence the company’s CSR reporting strategy and that both
CSR disclosure practices analyzed are affected by group-level corporate governance mechanisms
in companies from family-based societies. Our findings support the appropriateness of separately
analyzing this issue in emerging countries