Pre- and post-crisis analysis of US resource companies' voluntary environmental disclosure practices across multiple media platforms

Abstract

Using a 12-year longitudinal study, the voluntary environmental disclosure (VED) behaviour in two groups of media (namely, standalone reports and the Internet) was surveyed in each of 2000 and 2007 by another investigation 3 years after a deemed financial crisis. For the purposes of analysis ‘crisis’ refers to two major financial downturns, the Dotcom crisis in early 2000, and the Global Financial crisis (GFC) beginning in mid-2007. US resource companies are not exempt from these financial downturns and provide the population from which a sample is drawn. There is a significant gap in the relevant literatures especially how US resource companies respond to a crisis. It is well documented that US resource companies disclose voluntary environmental information in response to the needs of stakeholders. The results suggest that when it comes to VED information, US resource companies are not necessarily disclosing VED information in response to a crisis. Other stakeholder-driven factors seem more critical. The VED information levels peaked in 2004 and have seen a less than proportionate increase in the period up to 2011, indicating perhaps, that US resource companies are becoming weary of disclosing VED. There is also a gradual migration of VED information from hard copy reports to the Internet. Adopting stakeholder theory, this work of study shows how this lens helps in understanding the longitudinal VED behaviour of US resource companies in several media. Specifically, it shows that US resource companies do disclose VED presumably in response to stakeholder demands and that over the 2000 to 2011 fiscal period, US resource companies are making a concerted effort in choosing the medium for VED information. The annual report has lost its focus as the medium of choice for VED information. Instead, the Internet and stand-alone environmental reports are being chosen as the medium for VED information.