Corporate social reporting in Italian multi‐utility companies: an empirical analysis

Abstract The objective of this research was to investigate the terms and conditions that facilitate the quality of sustainability, environmental and social reports of listed multi‐utility companies in Italy, taking into account the emerging link between the quality of such reports and some variables (turnover, employees, complexity, etc.). Starting from the sample of companies from the multi‐utility sector (chosen because the utilities sector is subject to particular attention and pressure by customers and the community), an evaluation of already‐implemented criteria and the principles of sustainability reporting is provided, going through each report. This paper also highlights the different maturity levels of companies in the application of the principles required by the main reporting models used in the world (Global Reporting Initiative Third Generation: GRI‐G3; AA1000 SES Accountability 1000: AA1000), and investigates the reasons for the different approaches to the models' various principles/criteria. Both the level of the materiality of the reports and the inclusiveness of stakeholders are lower than other principles, even for sustainability reports from companies with a high level of compliance. As a result of this study, strategic motivation has been recognized as the discriminatory element with respect to the quality of reports, especially in companies of considerable size. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.