Literature review and research opportunities on credibility of corporate social responsibility reporting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthesize the current academic literature on emerging trends to increase CSR reporting credibility. Design/methodology/approach This paper synthesizes literature on emerging trends to increase CSR reporting credibility from the past ten years, focusing mainly on the most recent five years, by searching ABI/Inform and Business Source Premier for academic papers containing the following keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting, CSR, Sustainability, and Social Responsibility. Findings This paper identifies four relatively unexplored trends to improve CSR credibility: CSR assurance, integrated reporting, CSR reporting standards, and CSR regulation. Research limitations/implications This study will be of use to academic researchers to facilitate research and discussion on the credibility of CSR disclosure. Practical implications Regulatory agencies, boards of directors, customers, suppliers, and investors are increasingly using CSR information for decision making; therefore the credibility of the information is important. Originality/value Much of the extant research investigating CSR has focused on financial performance metrics. The study synthesizes the recent CSR literature, including some interdisciplinary research focusing on emerging accountability trends in reporting. The authors identify several research opportunities that will enhance the authors’ understanding of CSR reporting.