Abstract
Purpose – Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is receiving increased attention from the
mainstream accounting research community. In general, this recently published research has failed to
engage significantly with prior CSR-themed studies. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First,
it examines whether more recent CSR reporting differs from that of the 1970s. Second, it investigates
whether one of the major findings of prior CSR research – that disclosure appears to be largely a
function of exposure to legitimacy factors – continues to hold in more recent reporting. Third,
it examines whether, as argued within the more recent CSR-themed studies, disclosure is valued by
market participants.
Design/methodology/approach – Using Fortune 500 data from the late 1970s (from Ernst & Ernst,
1978) and a more recent sample (2010), the authors identify differences in CSR disclosure by computing
adequate measures in terms of disclosure breadth and comparing them for any potential changes in the
influence of legitimacy factors between 1977 and 2010. In the second stage of the analysis, the authors
use a standard valuation model to compare the association between CSR and firm value between the
two time periods.