A number of previous academic studies on environmental disclosures in corporate annual reports have used the stakeholder theory approach (Roberts 1992). Most show that companies disclose environmental information in their annual reports following stakeholders’ demands (Raar 2002; Campbell et al. 2003; Campbell 2003). Under this theory, environmental disclosures in corporate annual reports are a major element that can be used by companies to negotiate their stakeholder relationship(Roberts 1992). For example, Wilmshurst and Frost (2000) found that companies were influenced by their stakeholders, especially customers, financial institutions, communities, and suppliers, to provide environmental disclosures in their annual reports. In a Canadian situation, Nue et al. (1998) also found that stakeholders could be more effective than others in demanding social responsibility disclosures. Lynn (1992) declared that Hong Kong listed companies had low level of corporate environmental disclosures because they were not under
pressure from consumer and other stakeholder groups. On another hand, Llena et al.(2007) found that stakeholder theory did not explain why Spanish listed companies published environmental information in their annual reports.