Mathews (1987), a widely published author in the area, has attempted to place
empirical investigation of CSR in some sort of theoretical context as have Hopper and
Powell (1985). Gray et al. (1995a) have used a three-tier taxonomy to classify corporate
social disclosure research, these being: decision-usefulness studies, economic theory
studies, and social and political theory studies. However, the empirical results of
ranking studies as well as on share price behavior tend to be inconsistent and
inconclusive. One of the earlier problems of CSR research has been the founding
premise of the “economic agency theory” and “positive accounting theory” paradigms
and the belief that all individual action can be explained in terms of the personal
pursuit of financial wealth (Deegan and Gordon, 1996). Gray et al. (1995a, p. 4),
however, assert that “While the accounting community has benefited from the
methodological pluralism of recent decades, ‘economic theory’ has little or nothing to
offer as a basis for the development of CSR”. Social and political theory has been
suggested as offering a way forward and may be divided into three sub-groups:
legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and political economy theory. The brief details
of these three approaches are provided as follows: