However, the Gray et al (1995a, b) papers
do illustrate the value of longitudinal
studies and they link the described trends in UK reporting to - what has become
- the standard range of theoretical
explanations for social reporting. These
theories - stakeholder in its various
forms; legitimacy theory and its variants;
what is called "political economy
theory" and its variants; plus the economic
theories like agency theory - are
all massively under-specified and can
only offer, at best, partial explanations
of social reporting behaviour. These longitudinal
studies in Gray, et al (1995a;
1995b)graphically illustrate (literally)
the incompleteness of reporting in the
absence of regulation, the changing fashions
in voluntary disclosure and the failures
of extant theory to fully explain or
predict reporting changes.