Corporate Social Responsibility: Communication through Sustainability Reports by Indian and Multinational Companies

Purpose: To understand Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication made through the use of sustainability reports and to compare the CSR communication made by the Indian Companies and the Multinational Companies (MNCs) through the medium of sustainability reports. Design/Methodology/Approach: Sustainability reports of the top 100 companies operating in the Information and Technology sector in India were taken and content analysis techniques of visual communication were used to compare the performance of the Indian and the MNCs in terms of CSR disclosure. Further, guidelines stated by the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRT) were taken as a measure of comparison to gauge the standardization of the sustainability reports published by the Indian companies and the MNCs. Findings: The total number of Indian companies in the IT sector publishing sustainability reports is few but the quality of reports is of global standards and the international benchmarks stated by GRI are achieved by a larger percentage of the Indian companies as against the MNCs operating in India in the IT sector. Research Limitations/Implications: The paper considers the sustainability reports only and no other medium of CSR communication. The study is limited to the companies operating in the IT sector only. Originality/Value: Sustainability reports as a medium of CSR communication is highly ignored and therefore the findings will supplement and enhance the understanding of CSR communication.