Do as I say, not as I do: drivers of sustainability reporting Spanish universities

Martín Vallespín, Emilio (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Moneva Abadía, José Mariano (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: This paper attempts to find explanatory factors for the sustainability disclosure of public universities in Spain. It analyses the influence of some factors that previously been used in the private service sector but adapted to the particularities of higher education. It applies the index methodology to measure the information content of annual or sustainability reports. The total disclosure is divided into economic, environmental and social areas. In analyzing the features of the sustainable universities, the Spearman correlation coefficient is applied using the index scores. The variables included are: quality of teaching, performance in research, quality of the website, revenue per student, number of full-time equivalent students, and age of the university. The results show significant differences in the quantity of information disclosed by Spanish universities. Research performance is identified as the best explanatory factor for the disclosure of universities. These results are consistent with the principles of legitimacy theory and, at the same time, suggest that outstanding research institutions are more sensitive to social demand for proper accountability.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.15406/sij.2018.02.00078

Año: 2018

Publicado en: Sociology International Journal 2, 5 (2018), 411-419
ISSN: 2576-4470

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Economía Finan. y Contab. (Dpto. Contabilidad y Finanzas)