| dc.description.abstract | Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, is a management philosophy, which encourages organizations, not just business entities, to encompass social justice and environmental protection while pursuing long-term business objectives. In addition, CSR reporting helps organizations to set the strategies and to design the action plans to achieve the ultimate goal of sustainable development. CSR report converts the abstract concept of sustainability into tangible financial, social and environmental performances. Another significant impact of CSR reporting is to enhance stakeholder engagement.
This study aims to evaluate the willingness of Taiwanese companies in the manufacturing industry to disclose the impact of their operations or business practices on social justice, environmental protection. A questionnaire, designed based on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines G4, is used to collect information from the respondents. The questionnaire primarily focuses on the reporting aspects of motivation, difficulty, disclosing willingness, and overall considerations. The questionnaire was sent to 540 Taiwanese and multinational companies with 252 respondents.
The program Statistical Analysis for Social Science SPSS 20.0 is used to measure reliability and validity of the returned questionnaires. The survey results reflect certain fundamental problems in CSR reporting in Taiwan. Firstly, most of the respondents have a high degree of reservations concerning the issuance of CSR report. The only exception is the companies with their stocks traded in the Taiwan Stock Exchange since they are regulated by the Financial Supervisory Commission. However, a number of respondents did state their intention to issue CSR report in the near future. Another observation derived from the survey is the tendency for small and medium-sized enterprises to ignore the sustainability issue because of economic hardship. They are more concerned about short-term financial goals. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that some type of government intervention might be needed to raise the awareness and willingness for CSR reporting.
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