Ties that bind: an institutional isomorphic comparison of mandatory CSR reporting standards in the Canadian financial services industry

Abstract

This empirical paper represents a novel study of a mandatory CSR reporting regime. Five Canadian financial institutions are compared in terms of their references to three voluntary reporting standards in their annual and CSR reports. Institutional isomorphism is used as our frame of reference to examine how CSR reporting varies across these firms. Implications arising from this study affect the future development of CSR standards, the practices of CSR managers, and advance theory for CSR researchers.