CSR Reporting as Strategic Communication: Financial Reporting Quality and Its Stakeholder Communication Implications

Salehi, R.; Amanollahnejad, Albert; Izadi, J.

CSR Reporting as Strategic Communication: Financial Reporting Quality and Its Stakeholder Communication Implications

Salehi, R., Amanollahnejad, Albert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4258-6794 and Izadi, J. (2026) CSR Reporting as Strategic Communication: Financial Reporting Quality and Its Stakeholder Communication Implications. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.71090

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ) and explores the communication implications of reporting quality improvements. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed. In the first stage, survey data from 150 finance professionals employed by London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed companies were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). In the second stage, a qualitative content analysis of reports and disclosures from 32 LSE-listed firms was conducted through the lens of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Theory. The findings indicate that CSR is positively and significantly associated with relevance, faithful representation, understandability, and comparability. The qualitative analysis identified five themes: transparency signals, simplification of information, comparative advantage communication, consistency across platforms, and stakeholder-centric narratives. These themes illustrate how reporting quality may support communication credibility, message clarity and consistency, stakeholder-oriented communication, and organizational positioning, while such communication outcomes are interpreted as exploratory implications rather than directly measured effects. The study contributes by positioning financial reporting quality as a communication-enabling mechanism linking CSR initiatives with stakeholder communication processes and by introducing comparative advantage communication as an interpretive insight emerging from the qualitative findings. The findings offer implications for managers, reporting professionals, and policymakers seeking to enhance transparency, reporting quality, and stakeholder communication.