Title: Do corporate strategies moderate the influence of the effect of environmental government policy in CSR communication?

Authors: Alessandra De Chiara; Anna D'Auria

Addresses: Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples L'Orientale, Largo San Giovanni Maggiore 30, 80134 Naples, Italy ' Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Naples L'Orientale, Largo San Giovanni Maggiore 30, 80134 Naples, Italy

Abstract: Are CSR disclosures positively associated with government policy on sustainable development? And what is the role of government policy in companies engaged in green strategies commitment? These are the research questions investigated in the paper that analyse the CSR reports of a randomly selected sample of 40 US companies. Aiming to observe the content of companies' communication related to their responsible approach, the authors performed a longitudinal study of CSR reports provided by US companies. The expected contribution is to offer food for thought on the influence of institutional policy in corporate communication about sustainability and, vice versa, the power of businesses to influence government policies. The usage of the disclosure to evaluate the commitment to responsible behaviour is valorised by the literature, and the empirical research seems to confirm the presence of a positive relationship between the influence of the institutional context and companies' CSR communication. However, in the presence of companies' strategic sustainability objectives, communication regarding environmental topics is improved and strengthened.

Keywords: CSR disclosure; contextual factors; government policy; content analysis; environment; USA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2025.148599

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2025 Vol.17 No.3, pp.257 - 281

Received: 26 Apr 2022
Accepted: 28 Jul 2023
Published online: 15 Sep 2025 *

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