How certified benefit corporations contribute to corporate social responsibility disclosure: Empirical evidence from Italy

This paper explores the extent to which Italian Benefit Corporations which have achieved B-Corp Certification disclose Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices through their corporate websites, thus developing a disclosure index. The research also aims to analyse the correlation between the size of companies, non-financial performance, financial results and CSR actions. Stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory were used to provide a theoretical explanation of the potential relationship among the investigated variables. Our findings reveal a positive association between firm size and CSR disclosure, while the impact of financial performance is positive but not statistically significant. Moreover, non-financial performance significantly influences CSR disclosure levels. These results can guide companies in enhancing CSR disclosure to bolster stakeholder legitimacy and competitive advantage in sustainability-aware markets. Notably, this study represents a novel examination of online CSR disclosure among Certified Benefit Corporations, filling a gap in the existing literature.