Determinants of Sustainability e-reporting in Portuguese municipalities: an institutional and legitimacy theoretical framewor

This study aims to analyse the extent of online social responsibility (SR) information disclosure by Portuguese municipalities and to identify related determinant factors, based on Institutional Theory and Legitimacy Theories. A content analysis was performed on webpages from 60 sampled municipalities, and an information disclosure index was created.Descriptive statistics obtained indicate the Total Disclosure Index (TDI) value was 0.46. The Economic Information sub-category exhibits the highest value (0.66), followed by the Social and Environmental Information categories (0.61 and 0.36, respectively). The multivariate analysis results indicate that LA21 implementation the existence of tax burdens, the characterisation of a municipality as urban and environmental/SR certification application positively influence SR information disclosure. TDI is negatively affected by the existence of an inactive population (i.e. by the percentage of individuals ≤19 and ≥65 years of age).

Determinants of environmental accounting and reporting practices in portuguese local entities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop environmental accounting and reporting practices (EARPs) by Portuguese local entities and their determining factors. Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained through a postal survey. In order to measure the degree of development of environmental accounting and reporting practices index was developed, which reflects the extent to which a set of eight EARPs have been implemented by the 69 Portuguese local entities included in the sample. Three variables are considered in this study as possible factors that drive the development of environmental management practices (EMPs) by local entities, namely, size of entity, accounting framework, degree of development of EMPs. Findings – Results indicate the degree of development of EARPs in Portuguese local entities is low. Additionally, accounting regulation and the degree of development of EMPs are explaining factors of the degree of development of environmental accounting practices in Portuguese local entities. Originality/value – This study adds to the international research on environmental accounting in public sector by providing empirical data from a country, Portugal, where empirical evidence is still relatively limited.