Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 7073: Analysis of Social Sustainability Information in a Global Context According to the New Global Reporting Initiative 400 Social Standards (Sustainability)

Interest is increasing in what information companies disclose regarding the social aspects of their operations. This research therefore develops an index to analyze the social disclosure of companies from various countries and geographical regions including Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United States. Using categorical principal component analysis and partial triadic analysis, we build a numerical value for a specific social individual index by firm. Then, we analyze the extent to which this disclosure follows the Global Reporting Initiative 400 social standards, which became effective on 1 July 2018. In addition to considering geographical aspects, we also analyze social disclosure based on industry, which facilitates firms’ decision-making and policy formation in social disclosure.