ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the theoretical explanations of corporate motivations behind CSR reporting. Although we have seen a recent upsurge in interest concerning CSR reporting practices, as evidenced by more and more companies joining the existing cohort engaged in CSR reporting, there has been a lack of any agreed theoretical perspective to explain CSR reporting activities (Gray et al., 1995 b). However, there are several possible explanations regarding why organisations do (or do not) engage in CSR reporting, including political economy theory (PET), legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory. 1 In fact, the latter two theories are derived from the bourgeois form of PET (Deegan et al., 2000).
