Sustainability Reporting Adoption in Developing Countries: Managerial perception-based determinants evidence from Uganda

Seminar abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate managerial perception-based determinants of the adoption of sustainability reporting (SR) by companies in Uganda.

This study is cross-sectional. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey of 194 companies belonging to the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) and were analysed using multiple regression analysis.

The findings suggest that lack of expertise, lack of training and negative attitudes/beliefs towards SR are significant and negative determinants of the adoption of SR.

The results also show that resources, free training and support as well as positive attitudes/ belief towards SR are significantly and positively associated with the likelihood of the adoption of SR. Lack of time, lack of legal requirement and lack of stakeholder pressure are not significant determinants of the adoption of SR.

Since the results are based on a questionnaire survey. they may suffer from issues associated with self-reporting data such as consistency seeking.

Self-enhancement and self-presentation, which may affect the reliability of the data. Nonetheless, the findings imply that there is a need to sensitise, provide free training and support for companies to engage with SR.

There is a need to sensitise, train and provide support for free to encourage companies to engage with SR.

This study contributes to the literature on managerial perception-based determinants of the adoption of SR by extending the analyses using a multivariate approach. This enhances our understanding of how the determinants interact to explain the adoption of SE by companies in developing countries.

Booking

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Speaker bio

Professor Venancio (Ven) Tauringana is Head of Department of Accounting and Professor of Accounting at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton. Prior to joining Southampton in 2016, Ven was with the Business School at Bournemouth University as a Professor of Accounting and Director of Research for the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.

Ven also worked for Isle of Man International Business School as a Principle Lecturer in Accounting, and a as Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at the University of Bedfordshire.

Ven is the immediate former President of the African Accounting Association (2017-2019). He is Editor of the Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies.

Ven's research interests are concentrated in the areas of;

• corporate governance
• voluntary disclosure and their consequences
• working capital management
• environmental reporting

His research has been published in a variety of journals including;

• Review of Accounting Studies
• British Journal of Management
• International Review of Financial Analysis
• European Accounting Review
• Journal of Accounting, Audit and Finance
• British Accounting Review
• Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting
• Journal of Small Business Management
• Corporate Governance
• Journal of Applied Accounting Research
• International Journal of Auditing