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Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained popularity in the Indian corporate world. The company's annual report and corporate website has become an essential tool for CSR disclosure. The tobacco industry due to its inherent nature of the product is considered to harmful for the society and should be concerned about legitimacy of their existence. This paper studies the CSR disclosure reports of the tobacco manufacturing companies through their websites and annual reports. Content analysis has been carried out for the analysis of disclosure reports. This study provides support to the mandate issued by the Company's Act 2013, where in the listed company need to make full disclosure of the CSR activities undertaken by the companies
Key Words: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSR Disclosures, Annual Reports, Legitimacy Theory, Tobacco Industry, Content Analysis
There are multiple definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and each emphasis on a common underpinning: the impact of business on the society and the expectation of the community from them. According to Hohnen (2007), "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also known by several other names, and these include corporate responsibility, corporate accountability, corporate ethics, corporate citizenship or stewardship, responsible entrepreneurship, and triple bottom linek
There is a non-consensus amongst the corporate around the world regarding the activities that constitute a part of CSR. According to Aras, & Crowther, (2008), there are three guiding principles of CSR activities irrespective of the event:
* Sustainability- This refers to the impact of immediate day actions on the future.
* Accountability-It involves unbiased reporting of the firms' operation and its impact on the environment to the stakeholders.
* Transparency- This highlights the firm's openness about the activities carried out by the firm. This principle is complementary to the other two principles since all the operations of the firm are made evident to the stakeholders.
All the three principles impact the CSR reporting done by the firm, and CSR reporting is considered to be an effective way to highlight how a firm's activities are affecting both the internal and external environment (Medrado, & Jackson, 2016).
There are multiple ways in which individuals react to the CSR activities of a company. Individuals not only buy more products but may also seek employment in the company or invest...