The competitive influence of corporate social responsibility and corporate social disclosure in Italian small and medium sized companies: Focus on disclosure and competitive drivers 1

Abstract There has been growing attention paid to Corporate Social Responsibility @CSR) over the last forty years, among academics, companies, not‐for profit organisations, public sector organisations, and citizens (Mathews, 1997). At the same time, increasing interest has been paid to the external communication of CSR practices, through Corporate Social Disclosure (CSD), and the role CSD can play in helping to improve competitive drivers linked to the implementation of CSR strategies (Porter and Kramer, 2006). This paper aims to fill a gap in the literature by analysing CSD in Italian SMEs that have been found in the past to use best CSR practices. It investigates CSR knowledge, CSD media and CSD competitive outcomes. It is based on an internal perspective, reporting the results of a questionnaire submitted to the companies’ CSR officers. The research shows that all Italian SMEs investigated in this study (all of which have been found in the past to use best CSR practices) have, as would be expected, an ...