“What is the sound of hope you can make over the noise of despair?” – inspiring words from SDG campaign co-creator Gail Gallie! #CSRCOM2024

Our second keynote today is ‘Leveraging Scholarly Service Research to Positively Impact Individual and Societal Well-Being.’ We’ll be hearing from Professor Maura Scott, Edward M. Carson Chair in Services Marketing at Arizona State University’s W. P. Carey School. #CSRCOM2024

How have articles in top consumer research shed light on the UN Sustainable Development Goals? Maura and co-authors analysed 50 years of research through this lens – and found that only small percentages of the published work touched on these topics. #CSRCOM2024

Financial inclusion refers to access to quality, affordable and convenient financial services in a dignified manner. Many communities in the US don’t have this: in fact, almost 27% are classed as either ‘unbanked’ or ‘underbanked’. #CSRCOM2024

Looking at racial bias in financial services, Maura carried out field studies into the differences in products offered to white and Black actors enquiring about business loans. #CSRCOM2024

The results showed that white testers were offered more favourable lines of credit, and also felt more confident about the outcomes of their inquiries. Black testers weren’t given sufficient information by bank staff, nor were they encouraged to apply for the loans. #CSRCOM2024

In a further lab-based study, Maura has found that a more sophisticated company structure (corporation vs sole proprietorship) can reverse the effects of racial bias on loan approval rates. #CSRCOM2024

What can policymakers do to help? Maura suggests actions that include increasing oversight and enforcement, standardising small business lending forms, and funding programmes that provide education to help people set up more sophisticated business structures. #CSRCOM2024

Another project of Maura’s suggests that banks can boost engagement in less-affluent communities by working to increase ‘communal financial orientation’ – the perception of engagement with the bank as beneficial for the community’s (rather than individual) wellbeing. #CSRCOM2024

Why do more sophisticated business structures help to reverse racial bias? Maura suggests the fact that corporations require a legal process to establish, which may suggest to banks that there is legitimacy and/or access to resources. #CSRCOM2024

For our final CSR Communication keynote session, we’re welcoming Schulich School of Business’s Erivan K. Haub Chair in Business & Sustainability, Charles Cho. Charles will be speaking on ‘Sustainability Reporting as a Form of CSR Communication: Crises, Regulations and Myths’. #CSRCOM2024

Charles is a ‘spicy’ accountant, focusing on corporations’ social and environmental performance, and the disclosure and reporting practices that go along with this. He argues that accounting can be mapped to a wide range of sustainability issues. #CSRCOM2024

Charles makes the distinction between reporting and disclosure – they’re similar but not entirely interchangeable. The former is more comprehensive and structured, while the latter involves making narrower pieces of information available to a range of stakeholders. #CSRCOM2024

Research has demonstrated that companies with poorer environmental performance actually show higher levels of disclosure – with more optimistic and less certain language. Many organisations act hypocritically, engaging in greenwashing (or other forms of ‘washing’). #CSRCOM2024

Corporate sustainability isn’t the same as planetary sustainability – focusing too hard on the former is damaging to the environment. There’s a huge growth in ESG (environmental, social & governance) roles, but Charles says this boom is a bandwagon, not a solution. #CSRCOM2024

Sustainability accounting has been hijacked by ESG. Focusing solely on ESG disclosures will only help investors; sustainability reporting, however, is more widely beneficial. It’s a case of ‘outside in’ vs ‘inside out’ impacts. #CSRCOM2024

Materiality can be used to sweep things under the rug, but perspectives are relative – financial perspectives are different to environmental and human ones! #CSRCOM2024

Charles’ view is that a focus on single materiality, such as investor value, is dangerous. We need to be looking instead at planetary sustainability, not at ESG. #CSRCOM2024

What will the reporting landscape look like in the future? Charles suggests that there will be a continuous battle and tension around who is the authority on standards, involving the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the EU, among others. #CSRCOM2024

It’s been a fantastic few days hosting #CSRCOM2024 – fascinating keynotes, stimulating panel discussions and lots of great conversations. Thank you to everyone who joined us! CSR Communication Andrew Crane Prof Sarah Glozer Diletta Acuti