MAPPING THE RESEARCH ON ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO: A REVIEW OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE JOURNALS IN THE PERIOD OF 1997-2007

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present a literature review on environmental disclosure. The increasing concern of society and the scarceness of works regarding this theme in Brazil are the main motivations for conducting this research. Our work has been conducted from a sample of 52 accounting and auditing journals, published in English and available at the Capes’ Basis. A total of 77 papers published during the period of 1997-2007 have been selected. Findings evidence that the great majority of papers have been conducted in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in the United States. Regarding the type of study, 10 papers are theoretical, 67 empirical studies. Out of the empirical ones, 54 are survey or quasi-experimental, 11 are case studies and 2 are experiments. The majority of studies used secondary data, and content analysis has been utilized in several studies in order to analyze the environmental disclosure. Authorship analyzes has evidence that Denis Paten, from Illinois State University, is the most prolific author of the area. Papers also evidence that disclosure varies across countries and sectors, and researches have showed concern regarding the need for a standard and audit of environmental information. Finally, this papers wishes to contribute to the construction and to the improvement of Brazilian accounting research, as there is a lack of studies addressing this subject in the national scenario.