Measuring corporate social responsibility using composite indicesmission impossible? The case of the electricity utility industry

  1. Juan Diego Paredes-Gázquez 1
  2. José Miguel Rodríguez-Fernández 2
  3. Marta de la Cuesta-González 1
  1. 1 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
    info

    Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02msb5n36

  2. 2 Universidad de Valladolid
    info

    Universidad de Valladolid

    Valladolid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01fvbaw18

Revista:
Revista de contabilidad = Spanish accounting review: [RC-SAR]

ISSN: 1138-4891

Año de publicación: 2016

Volumen: 19

Número: 1

Páginas: 142-153

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1016/J.RCSAR.2015.10.001 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

Otras publicaciones en: Revista de contabilidad = Spanish accounting review: [RC-SAR]

Resumen

La responsabilidad social corporativa es un concepto multidimensional que puede medirse de distintas formas. Una de ellas es a través de índices sintéticos o compuestos, instrumentos que permiten resumir la información de múltiples indicadores en una sola medida. Este artículo pretende identificar los desafíos que se presentan a la hora de construir un índice sintético para evaluar la responsabilidad social corporativa. Este proceso se ilustra a través de la construcción de un índice sintético para medir los resultados sociales de setenta y cuatro empresas que operan en la industria eléctrica, procedentes de veintitrés países diferentes y una región administrativa. Los resultados evidencian que la escasa disponibilidad de información de responsabilidad social corporativa y sus particulares características, así como determinar las ponderaciones a asignar a los indicadores, son los principales obstáculos para elaborar el índice sintético. Subrayamos que, para que un índice sintético se construya adecuadamente, sus objetivos han de estar claramente definidos, el marco teórico en el que se apoya ha de ser sólido y, además, ha de comprobarse si dicho índice es robusto, extremo que se considera muy relevante. Las implicaciones prácticas sugieren reconsiderar cómo se usan los índices sintéticos para medir la responsabilidad social corporativa, evidenciando que es necesaria más transparencia y rigor a la hora de construirlos

Información de financiación

Financial help from the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry (Research Project ECO2011-26171)

Financiadores

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