Water disclosure in the agriculture industry: Does stakeholder influence matter?

This study presents an analysis of stakeholder influence on water-related disclosure in the most water-sensitive industry, namely, agriculture. The availability of clean water is currently under pressure, and stakeholders are starting to pay attention to a company's water responsibilities. The influence of stakeholders is analyzed using the lens of ethical or normative stakeholder theory. The sample includes 195 agriculture companies registered in the OSIRIS database from 2017-2019. The data were collected from the database, company reports, and other company official media on the internet. Following the Hausman test procedure, the data were analyzed using random effect model. Governments, foreign shareholders, and international operations were found to be significant drivers of water disclosure practices. However, the creditor power hypothesis was rejected, as it had an insignificant influence. This paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of stakeholder influence on water disclosure in the agriculture industry, which has not been previously investigated.

Automated summary

This study analyzes the influence of stakeholders on water disclosure in the agriculture industry, finding that governments, foreign shareholders, and international operations are significant drivers of water disclosure practices, while creditor power has no significant influence.