naa a22 4500 510735754 CHVBK 20180411083009.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20131201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11573-013-0686-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11573-013-0686-0 Determinants of voluntary assurance on sustainability reports: an empirical analysis [Elektronische Daten] [Klaus Ruhnke, Alexander Gabriel] Driven by the ongoing discussion of corporate responsibility, growing numbers of companies have been publishing what have become known as sustainability reports. These reports have in part been subject to voluntary external assurance. Although the percentage of assured reports is significant, the market for this kind of assurance is still in an early stage of development. In this context the present article will ascertain the theoretical determining factors in the demand for voluntary external assurance and subject these in relation to the markets in Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain to empirical analysis. In the context of the development of hypotheses shaped by agency theory, the constructs of agency costs and signalling can be distinguished. Variables measuring these constructs will be examined. It can be shown that the type and scope of the reporting (i.e., the choice of the Global Reporting Initiative ‘application level'), the existence of a sustainability department, and the size of the company are associated with the demand for voluntary assurance. Additional control variables are examined. Here it appears that the demand for external assurance is highest in Great Britain. Finally, research opportunities in this field will be indicated and recent normative developments briefly sketched. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 Voluntary assurance nationallicence Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) nationallicence Sustainability report nationallicence Principal-agent theory nationallicence Signalling nationallicence Ruhnke Klaus Department of Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FACTS), Unternehmensrechnung und Wirtschaftsprüfung, Freie Universität Berlin, Boltzmannstr. 20, 14195, Berlin, Germany aut Gabriel Alexander Department of Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FACTS), Unternehmensrechnung und Wirtschaftsprüfung, Freie Universität Berlin, Boltzmannstr. 20, 14195, Berlin, Germany aut Journal of Business Economics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 83/9(2013-12-01), 1063-1091 0044-2372 83:9<1063 2013 83 11573 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-013-0686-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-013-0686-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ruhnke Klaus Department of Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FACTS), Unternehmensrechnung und Wirtschaftsprüfung, Freie Universität Berlin, Boltzmannstr. 20, 14195, Berlin, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gabriel Alexander Department of Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FACTS), Unternehmensrechnung und Wirtschaftsprüfung, Freie Universität Berlin, Boltzmannstr. 20, 14195, Berlin, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Business Economics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 83/9(2013-12-01), 1063-1091 0044-2372 83:9<1063 2013 83 11573 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer