Author
Dennis M. Patten
Other affiliations: Brigham Young University–Hawaii
Bio: Dennis M. Patten is an academic researcher from Illinois State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Corporate social responsibility & Voluntary disclosure. The author has an hindex of 42, co-authored 73 publications receiving 12567 citations. Previous affiliations of Dennis M. Patten include Brigham Young University–Hawaii.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: In this paper, Al-Tuwaijri et al. used size-matched groups based on industry membership and environmental performance (worse performers versus better performers) to test for differences in the use of monetary and non-monetary non-litigation related environmental disclosure.
Abstract: Legitimacy theory suggests companies with poorer environmental performance would be expected to provide more extensive off-setting or positive environmental disclosures in their financial reports. However, recent investigations of the performance/disclosure relation [Al-Tuwaijri, S. A., Christensen, T. E., & Hughes II, K. E. (2004). The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: a simultaneous equations approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29, 447–471; Hughes, S. B., Anderson, A., & Golden, S. (2001). Corporate environmental disclosures: are they useful in determining environmental performance? Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 20, 217–240; Hughes, S. B., Sander, J. F., & Reier, J. C. (2000). Do environmental disclosures in US annual reports differ by environmental performance? Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management, 141–161; Patten, D. M. (2002). The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 27, 763–773] report mixed results. In this study, we use size-matched groups based on industry membership (environmentally sensitive versus non-environmentally sensitive) and environmental performance (worse performers versus better performers, based on data from KLD Research and Analytics, Inc.) to test for differences in the use of monetary and non-monetary non-litigation related environmental disclosure. Results indicate that the use of monetary and non-monetary components of the non-litigation related environmental disclosure varies across groups. In general, the findings provide additional support for the argument that companies use disclosure as a legitimizing tool.
1,469 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the annual report environmental disclosures of petroleum firms other than Exxon and found that a significant increase in such disclosures was related to firm size and ownership in the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.
Abstract: According to the legitimacy theory arguments of Preston & Post (Private Management and Public Policy, Prentice-Hall, 1975), social disclosures can be viewed as a method of responding to the changing perceptions of a corporation's relevant publics. Based on this theory, this paper examines the effect of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the annual report environmental disclosures of petroleum firms other than Exxon. A significant increase in such disclosures is found. Furthermore, the amount of change is shown to be related to firm size and ownership in the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. The results therefore support the legitimacy theory arguments.
1,246 citations
01 Jan 1992
1,242 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the relation between 1990 annual report environmental disclosures for a sample of 131 US companies and their environmental performance as based on toxics release data from 1988 (made available in 1990).
Abstract: Previous studies of the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure have consistently documented a lack of significance. This study examines the relation between 1990 annual report environmental disclosures for a sample of 131 US companies and their environmental performance as based on toxics release data from 1988 (made available in 1990). In contrast to the previous examinations, results indicate that, controlling for firm size and industry classification (two factors previously shown to be related to the extent of environmental disclosure), there is a significant negative relation between performance and disclosure for the sample firms. However, the disclosure level of firms from non-environmentally sensitive industries is more affected by toxic release levels than is the disclosure of firms from environmentally sensitive industries.
1,240 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether the voluntary social disclosures included by corporations in their annual reports are related to either public pressure or firm profitability, and found that social disclosures are used as a means of addressing the exposure firms face with regard to the social environment, and as such should be related more closely with public-pressure variables than profitability measures.
1,221 citations
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TL;DR: This article conducted a meta-analysis of 52 studies and found that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association.
Abstract: Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based ...
6,493 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a natural resource-based view of the firm is proposed, which is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development, and each of these strategies are advanced for each of them regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
Abstract: Historically, management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm—a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.
5,339 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that companies are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery, even as economic theory instructs managers to focus on maximizing their shareholders' wealt.
Abstract: Companies are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery, even as economic theory instructs managers to focus on maximizing their shareholders' wealt
4,666 citations
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01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: The four Visegrad states (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) form a compact area between Germany and Austria in the west and the states of the former USSR in the east as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The four Visegrad states — Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia (until 1993 Czechoslovakia) and Hungary — form a compact area between Germany and Austria in the west and the states of the former USSR in the east. They are bounded by the Baltic in the north and the Danube river in the south. They are cut by the Sudeten and Carpathian mountain ranges, which divide Poland off from the other states. Poland is an extension of the North European plain and like the latter is drained by rivers that flow from south to north west — the Oder, the Vlatava and the Elbe, the Vistula and the Bug. The Danube is the great exception, flowing from its source eastward, turning through two 90-degree turns to end up in the Black Sea, forming the barrier and often the political frontier between central Europe and the Balkans. Hungary to the east of the Danube is also an open plain. The region is historically and culturally part of western Europe, but its eastern Marches now represents a vital strategic zone between Germany and the core of the European Union to the west and the Russian zone to the east.
3,056 citations
TL;DR: The business case as discussed by the authors is the underlying arguments or rationales supporting or documenting why the business community should accept and advance the corporate social responsibility (CSR) cause, which refers to the bottom-line financial and other reasons for businesses pursuing CSR strategies and policies.
Abstract: In this review, the primary subject is the ‘business case’ for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The business case refers to the underlying arguments or rationales supporting or documenting why the business community should accept and advance the CSR ‘cause’. The business case is concerned with the primary question: What do the business community and organizations get out of CSR? That is, how do they benefit tangibly from engaging in CSR policies, activities and practices? The business case refers to the bottom-line financial and other reasons for businesses pursuing CSR strategies and policies. In developing this business case, the paper first provides some historical background and perspective. In addition, it provides a brief discussion of the evolving understandings of CSR and some of the long-established, traditional arguments that have been made both for and against the idea of business assuming any responsibility to society beyond profit-seeking and maximizing its own financial well-being. Finally, the paper addresses the business case in more detail. The goal is to describe and summarize what the business case means and to review some of the concepts, research and practice that have come to characterize this developing idea.
3,033 citations