Chapter 22: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reporting Practices in the Australian Construction Industry
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing attention among academics and practitioners in the construction industry. To evaluate CSR practices in the Australian context, 20 CSR reports provided by leading construction companies on their public websites are selected for content analysis. The findings reveal that CSR reporting is normally incorporated in published documents such as annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate responsibility and sustainability (CR&S) reports, with annual reports being the most frequently used ones. The analysis shows that CSR practices of these leading construction companies cover the themes of corporate governance, environment management and healthy working environment (HWE). A total of 28 CSR practices relating to each category were identified, among which the ethics and moral values within company structure, community development and employment opportunities and OHS training and engagement are the most frequently adopted by the sample companies. The findings of content analysis provide insight as to how Australian top construction companies conducted CSR reporting and provide recommendations for the improvement.