The relationship between disclosure and assurance in sustainability reporting: the healthcare companies

Attention towards sustainability reporting is very high with reference to healthcare sector. The paper aims to assess the maturity level of sustainability reporting and to measure its quality by evaluating the GRI indicators currently disclosed. The research was carried out using the inductive method. We delimited the study to GRI’s health care products category and we evaluated the quality of sustainability reporting by analysing the indicators disclosed in 2012 reports according to GRI guidelines. The research gives an overview of sustainability reporting in health care companies by evaluating the quality level of their disclosure. The results confirm previous research by highlighting the necessity to improve sustainability reporting. Moreover, they show there is a link between the quality level of indicators disclosed and the presence of third party assurance. The paper provides one of the first in-depth studies of sustainability reporting quality for the healthcare sector included in the GRI database. Moreover, it is a response to the need for more corporate social reporting research in the context of healthcare.