The Current State of Corporate Human Rights Disclosure of the Global Top 500 Business Enterprises: Measurement and determinants

This study contributes to the ongoing research debate on business and human rights by providing insight into the current state of corporate human rights performance and reporting of the top 500 largest corporations worldwide. To capture corporate human rights behavior, we utilize a 13-items human rights performance and reporting score based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Overall, the measured global quality of corporate human rights performance and reporting is low. Corporations scored on average only 3.7 out of 13 points, which indicates a lack of corporate awareness and commitment to ensuring respect for human rights as requested by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, there are considerable differences across countries. Higher scoring corporations are predominantly based in Australia and Europe. Multivariate analyses reveal that corporate visibility, sector sensitivity, and institutional pressure are positively associated with corporate human rights performance and reporting quality. Our findings suggest more stakeholder pressure from e.g. critical consumers and institutions is necessary to further promote corporate human rights commitment.