L’ampiezza e le determinanti della Non Financial Disclosure ex D. Lgs. 254/2016: le prime risultanze nel settore bancario italiano

ABSTRACT: (THE EXTENT AND DETERMINANTS OF NON FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE UNDER ITALIAN LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO. 254/2016: FIRST EVIDENCE IN ITALIAN BANKING SECTOR). In this study, we analyze the extent of Non- Financial Disclosure (NFD) compliant with the GRI Reporting Framework in the Italian banking sector, according to Directive 2014/95/EU, implemented in our country by Legislative Decree No. 254/2016. The NFD regards to the provision of information on banks’ economic, environmental and social performance. The NFD level is different from bank to bank, so this study focuses, in the perspective of the agency, stakeholders and legitimacy theories, on the level of compliance with the standards in force and on the investigation of the determinants influencing the level/type of information provided to stakeholders. Using content analysis, we constructed an NFD index based on the Global Reporting Initiative Reporting Framework, to determine the degree of the extent of the NFD and to understand the determinants of the banks that affect the non-financial information. The observation period is 2017, the date of the first application of the relevant provisions. The study is conducted on the NFD of 42 listed and non-listed Italian banks. It has demonstrated that the examined Italian banks tend to disclose more information in the presence of higher dimensions and performance (the latter measured by ROE), but not with a higher risk, consistent with previous literature. This paper contributes to the existing literature about the determinants of voluntary disclosure level, shedding new light on banks’ CSR disclosure practices.