Effect of CSR Information Presentation Order on Stakeholder Decision-Making

Abstract

A growing number of diverse stakeholders are demanding information about broader social and environmental dimensions of organizational performance. We examine how the order of data presentation impacts the way that decision-makers incorporate sustainability information into their judgments about company performance and whether such an effect depends on the decision-maker’s goal preferences. Results from an experiment that includes eye tracking observations provide evidence that corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures are processed longer than financial measures and that both goal preferences and information contained in the first set of information they see impacts how decision-makers frame their performance evaluations.

Keywords: Sustainability reporting, stakeholder decision-making, standard-setters, goal preferences, experiment, eye-tracking