The results of BERNAMA surveys of corporate social reporting reveal that in the year 2000, 10% of the top 50 companies in Malaysia published a separate report about their environmental and social impacts, this figure almost tripled to 30% in 2010 survey.

At the same time casual observation leads to the conclusion that in the year 2000, "social and environmental" dominated the reporting scene. More recently, most companies publish an "environmental and social" or "sustainability" report. In particular, from the survey in the year 2010, the percentage of separate reports that correspond to the label "sustainability" and "social and environmental" have increased from 30% to 90%.

Required:

Based on the article above, you are required to employ the Institutional Theory to explain the large scale shifts in both report production and the title given to the reports. Your explanation should include:

(a) An explanation of the Institutional Theory pursuant to DiMaggio and Powell (1983). (10 marks)

(b) The relevant dimension under Institutional Theory to justify these large scale shiftsin reporting. (15 marks)