The voluntary disclosure studies conducted until today, in social accounting and related fields, use different approaches to evaluate the so-called "disclosure quality". Disclosure quality is not so easy to measure,...The voluntary disclosure studies conducted until today, in social accounting and related fields, use different approaches to evaluate the so-called "disclosure quality". Disclosure quality is not so easy to measure, and it is derived from the application of different methodologies. In particular, the methodologies to assess the level of disclosure could be classified as subjective or objective. To the first category belong all the "tools" that are used directly without relying on the analysis of the original source of the information studies (Imhoff, 1992; Coleman & Eccles, 1997; Welker, 1995). The objective measurements used to assess the disclosure quality are, instead, based on the direct study of the original information source in order to obtain the information required (Krippendorff, 1980; Weber, 1985; Botosan, 1997; Lang & Lundholm, 2000). The aim of the paper is to give scholars and researchers a brief framework to understand the different methodologies used in accounting literature to assess the disclosure quality, providing examples of the application of the same in different research contexts.展开更多
文摘The voluntary disclosure studies conducted until today, in social accounting and related fields, use different approaches to evaluate the so-called "disclosure quality". Disclosure quality is not so easy to measure, and it is derived from the application of different methodologies. In particular, the methodologies to assess the level of disclosure could be classified as subjective or objective. To the first category belong all the "tools" that are used directly without relying on the analysis of the original source of the information studies (Imhoff, 1992; Coleman & Eccles, 1997; Welker, 1995). The objective measurements used to assess the disclosure quality are, instead, based on the direct study of the original information source in order to obtain the information required (Krippendorff, 1980; Weber, 1985; Botosan, 1997; Lang & Lundholm, 2000). The aim of the paper is to give scholars and researchers a brief framework to understand the different methodologies used in accounting literature to assess the disclosure quality, providing examples of the application of the same in different research contexts.