ABSTRACT: (CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY DISCLOSURE AND MANAGEMENT OF REPUTATIONAL VARIABLES IN ITALIAN BANKS) – This paper sets out to analyse the level of corporate sustainability disclosure in the banking system with specific reference to reputational risk. Considering that the wider reporting by banks of information related to their corporate reputation shows that they recognise the reputational risk connected with their activities, an attempt is made to identify whether there is a link between sustainability disclosure tools and management of reputational variables, both in terms of reducing exposure to reputational risk and of reputation building and/or consolidation. The methodological approach adopted is of a qualitative kind. The multiple case study (Yin, 2009) method is used to analyse sustainability disclosure tools, relating to the ten year period 2003- 2012, employed by four banks quoted on the FTSE-MIB (Unicredit, Intesa SanPaolo, Monte dei Paschi di Siena and UBI Banca). At the same time, interviews were conducted with those responsible for the CSR Unit of the banks in question, by submitting a structured questionnaire. Despite certain critical points, the results obtained seem to confirm the research hypotheses. Indeed, these show, on the one hand, a significant widening of information provided by the banks under consideration in their sustainability reports and, on the other hand, the existence of a relationship between sustainability disclosure tools and the management of reputational variables.
KEYWORDS: corporate sustainability disclosure, reputational risk, reputational variables
