• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Board of directors
• Communication
• Socio demographic characteristics
• Content analysis
• Stakeholders

The purpose of this research project is to analyse the relationship between the socio demographic characteristics of directors and the quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication in terms of content, tools and the amount of information transmitted.
To reach this objective we collected data from 89 companies belonging to different countries and different industries listed on H&H WebRanking 2014. Through a Content Analysis we investigate which types of information are highlighted in reports downloaded by corporate websites. Grounded on Legitimacy Theory and Upper Echelon Theory we examine how the socio demographic characteristics of directors make some items more stressed than others. The Upper Echelon perspective offers a theoretical framework to understand how organizational outcomes are affected by background characteristics of directors. Due to recent corporate scandals and alarming reports of consumption of natural resources, increased pollution , Co2 emissions and multinational companies’ exploitation of child labour the awareness and social and ethical commitment of society has increased and has put pressure on companies (Arvidsson, 2010 p.339) to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility activities and to communicate achievements. Therefore the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication derives from the need for companies to meet the demand of stakeholders’ non financial information in order to improve their reputation and gain legitimacy.
However, the literature on Corporate Social Responsibility is not unified and the debate about rationales, practices and impacts on firms’ value and performances is still going on. In particular, while there are many contributions on the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, literature on Corporate Social Responsibility Communication is still limited. With this project we want to shed light on this controversial topic and provide a framework that can help companies in implementing an efficient and effective system of communication.
In the following sections first we concentrate on a literature review about Corporate Social Responsibility and related disclosure; then we put attention on the board of directors and how it affects Corporate Social Responsibility activities and achievements and finally we present the research conducted underlying if the thesis proposed is confirmed or rejected.