Exploring the social reporting practices of public schools: survey and cluster analysis of the Italian educational system

Reforms in the Italian educational sector have led schools to become more accountable. Social Reporting (SR) is an effective response to stakeholders’ increasing demand for information and an innovative public accountability tool for Italian Public Schools (IPSs). Using a survey and cluster analysis, our study investigates current awareness and adoption of SR practices to improve the accountability of IPSs. The results show that SR practices are still underused and that IPSs fall into two main groups: “early movers”, which are highly sensitive to this tool and will employ it earlier, and “latecomers”, which show less awareness. © 2019, © 2019 University of South Australia.