Using archival data retrieved from a proprietary database for an international sample of 199 large listed companies , we hypothesise that each of the stakeholder attributes ( power , urgency , and legitimacy ) is positively related to the level of public environmental disclosure . Even though univariate results affirm the hypothesised relationships , multivariate analysis reveals that the influences of power and urgency are in fact mediated by legitimacy . Hence , only legitimacy is directly associated with environmental disclosure , while the influences of power and urgency are of an indirect nature . These findings also hold when controls for company size , institutional context , industry , environmental performance , and institutional shareholdings are included in the model .