Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify sociodemographic factors that are predictive of the level of everyday sadism (SAD) in the business area. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on 424 graduate and postgraduate students from business schools in Brazil and the USA. SAD was quantified by the assessment of sadistic personality proposed by Plouffe Saklofske and Smith (2017). The variables included age, gender, managing experience, education and nationality. Findings The average level of SAD was low. SAD was negatively associated with gender, age and nationality and positively associated with managing experience and education. Practical implications As individuals ascend professionally and academically, they display higher levels of everyday sadism. Depending on the context, dark personalities can cause either benefit or harm to the company's business and to society. However, the literature shows that seeking pleasure and dominance with no regard for consequences affects the business area directly or indirectly. Originality/value Very few studies have addressed everyday sadism in the business area, let alone evaluated predictive factors and discussed possible implications.

Diversas são as iniciativas de instituições nacionais e internacionais no sentido de se chegar a um conteúdo de informações sociais que seja evidenciado pelas empresas e atenda às necessidades dos stakeholders. Em 2008, foi lançado o Guia de Indicadores de Responsabilidade Corporativa em Relatórios Anuais, da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU), elaborado com base no GRI, nas normas da OIT e da OCDE e alinhado às definições adotadas nas normas do IASB. O presente estudo tem por objetivo principal analisar a divulgação de informações sociais pelas empresas brasileiras do Novo Mercado da Bovespa, segundo os Indicadores de Responsabilidade Social Corporativa contidos no Guia da ONU. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo exploratório, de natureza qualitativa, delineado por pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. Na interpretação dos dados coletados, empregou-se a análise de conteúdo, tendo-se uma visão da preponderância da divulgação de cada um dos indicadores da ONU pelas empresas brasileiras pesquisadas. Os resultados obtidos foram comparados com os de pesquisa de 2008 realizada pela ONU, que investigou a divulgação dos seus indicadores por uma amostra de cem empresas de mercados emergentes. Observou-se que as empresas brasileiras pesquisadas divulgam indicadores sociais recomendados no Guia da ONU, alinhando sua divulgação a padrões internacionalmente aceitos. Observou-se, no entanto, que não foram divulgados, na mesma proporção, os indicadores de desempenho não financeiro, só mais recentemente recomendados.

Several frameworks of social information disclosure have been proposed worldwide to satisfy stakeholders' information needs. In 2008, the United Nations launched a guide with recommendations for corporate responsibility indicators in annual reports based on the Global Reporting Initiative framework and standards of the International Labour Organization, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and International Accounting Standards Board. The objective of the present study was to analyze the disclosure of social information by Brazilian companies of the New Market listing segment traded on the São Paulo Stock Exchange (BOVESPA) in accordance with UN indicators of corporate social responsibility. This was an exploratory and qualitative study based on a review of documents and the literature. The findings were interpreted by way of content analysis to determine the predominance of UN indicators disclosed by Brazilian enterprises. The results were compared to those of a 2008 UN study on social information disclosure by 100 large enterprises in the top ten emerging economies in the world. The companies in our study were found to disclose most of the indicators recommended by the UN in harmony with internationally accepted standards. However, more recently introduced non-financial indicators were less frequently reported.