Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting by Fortune Global 500 companies: a call for embeddedness

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether Fortune Global 500 companies embed stakeholder engagement in their sustainability reporting. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative and qualitative content analyses were undertaken on 646 sustainability reports written in English over the period from 2015 to 2017. Findings This research found a low level of stakeholder engagement disclosures and scant evidence that sustainability disclosures were drawn upon stakeholder engagement practices. The findings indicate that stakeholder engagement was loosely embedded in sustainability reporting. Research limitations/implications Sustainability reports are the sole unit of analysis. Besides, this research is limited to a sample of companies and to a specific period, which limits the generalisation of the research findings. Practical implications Embedding stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting holds companies accountable to their stakeholders. This is because the companies’ sustainability disclosures acknowledge the stakeholders’ concerns and information about the stakeholder engagement methods deployed to address those concerns. Social implications Stakeholder engagement promotes accountability by encouraging stakeholders to convey their opinions about corporate sustainability, participate in decision-making processes that impact them, and partake in defining the contents of sustainability reports. Originality/value This paper provides insights into the need to link sustainability disclosures with stakeholder engagement disclosures, by articulating who the relevant stakeholders are and how they are engaged on the various sustainability topics – rather than conceiving them to be separate and independent disclosures in a sustainability report.

Information and values in the decision-making support: A systematic literature review in the corporate sustainability context

“…This finding is significant, as it demonstrates that scientific research in the investigated field presents as its apex, at the present time, the study of an informational source, which concisely communicates information on sustainability, organizational perspectives for value creation, strategies, governance, structures, systems and methods of action (Ardiana, 2021). Such a source, despite being aimed at satisfying the informational needs of external stakeholders, mainly investors and regulators (Ferramosca, 2019), was explored in portfolio studies under various aspects: strategies and styles of information presentation (Elliott et al, 2016), deciding what to disclose (Cucari et al, 2018), analysis of the most relevant points of these reports (Esch et al, 2019), complementary or alternative source to financial reports (Alves et al, 2017), inducing legitimacy and good corporate reputation (Parra-Domínguez et al, 2021), and voluntary disclosure (Li et al, 2021).…”

“…Regarding these decisions, Bolis et al (2021) point out that the rationality adopted in the decision-making process impacts the attitudes of managers, which may result in actions that are contrary to sustainable development. In this way, the company must make efforts to promote and socialize (knowledge management) an organizational culture that supports a decision-making rationale based on collective interests (Esch et al, 2019;Hernandez-Perdomo et al, 2019), seeking to align the company's Managerial Values: Efficiency; Efficiency; Competitiveness; Legitimacy;and Value Creation, Environmental and Ethical-Moral Values (Amor-Esteban et al, 2018;Ardiana, 2021;Ouda, 2021).…”

“…Managing information, in order to efficiently support the decision-making of all interest groups in an organization, is a major challenge, given the diversity and complexity of those involved (Ardiana, 2021). This challenge is accentuated in the context of corporate sustainability, since its scope advocates the importance of identifying and equitably supplying the informational needs of its served parties, thus anxious, possible informational asymmetries, through inclusive, transparent communication and ethics (Ucal & Günay, 2019).…”

Providing a Roadmap for Future Research Agenda: A Bibliometric Literature Review of Sustainability Performance Reporting (SPR)

“…This finding could be explained by Mussari and Monfardini's [17] assertion that SPR remains a contemporary global concern as business stakeholders become more interested and outspoken on how organisations align their activities and operations with sustainable development principles. According to Ardiana [105], stakeholders are increasing pressure on organisations to disclose their sustainability performance.…”

“…This observation is consistent with Lozano's [15] assertion that there is a continuous emphasis by scholars and practitioners alike on organisational accountability and transparency in SPR. The dominance of SPR as the central theme in the review could be due to organisations' response to their stakeholder expectations [7,8,105]. These views emphasise the value and acceptance of SPR among diverse disciplines in reporting the impacts of business activities on sustainability and the risks they face.…”