Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Interconnecting the Reporting Process and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability

Abstract

Abstract:Although there has been a considerable increase in the publication of sustainability reports in the corporate world in the last decade, sustainability reporting in higher education institutions is still in its early stages. This study's aim was to explore the relationship between sustainability reporting and organizational change management for sustainability in higher education. A survey was sent to higher education institutions worldwide that have published sustainability reports in the last ten years. The survey was answered by 23 institutions out of a total of 64. The findings showed that sustainability reporting has been predominantly driven by internal motivations, and that the sustainability reporting process leads to incremental changes, such as an increase in awareness of sustainability and improvements in communication with internal stakeholders. Some factors impeding change are the absence of an external stakeholder engagement process, the lack of inclusion of material impacts in reports, and the lack of institutionalization of sustainability reporting in the higher education system. The paper proposes that higher education institutions need to consider sustainability reporting as a dynamic tool to plan sustainability changes, and not just as a communication activity. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 8882

Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in higher education

“…Engaging stakeholders is essential for an appropriate analysis of materiality, by which organisations can identify their own more relevant sustainability aspects (Bellantuono et al, 2016) and develop complete and useful SR (AccountAbility, 2015;Global Reporting Initiative, 2013). Nevertheless, in the academic world, the relevance of HEI stakeholder engagement and the materiality process in the SR process remains rarely studied (Adams, 2013;Alonso-Almeida et al, 2014;Ceulemans et al, 2015a;Ceulemans et al, 2015b;Lozano, 2011). In this regard, the relationship between material aspects and the interests and expectations of different stakeholders is an emerging gap in the empirical research.…”

Shedding Light on Eco-Innovation in Tourism: A Critical Analysis

“…Thus, the total population was gathered. These reports have proven to be a relevant source of information for understanding organisational behaviour in terms of sustainability and identifying critical issues in this context [54].…”

“…The GRI database was used for a number of reasons: (1) it is the most widely used worldwide standard for sustainability reporting; (2) GRI represents the best option available for SR because it is based on foundations that consider economic, environmental and social dimensions; (3) GRI presents a harmonized, standardized, understandable and objective report for all firms worldwide; and (4) the GRI is, after the ISO14001 standard, the most influential standard regarding social responsibility [54][55][56].…”

Organizational Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Firms Listed by the Corporate Sustainability Index

“…Over the past few years, firms have increased their participation in releasing their reports following GRI guidelines, which encompasses the three variables in the triple bottom line and is one of the most employed and recognized worldwide [38]. Preparing and release of these reports are voluntary [39], except in a few countries in the European Union that have specific legislation that dictates the release of the reports [40].…”