Influence of sustainability reports on social and environmental issues: bibliometric analysis and the word cloud approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 380-386
Author(s):  
Rosane Aparecida Kulevicz ◽  
Grasiela Edith de Oliveira Porfirio ◽  
Ozeni Souza de Oliveira ◽  
Arturo Alejandro Zavala Zavala ◽  
Benedito Albuquerque da Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Word Cloud ◽  
Friedman's Test ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Sustainability Report

The aim of the present study is to analyze how corporate sustainability reports address socio-environmental issues and business development through bibliometric analysis. The search led to 53 articles indexed in the ScienceDirect database between 2012 and 2017. A bibliometric analysis was applied to sustainability reports and to several topics, namely: “sustainability report” (SR) and “corporate sustainability” (CS), triple bottom line (TBL), eco-innovation in business (ECO), and “global reporting initiative” (GRI). The word cloud approach was applied to each keyword in the quantitative analysis. Annual publication frequency was applied to identify the year accounting for the largest number of publications. The target of the descriptive analysis applied to the sample was determined; it consists in metrically determining the frequency of each variable. The inferential analysis compared the means recorded for the subsets of the sample; it is a technique commonly used to investigate data. Friedman’s test was used to compare the behavior of the research groups. The keywords sustainability, business, reporting, environment, social, and performance were found. These words appeared in most of the analyzed articles; they represented the conceptual core of each topic involved in the “sustainability report” (SR). Based on the selected articles, companies surveyed over the years have incorporated sustainability concepts into their strategic planning to ensure the satisfaction and needs of future generations. The disclosure of information available in sustainability reports has become a marketing instrument that may clearly provide evidence of business activities or inactivity.

The Use of Digital Tools for the Disclosure of Sustainability Reports in the Tourism Sector

2019 ◽  
pp. 222-240
Author(s):  
Inna Sousa Paiva ◽  
Luísa Cagica Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
The World ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
A Company ◽  
Sustainability Report

Sustainability is a key topic in tourism because this activity uses territory and local resources intensively. Sustainability is considered as a triple bottom line with the three vertices: environmental, social, and economic. Tourism nowadays is an economic and social phenomenon. Even in a period of crisis, tourism has experienced continued growth and widening diversification to become one of the most important sectors in the worldwide economy. Tourism uses more and more digital tools to communicate with stakeholders. This chapter has a twofold purpose: 1) to analyze the disclosure of information provided to stakeholders using digital tools; 2) to compare the sustainability reports provided by a company with the corporate sustainability report guidelines. This chapter uses a qualitative methodology to study the case of the Pestana Group. The Pestana Group is currently the largest Portuguese hospitality group with operations and hotels all over the world, and this case may provide some clues about the use of digital tools to communicate sustainability results to stakeholders.

scholarly journals Corporate Sustainability Reporting in the BIST Sustainability Index

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcu Demirel ◽  
Murat Erdogan
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Sustainability Report ◽  
Day By Day

<p>In recent years, there is a growing focus on corporate operations especially since the publication of the first environmental reports in 1989. Companies have started to publish information about its environmental, social and sustainability policies. The study examines the sustainability reporting elements of Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST) in Turkey and to evaluate which elements is most vital in this context. This study will begin with the sustainability reporting that will be examined under the roof of corporation sustainability and end with the examination of sustainability reports of 15 firms, which are included in the BIST Sustainability Index in Turkey, and a content analysis. The reports of companies under study were taken from special web site and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) database of companies. Being the first study in examining the sustainability report of companies in BIST Sustainability Index, it is expected to contribute in literature about sustainability reporting recently started to gain importance in Turkey. Overall our findings suggest that the sustainability index established in Turkey is still in development stage, but the enterprises in the endeavor are working day by day to develop the sustainability qualities.</p>

The Association between Sustainability Governance Characteristics and the Assurance of Corporate Sustainability Reports

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary F. Peters ◽  
Andrea M. Romi
Keyword(s):  
Value Relevance ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
Internal Auditors ◽  
Corporate Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Assurance Services ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Contextual Characteristics ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Sustainability Report

SUMMARY This study provides evidence on whether sustainability-oriented corporate governance mechanisms impact the voluntary assurance of corporate sustainability reports. Specifically, we consider the presence and characteristics of environmental committees on the Board of Directors and a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) among the management team. When examining assurance services, we make a distinction between those services performed by professional accountants, consultants, and internal auditors. We find that the presence of a CSO is positively associated with corporate sustainability report assurance services, and this association increases when the CSO has sustainability expertise. Supporting the position that some firms establish sustainability-related governance merely to conform to socially desired behavior, we find that only those environmental committees containing directors with related expertise influence the likelihood of adopting sustainability assurance. Presently, environmental committees with greater expertise appear to prefer the higher-quality assurance services of professional accounting firms. Expert CSOs, on the other hand, prefer assurance services from their peers with sustainability expertise, as evidenced by their choice to employ consultants. When analyzing firms' environmental contextual characteristics, we find that firms employing a CSO and exhibiting poor environmental performance, relative to other firms in their industry, prefer to report sustainability results without assurance. While we do find that larger firms in the U.S. are significantly less likely to employ assurance, this result decreases over time. Further, we provide initial evidence that the value-relevance of sustainability assurance is increasing with time.

Sustain and legitimize reputation

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nubia Cristina Mapa ◽  
Luiz Claudio Vieira de Oliveira ◽  
Mario Teixeira Reis Neto
Keyword(s):  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Rhetoric ◽  
Rational Discourse ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sustainability Report ◽  
Discursive Resources

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the discursive resources used to sustain and legitimize the reputation of the mining company Samarco Mineração regarding sustainability, before the environmental accident occurred in 2015. Design/methodology/approach The sustainability reports from 2005 to 2014 were accessed for the analysis of the presentation texts, and the discourse analysis method was applied to access the discursive resources employed. Findings From the classical concepts of rhetoric, ethos, pathos and logos, it was found that they reinforced the reputation and legitimacy of the company. The ethos is responsible for the company’s image, while pathos triggers the emotional reception of that image, provoking positive expectations. The logos relate the built image and its emotional reception to a rational discourse that values the company’s expertise. The analysis, in the light of the new rhetoric, exposes the strategies to lead the public to accept the image of solidity and confidence given by a reputation respected nationally and internationally. Research limitations/implications As a limitation, the quantitative data of the report were not analyzed, since the objective was to analyze the discourse construction, understanding that the research was adequate for the established purposes. For the future, it is suggested to analyze the discourse of the company after the environmental accident in order to verify the strategies used in the same theme; analyze the discourses in other reports published in the Global Reporting Initiative model; investigate how the logic of sustainability report construction based on a standard model can interfere in the formation of reputation and legitimacy of the companies; and analyze the impact of CSR on the strategy of the companies. Practical implications The knowledge about the functioning of the language and discourse as an indicative of subjectivity provides a more critical reading and reveals elements implicit in the discourse of the organization. It was verified that the sustainability reports in encapsulated formats allow some stability in the discourse, since companies tend to follow the same line of previous years, even with changes in the organizational structure. Originality/value Discourses built by the companies do not always reflect the true operational and engineering situation practiced by them, and that successful and reputed companies can surprise their stakeholders with events of great magnitude that cause significant losses, be they monetary or human lives.

Corporate Sustainability Indicators In Banking Sector

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 581-584
Author(s):  
Dumitrascu Mihaela ◽  
Ileana Ciutacu ◽  
Iulian Vasile Săvulescu
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Industry Sector ◽  
Sustainability Reports

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to see the situation regarding the indicators from the Sustainability Reports. For this we use a qualitative research, a content analysis of these reports. Our sample is composed by the banks that develop their activity in our country for which we analysed the last year reports at group level. We choose only an industry sector to obtain the homogeneity of the sample. The findings reveal a number of 86 indicators, which were used in these reports. We analyzed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators used by 12 companies. The most reported indicators are EN4, EN8, LA1, LA10, while the last reported indicators are E5, E10 E13 E15, EN20, EN21, EN23, EN27, HR9, HR10 The results obtained are important for future research in this area, for both managers and researchers.

Intellectual Capital Disclosure in Sustainability Reports

2013 ◽  
pp. 195-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Bronzetti ◽  
Romilda Mazzotta ◽  
Graziella Sicoli ◽  
Maria Assunta Baldini
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Voluntary Disclosures ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Sustainability Report

The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the level and the quality of voluntary disclosures of Intellectual Capital (IC) in the sustainability reports on a sample of Italian listed companies. The authors conducted an analysis of twelve sustainability reports for two years (2009-2010). These are related to six firms selected among the most capitalized 37 Italian listed companies. To investigate the “level of disclosure,” the authors identified the presence of IC information, while to evaluate the “IC quality,” they constructed a voluntary disclosure index based on content analysis. IC information disclosure is more likely present in sustainability reports of firms with a higher levels of application of the Global Reporting Initiative framework. The results confirm that the sustainability report can adequately represent the intellectual capital, especially in order to understand its role in the firm and the interaction with other variables present in the firm.

scholarly journals Coverage of G4-indicators in GRI-sustainability reports by electric utilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Slacik ◽  
Dorothea Greiling
Keyword(s):  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Electric Utility ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Coverage Rates

PurposeElectric utility companies (EUC) are expected to play a key role toward implementing ambitious climate change aims being under critical scrutiny by regulators and stakeholders. However, EUC provide an under-researched field regarding sustainability reporting with the focus on economic, social and ecological concerns. This paper aims to gain insights of the sustainability reporting practice of EUC and the coverage of indicators based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-Guidelines.Design/methodology/approachA twofold documentary analysis of 186 GRI-G4 sustainability reports by EUC globally is conducted to investigate the coverage rates of G4-indicators. Neo-institutionalism and strategic stakeholder theory serve as theoretical lenses. A regression analysis is used to examine ownership, stock-exchange listing, area of activity and region as potential drivers of sustainability reporting.FindingsResults show that the coverage of indicators based on triple-bottom-line dimensions is moderate in EUC leaving room for improvement. The coverage of sector-specific indicators lacks behind the coverage of standard disclosure indicators. Results show that private and listed EUC show better coverage rates than public and not-listed EUC.Research limitations/implicationsNeo-institutionalism shows limited homogenization in the sector. Strategic stakeholder theory demonstrates insufficient stakeholder compliance of public and not-listed EUC.Originality/valueThis study contributes to sustainability reporting research by focusing on the under-researched electricity sector. It provides practical reporting insights for EUC, the GRI and regulators.

scholarly journals Prevalence of sustainability reporting practices of listed companies on established and emerging stock exchanges

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan K. Turk ◽  
Charlie Shackleton ◽  
Kevin Whittington-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Stock Exchanges ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Emerging Stock Markets ◽  
Catching Up ◽  
Developing Markets ◽  
Sustainability Principles ◽  
Sustainability Report

The business sector has a substantial role in addressing current environmental issues and concerns. Consequently, there is a growing adoption of corporate sustainability principles and practices across all market sectors. This study examined four developed and four emerging stock markets and the sustainability reporting practices of the top 20 and bottom 20 companies in each. The results illustrate that the developed market sector was more advanced in its corporate sustainability reporting, both in the proportion of companies issuing a sustainability report (approximately 60 per cent) and the proportion of company webpages dedicated to sustainability reporting. This difference was largely due to the effect of the top 20 companies. There was little difference between developed and developing markets when only the bottom 20 companies were considered, of which less than one-third provided sustainability reports.  These results show that sustainability reporting is prevalent in both developed and developing markets, especially among market leading companies, but that overall, most developing markets have some catching up to do. 

scholarly journals An Analysis of Information Materiality on Corporate Sustainability Report Using Information Materiality Map: A Review in Mining Industry in Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Putu Sukma Kurniawan
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Material Information ◽  
Sustainability Report

This research aims to provide an overview of information that is material in sustainability reporting in Indonesia, especially material information in sustainability report in mining industry in Indonesia. The design of this research is document analysis. In this context, this study try to achieve an understanding of the document's contents from corporate sustainability report. This research used sustainability report published by companies in mining industry fields, particularly mining companies which competed in Indonesia Sustainability Reporting Award (ISRA) in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Data was collected by secondary data through the official website of Indonesia Stock Exchange as well as the company's official website. The data of sustainability reports were analyzed descriptively by analyzing the content of the sustainability report. This study can help to build a new perspective about material information in sustainability report in Indonesian mining industry. Keywords: Information Materiality Map, Sustainability Reporting, Sustainability Report, Mining Industry

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