Corporate Sustainable Development: Is 'Integrated Reporting' a Legitimation Strategy?

Business Strategy and the Environment

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2016, Pages 165-177

  Lai, Alessandro ^a   Melloni, Gaia ^a   Stacchezzini, Riccardo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF VERONA   (Italy)

Author keywords

Communication strategy; ESG ratings; Integrated reporting; Legitimacy theory; Sustainability reporting; Sustainable development

Indexed keywords

CORPORATE STRATEGY; SUSTAINABILITY; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT;

EID: 84961256166     PISSN: 09644733     EISSN: 10990836     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/bse.1863     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Adams C. 2013. Understanding Integrated Reporting: the Concise Guide to Integrated Thinking and the Future of Corporate Reporting. DoShorts: London.
2. Alonso-Almeida MDM, Llach J, Marimon F. 2013. A closer look at the 'Global Reporting Initiative' sustainability reporting as a tool to implement environmental and social policies: a worldwide sector analysis. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. DOI: 10.1002/csr.1318
3. Busco C, Frigo ML, Riccaboni A, Quattrone P (eds). 2013. Integrated Reporting. Concepts and Cases that Redefine Corporate Accountability. Springer: Cham.
4. Chatterji AK, Toffel MW. 2010. How firms respond to being rated. Strategic Management Journal 31(9): 917-945.
5. Cho CH, Patten DM. 2007. The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: a research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society 32(7/8): 639-647.
6. Cho CH, Freedman M, Patten DM. 2012. Corporate disclosure of environmental capital expenditures: a test of alternative theories. Accounting, Auditing andAccountability Journal 25(3): 486-507.
7. Clarkson PM, Li Y, Richardson GD, Vasvari FP. 2008. Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: an empirical analysis. Accounting, Organizations and Society 33(4/5): 303-327.
8. Cormier D, Magnan M. 2013. The economic relevance of environmental disclosure and its impact on corporate legitimacy: an empirical investigation. Business Strategy and the Environment. DOI: 10.1002/bse.1829
9. Deegan C. 2002. The legitimising effect of social and environmental disclosures - a theoretical foundation. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3): 282-311.
10. Dowling J, Pfeffer J. 1975. Organizational legitimacy: social values and organizational behaviour. Pacific Sociological Review 18(1): 122-136.
11. Eccles RG, Krzus MP. 2010. One Report: Integrated Report for a Sustainable Strategy. Wiley: New York.
12. Eccles RG, Cheng B, Saltzman D. 2011a. The Landscape of IR Reflections and Next Step, pp. 1-276. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pdf/The_Landscape_of_Integrated_Reporting.pdf [30 April 2014].
13. Eccles RG, Serafeim G, Krzus M. 2011b. Market interest in non-financial information. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 23(4): 113-123.
14. Frías-Aceituno JV, Rodríguez-Ariza L, Garcia-Sánchez IM. 2012. The role of the board in the dissemination of integrated corporate social reporting. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 20(4): 219-233.
15. Frías-Aceituno JV, Rodríguez-Ariza L, Garcia-Sánchez IM. 2014. Explanatory factors of integrated sustainability and financial reporting. Business Strategy and the Environment 23(1): 56-72.
16. Gray R. 2002. The social accounting project and Accounting Organizations and Society. Privileging engagement, imaginings, new accountings and pragmatism over critique? Accounting, Organizations and Society 27(7): 687-708.
17. Gray R. 2010. Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability... and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet. Accounting, Organizations and Society 35(1): 47-62.
18. Hopwood AG. 2009. Accounting and the environment. Accounting, Organizations and Society 34(3/4): 433-439.
19. Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA). 2009. King Code on Governance for South Africa (King III). http://african.ipapercms.dk/iod/kingiii/kingiiireport/ [30 April 2014].
20. Jensen J, Berg N. 2012. Determinants of traditional sustainability reporting versus Integrated Reporting. An institutionalist approach. Business Strategy and the Environment 21(5): 299-316.
21. King M, Roberts L. 2013. Integrate. Doing Business in the 21st Century. Juta: Claremont, Cape Town.
22. Kolk A, Perego P. 2010. Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation. Business Strategy and the Environment 19(3): 182-198.
23. KPMG. 2012. IR: Performance Insight through Better Business Reporting. pp. 1-22. http://www.kpmg.com
24. Lindblom CK. 1994. The implications of organizational legitimacy for corporate social performance and disclosure. In Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, New York.
25. Lodhia S, Jacobs K. 2013. The practice turn in environmental reporting: a study into current practices in two Australian commonwealth departments. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 26(4): 595-615.
26. Mahoney LS, Thorne L, Cecil L, LaGore W. 2013. A research note on standalone corporate social responsibility reports: signalling or greenwashing? Critical Perspectives on Accounting 24(4/5): 350-359.
27. Mårtensson K, Westerberg K. 2014. Corporate environmental strategies towards sustainable development. Business Strategy and the Environment. DOI: 10.1002/bse.1852
28. Milne MJ, Gray R. 2013. W(h)ither ecology? The triple bottom line, the global reporting initiative, and corporate sustainability reporting. Journal of Business Ethics 118(1): 13-29.
29. O'Donovan G. 2002. Environmental disclosures in the annual report: extending the applicability and predictive power of legitimacy theory. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(3): 344-371.
30. Owen D. 2008. Chronicles of wasted time? a personal reflection on the current state of, and future prospects for, social and environmental accounting research. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 21(2): 240-267.
31. Parker LD. 2005. Social and environmental accountability research: a view from the commentary box. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 18(6): 842-860.
32. Patten DM. 2002. The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note. Accounting, Organizations and Society 27(8): 763-773.
33. Pérez-López D, Moreno-Romero A, Barkemeyer R. 2013. Exploring the relationship between sustainability reporting and sustainability management practices. Business Strategy and the Environment. DOI: 10.1002/bse.1841
34. Sierra-García L, Zorio-Grima A, García-Benau, MA. 2013. Stakeholder engagement, corporate social responsibility and integrated reporting: an exploratory study. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. DOI: 10.1002/csr.1345
35. Stubbs W, Higgins C, Milne M. 2013. Why do companies not produce sustainability reports? Business Strategy and the Environment 22(7): 456-470.
36. Suchman MC. 1995. Managing legitimacy: strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review 20(3): 571-610.
37. Toppinen A, Li N, Tuppura A, Xiong Y. 2012. Corporate responsibility and strategic groups in the forest-based industry: exploratory analysis based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 19(4): 191-205.