Sustainability Reporting and Organisational Factors

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between sustainability reporting and four factors named as industry, size, ownership type and organisation perspective through the lenses of multiple theories (institutional theory, stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and theory of planned behaviour). We surveyed 240 Australian and New Zealand companies and asked them about the status of their sustainability reporting as well as their perceptions regarding the importance of sustainability indicators. We used the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators to develop the survey. From an ownership perspective, the results show that companies belonging to the public sector report more sustainability information compared with the private sector. However, from an industry perspective, there were no statistically significant differences between environmentally sensitive and non-environmentally sensitive industries in terms of the content of their sustainability reporting. The results further show that the size of a company does not influence the content of sustainability reporting, but larger firms tend to provide more details in their reports. The results also show a positive relationship between sustainability reporting and organisation perspective (in terms of the level of importance of the GRI indicators). This study contributes to the sustainability literature and reporting theories. Moreover, the results have several implications for managers and promoters of the GRI for improving the adoption of the GRI guidelines and increasing the level of sustainability reporting to amplify the company’s image. The results also allow for effective government policy development through understanding what motivates companies to disclose environmental and social-related activities.