Nonfinancial Reporting and Real Sustainable Change: Relationship Status—It's Complicated. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hahn, Rüdiger; Reimsbach, Daniel; Wickert, Christopher
• Other Names: Hahn Rüdiger guest-editor.; Reimsbach Daniel guest-editor.; Wickert Christopher guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Organization & environment. Volume 36:Number 1(2023)
• Page Start: 3
• Page End: 16
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: nonfinancial reporting -- nonfinancial disclosure -- sustainability reporting -- CSR reporting -- sustainability performance -- sustainable change -- sustainability impact -- (nonfinancial) materiality -- ESG reporting; Associations, institutions, etc -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Business enterprises -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental management -- Periodicals; Environmental responsibility -- Periodicals; Sustainability -- Periodicals; 658.408305
• DOI: 10.1177/10860266231151653
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1086-0266

Abstract

The relationship between nonfinancial reporting and real sustainable change within and beyond organizations is fraught with complication. Furthermore, all facets of the relationship have not been examined equally. The contributions of this special issue made substantive progress in this regard and draw our focus to several remaining complications—in particular, the societal impacts of nonfinancial reporting. With this introduction, we seek to move the conversation forward by proposing a framework that disentangles the linkages between nonfinancial reporting and real sustainable change at multiple levels of analysis. We highlight the distinction between sustainability-related outputs and outcomes that typically materialize at the firm level, and eventually lead to sustainable impact at the societal level. Future research should advance this distinction and scrutinize the impact of real sustainable change beyond firm-level outputs, study the organizational change processes from antecedents to impacts, and examine the interrelationships between different instruments to foster real sustainable change.