Is Sustainability Reporting Becoming Institutionalised? The Role of an Issues-Based Field

Colin Higgins (), Wendy Stubbs () and Markus Milne ()
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Colin Higgins: Deakin University
Wendy Stubbs: Monash University
Markus Milne: University of Canterbury

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, vol. 147, issue 2, No 4, 309-326

Abstract: Abstract We study companies that do not produce a sustainability report in contexts where institutionalisation is assumed. Based on a careful analysis of interaction patterns between non-reporting companies, sustainability interest groups, and peer organisations, we find patterns of discursive and material isomorphism that suggest sustainability reporting is confined to an issues-based field, rather than spreading as an institutionalised practice across the business community. We argue that the issues-based field exerts only weak pressure for sustainability reporting, and that encouraging more firms to report rests on understanding what influences companies to interact more widely to become part of this field.

Keywords: Australia; Institutional theory; Issues-based fields; Non-reporters; Sustainability reporting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2931-7

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