This book discusses reliability and other related issues, such as reporting and decision-making, pertinent to sustainability and corporate responsibility reporting practices. Investors, governments, and NGOs expect businesses to report their environmental and social performance. This information is used to legislate, regulate industries, and guide the investment of billions of dollars through pensions and mutual funds. But can we trust these measurements? In order to answer this question, the editors and contributors, all academic thought leaders from a variety of fields, offer a set of reflections on problems that various stakeholders might be exposed to. These problems are mainly due to a lack of standardized reporting practices and guidelines, and inconsistencies in measurements used for the valuation of corporate sustainability performance indicators. This book is of great interest to students, scholars, and stakeholders to help comprehend the importance of accounting on sustainability practices for decision-making and measures therein, but also the reliability risks involved in these measurements. Thus, it moves away from simply pushing for more sustainability reporting towards a more critical discussion of measurement issues and potential consequences of the aforementioned problems to different fields such as finance, marketing, or strategy.
Author(s): Slobodan Kacanski, Johannes Kabderian Dreyer, Kristian J. Sund
Series: Ethical Economy, 64
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 231
City: Cham
Preface
Abstract
Summary of Contributions
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
Contents
Contributors
Chapter 1: What Is Wrong with Making Profits?
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Profits and Corporate Social Responsibility
1.3 Profits and Sustainability
1.4 Profits, Market Efficiency, and the Rules of the Game
1.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 2: Measuring Companies Multicontextual Contribution to a Sustainable Development
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Measuring How Far We Are from the SDG -The Lack of a Shared Semantic Reservoir
2.3 The Hunt for a Shared Semantic Reservoir – Efforts to Create Standardizations Relating ESG Measurements and SDGs
2.4 Does SASB/GRI Link to the SDG or Social Progress Indices? And Are Semantics for Micro-economic Interventions Sufficient?
2.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Definition and Measurement of Sustainability and CSR: Circumstances of Perceptual Misalignments
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Circumstances of Perceptual Misalignments
3.3 Concluding Comments
References
Chapter 4: “What I Say Is Not Necessarily What I Do”: A Critical Conceptual Analysis of the (Missing) Link between Corporate Sustainability Reporting and Social Impact
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Social Environmental Reporting and Value Creation
4.3 The Dual Role of Reporting: Representative and Formative
4.4 Substantive Actions and Symbolic Communications: The Role of Transparency
4.5 Rules/Goals Decoupling
4.6 Final Reflections
4.7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Blended Finance and the SDGs: Using the Spectrum of Capital to de-Risk Business Model Transformation
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Sustainable Development Goals
5.3 De-Risking Sustainable Business Models: Materiality
5.4 Blended Finance Facilities
5.5 Trust Brokering from Civil Society
5.6 Challenges to Blended Finance
5.7 Illustrative Cases
5.8 Comparative Analysis of TRECC and TLFF Multistakeholder Partnerships
5.9 Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Responsible Business and Integrated Stakeholder Reporting: Towards a Stakeholder Model for Integrated Reporting of ESG and SDG
6.1 Background
6.2 Towards New Stakeholder Reporting Models
6.3 Theoretical Framework for Integrated Stakeholder Reporting
6.4 Towards a Holistic Model of Stakeholder Reporting
6.5 Legal Framework for Measurement of Integrated Reporting
6.6 Integrated Reporting Within the Framework of Institutional Order Ethics
6.7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Social Representations of Responsible Management: An Alternative Measure of Sustainability?
7.1 Introduction
7.2 From Sustainability to Responsible Management
7.3 Measuring Sustainability Through Social Representations
7.4 Methodological Approach
7.5 Findings and Discussion
7.5.1 Beyond Good Intentions
7.6 Responsible Management, a Management of Tensions?
7.7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Stakeholder Engagement and Materiality Assessments in Sustainability Reporting
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Stakeholder Engagement
8.3 Materiality Assessment
8.4 Research Opportunities
References
Chapter 9: The Performance-Reporting Gap: A Key to Understanding the Relevance of Sustainability Reporting Information to Stakeholders
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Performance-Reporting Gap
9.3 The Gap from an Information User Perspective
9.4 The Gap from a Corporate Reporting and Control Perspective
9.5 Discussion and Suggestions
References
Chapter 10: Addressing Challenges to Labour Rights Reporting on Global Value Chains: Social Governance Mechanisms as a Way Forward
10.1 Challenges to Corporate Accountability
10.2 Complexities of Global Value Chains
10.2.1 Migrant Workers
10.2.2 Wages
10.3 Governance of GVCs: Strengthening Accountability for Labour Rights
10.3.1 Private Governance Mechanisms
10.3.2 Public Governance
10.3.3 Social Governance
10.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 11: CSR Ratings in the Presence of a Former Rating Agency Analyst: Evidence from LinkedIn
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Prior Literature and Hypothesis
11.3 Data and Empirical Analysis
11.3.1 Data
11.3.2 Test of the Hypothesis and Results
11.4 The Use of CSR Ratings from a Different Rating Agency
11.5 Difference-in-Differences Analysis
11.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 12: Organizational Culture and the Moving Target of Corporate Sustainability: An Exploratory Investigation
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Corporate Sustainability
12.3 Organizational Culture
12.4 The Link Between Corporate Sustainability and Organizational Culture
12.5 Method
12.6 Results
12.7 Discussion
12.8 Conclusion and Future Research
References
Chapter 13: A Cautionary Tale: Lessons from the Strategic Use of Financial Reporting
13.1 Introduction
13.2 A Cautionary Tale from the Strategic Use of Financial Reporting
13.2.1 The Willingness Problem: Self-Enhancement Behavior
13.2.2 The Ability Problem: Means-Ends Complexity
13.2.3 Performance Measures and Depreciation of Utility
13.3 Conclusion
References
Chapter 14: Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Standards Must Emphasize Outcomes Over Policies
14.1 Four Key Problems with Sustainability Disclosure Standards
14.2 Outcomes Over Policies: Emulating (But Not Augmenting) Financial Disclosure
14.3 Conclusion
References
Chapter 15: ESG Data Challenges: User Discretion Is Advised
15.1 The Taxonomy of ASSET4 ESG
15.2 The Methodological Constraints of Effective Measures
15.3 Practical Implications of Measurement Constraints
15.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 16: Altruism in Investor Preferences: A Catalyst for the Green Transition
16.1 The Role of Changes in Investor’s Preferences to Asset Pricing
16.2 Warm-Glow Theory and Asset Pricing
16.3 ESG Consistency, Warm-Glow and Long-Term Risk
16.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 17: Self-Induced Versus Structured Corporate Social Responsibility: The Indian Context
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Transition from Voluntary CSR to Mandatory CSR Rule for Companies
17.3 Enactment of CSR Rule
17.4 CSR Expenditure in India
17.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 18: Measuring Sustainability in India: A Comparative Assessment of Frameworks and Key Challenges
18.1 Introduction
18.1.1 The Distinction Between Business Sustainability and CSR
18.1.2 The Business Case for Sustainability
18.1.3 Business Sustainability Trends
18.1.4 Measuring Business Sustainability
18.2 Sustainability Reporting in India – Guidelines and Frameworks
18.2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines, 2009
18.2.2 National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs)
18.2.3 Business Responsibility Reporting (BRR)
18.2.4 National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct
18.2.5 Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)
18.2.6 Other Regulations
18.3 Issues and Challenges
18.3.1 Lack of Standardisation
18.3.2 Lack of Data
18.3.3 Data Verification and Audit
18.3.4 Number of Disclosures
18.3.5 Lack of a Consolidated Scorecard
18.3.6 Multiple Terminology
18.3.7 Nature of Regulations
18.3.8 Non-alignment of Strategy and Reporting
18.3.9 Leadership Vacuum
18.3.10 Support from Other Stakeholders
18.4 Conclusion and the Way Forward
References
Chapter 19: Does Hypercompetition Foster Corporate Social Responsibility? A Research Framework of the Hypercompetitive Effects on ESG Performance
19.1 Introduction
19.2 Research Framework
19.2.1 The Scarcity–Munificence Component of Hypercompetitive Industries
19.2.2 Hypercompetition-Motivated CSR
19.3 Measuring the Link Between Hypercompetition and CSR
19.3.1 Current Data Limitations
19.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 20: The Integration of ESG Ratings in Danish Pension Funds: Interviews with Pension Fund Managers
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Literature
20.2.1 ESG Ratings – Quality
20.2.2 Application of ESG in Portfolio Management
20.3 Analysis
20.3.1 The Pension Fund’s Role
20.3.2 Benefits and Shortcomings of ESG Data
20.3.2.1 Outdated Data
20.3.2.2 Conflicted Data
20.3.2.3 Estimated Data
20.3.3 Integration of ESG Data in the Investment Practice
20.3.3.1 Negative Screenings
20.3.3.2 Active Ownership
20.3.3.3 Positive Screening
20.3.3.4 Balancing ESG and Integration Strategy
20.3.3.5 Dialogue and Knowledge
20.3.3.6 ESG Integration on Trading
20.4 Conclusion
References
