RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 The pre-history of sustainability reporting: a constructivist reading
A1 Larrinaga González, Carlos
A1 Bebbington, Jan
K1 Sustainability reporting
K1 Environmental reporting
K1 Normativity
K1 Responsabilidad social de la empresa
K1 Social responsibility of business
K1 Información de sostenibilidad
K1 Sustainable development reporting
AB Purpose:The aim of this paper is to provide an account of the period prior to the creation of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI): a body that was critical to the institutionalization of sustainability reporting (SR). By examining this “pre-history,” we bring to light the actors, activities and ways of thinking that made SR more likely to be institutionalized once the GRI entrepreneurship came to the fore.Design/methodology/approach:The paper revisits a time period (the 1990s) that has yet to be formally written about in any depth and traces the early development of what became SR. This material is examined using a constructivist understanding of regulation.Findings:The authors contend that a convergence of actors and structural conditions were pivotal to the development of SR. Specifically, this paper demonstrates that a combination of actors (such as epistemic communities, carriers, regulators and reporters) as well as the presence of certain conditions (such as the societal context, analogies with financial reporting, environmental reporting and reporting design issues) contributed to the development of SR which was consolidated (as well as extended) in 1999 with the advent of the GRI.Research limitations/implications:This paper theorizes (through a historical analysis) how SR is sustained by a network of institutional actors and conditions which can assist reflection on future SR development.Originality/value:This paper brings together empirical material from a time that (sadly) is passing from living memory. The paper also extends the use of a conceptual frame that is starting to influence scholarship in accounting that seeks to understand how norms develop.
PB Emerald
SN 0951-3574
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11388
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11388
LA eng
NO The authors are grateful to three anonymous referees who pushed us to develop our thinking around this paper. The authors are also grateful for the financial assistance provided by Ministerio de Econom ıa y Competitividad, FEDER and Consejer ıa de Educaci on, Junta de Castilla y Le on (Grants ECO2012- 33121, ECO2015-65782-P and BU058P17).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 23-abr-2026