RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Boundary objects: sustainability reporting and the production of organizational stability
A1 Fernández Chulián, Manuel
A1 García Torea, Nicolás
A1 Larrinaga González, Carlos
A1 Bebbington, Jan
K1 Sustainability reporting
K1 Research engagement
K1 Boundary object
K1 Linguistic work
K1 Sensemaking
K1 Organizational change
K1 Gestión de empresas
K1 Industrial management
K1 Contabilidad ambiental
K1 Contabilidad
K1 Accounting
AB Purpose: The study investigates how sustainability reporting constructs a narrative about an organization that provides its members with a reality they can accept, with the consequence of producing organizational stability. Design/methodology/approach: The article reports a research engagement concerning the “backstage” of sustainability reporting in one Spanish savings bank, which the researchers engaged with for more than three years. Findings: The article describes how sustainability reporting operates as a boundary object occupying the space between the organization’s loosely coupled systems and facilitating the cooperation of members with different interpretations of the organization. Different translations of discourses and actions ensure that the sustainability report conveys a ductile narrative that can be tailored to specific interpretations. At the same time, the editing inherent in sustainability reporting ensures that any narrative that may challenge the organization’s dominant perspective is ignored and marginalized. In this way, sustainability reporting produces a discourse that inscribes a narrative of the organization and eventually ensures organizational inertia. Research limitations/implications: The article highlights the relevance of investigating sustainability reports by exploring the backstage of their production rather than solely the final document. Originality/value: In contrast to prior research that has been concerned with exploring the extent to which sustainability reporting is associated with organizational change, this study applies different lenses to show how and why sustainability reporting is implicated in the construction of the organization and the maintenance of its stability and inertia.
PB Emerald
SN 0951-3574
YR 2024
FD 2024-09
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/9586
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/9586
LA eng
NO We are grateful for the financial assistance provided by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, FEDER and Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León (Grants RTI2018-099920-B-I00 and BU069P20).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 25-dic-2024