{"title":"Nonfinancial Reporting and Real Sustainable Change: Relationship Status—It’s Complicated","authors":"Rüdiger Hahn, D. Reimsbach, C. Wickert","doi":"10.1177/10860266231151653","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":47984,"journal":{"name":"Organization & Environment","volume":"36 1","pages":"3 - 16"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Organization & Environment","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10860266231151653","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
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.
期刊介绍:
Organization & Environment encourages informed discussion about the social roots and consequences of environmental problems and stimulates deeper reflection on the meaning and significance of the natural world. By critically examining the impact of human production and consumption systems on the natural environment, Organization & Environment develops new perspectives on organizations that encourage environmentally sensitive reflection, inquiry, and practice.