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Purpose This study aims to verify the efficiency of economic, organisational, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability performance. Methodology Disclosure analysis and 2-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) examining the efficiency of sustainability engagement of listed banks in Poland, Croatia, and Romania disclosed in the annual and CSR/sustainability reports for 2015–2018. Findings There are apparent differences between the efficiency of sustainability engagement in the banking sectors of the three countries examined in the study. Banking sectors in all these countries are on different stages of their paths to value creation via the efficiency of sustainability engagement. Practical implications The results of this study may help compare sustainability engagement and understanding of the further directions of sustainable development in the banking sector in both the analysed and other countries, as well as in other institutions from other sectors. These results may be important for the decision-makers in determining the actions focused on improving efficiency on the way to value creation. Originality/value Since only a limited number of studies examine the efficiency of sustainability engagement, especially in CEE countries, little is known about value creation, understood as the efficient use of the resources and activities concerning sustainability. This paper contributes to filling in this gap. It also proposes an alternative approach, analysing the relationship between sustainability engagement and value creation based on efficiency rather than on the direct impact on financial results giving ambiguous results. This approach may be extended to different sectors and other countries.

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Research Question: How are post-privatization corporate narratives used by the companies in framing their financial performance? Motivation: This research departs from previous literature that scrutinized the use of narratives in the context of corporate privatizations (Craig & Amernic, 2008). The study adopts a socialpsychology perspective on impression management (Leary & Kowalski, 1990), drawing on the attributional repertoire developed by Aerts ( 2005) in order to analyse the causal explanations of performance outcomes. Idea: This paper relies on the case of OMV Petrom with a view of analysing the evolution of the messages used in framing the success of the company. Data: The letters to shareholders issued by the company from 2005 to 2011 were considered. Tools: A manual content analysis was performed in order to identify the causal attributions of performance outcomes. The enriched self-serving explanatory patterns (i.e. entitlement, enhancement, excuse, justification and causality denial) were evaluated. Findings: The results confirm the use of assertive and defensive tactics in framing performance upturns and downturns. Moreover, the decrease in the financial performance was presented by highlighting the negative influence of external factors which was counterbalanced by remedial actions. Contribution: The paper contributes to the impression management literature by using the context of a forced privatization as a means of providing explanations. The study illustrates the use of additional techniques in framing negative results which may further extend the attributional repertoire developed by previous researchers.