Reporting on sustainable operations by third sector organizations: A signalling approach

Simaens, Ana; Koster, Mieneke

doi:10.1080/14719037.2012.757350

Cited by 35 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…In addition, NGOs have been quite active in lobbying for an improved social and environmental accountability of for-profits. Nowadays, they are confronted with the demand to account for their own sustainability performance (Crespy and Miller 2011;Simaens and Koster 2013).…”

Section: Introduction and Research Questionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GRI Sustainability Reporting by INGOs: A Way Forward for Improving Accountability?

2018

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Considering that the members of the International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) Accountability Charter played a prominent role in initiating the first sector supplement of the Global Reporting Initiative for non-governmental organizations (NGO), the purpose of the paper is to investigate their sustainability reporting (SR) practices in order to evaluate to what extent INGO Charter members comply with this voluntary accountability standard for SR. The empirical analysis is based on a content analysis of sustainability reports. The findings indicate that most of the INGO Charter members are far away from a comprehensive reporting practice. Hence, critical voices could assert that their reporting behavior seems to be more in line with facade building than the idea of providing a comprehensive account. By adapting a multiperspective theoretical discourse about the potential and shortcomings of SR to the NGO context, the study contributes to a field-specific theory-based pluralistic critical evaluation of SR as a major cross-sectoral innovation in voluntary accountability initiatives.

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Section: Introduction and Research Questionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GRI Sustainability Reporting by INGOs: A Way Forward for Improving Accountability?

2018

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“…In other words, the company acts an actor involved in contributing to the integral development of the local and global context (Sorci 2007;Schieffer et al, 2014;Jakobsen et al 2017). Accordingly, the choice to implement the integrated reporting is tied to the will to disclose its value proposition and the effects of its strategy of value creation (Bebbington 2007;Simaens and Koster 2013).…”

Section: Discussion and Conclusive Remarksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This perspective can also be referred to the process and tools tourism companies adopt to both communicate and report their activities and engage with stakeholders. In this regard, under the weak accountability perspective an organization communicates non-financial information with the aim to a positive signal regarding its reputation (Simaens and Koster 2013). In the strong accountability perspective organizations accept social and environmental responsibility as an ethical obligation that lies at the core of the business model and integrate in their accountability system a responsibility towards an efficient, ethical and effective use of resources (Garriga and Melé 2004) such as the following case demonstrates.…”

Section: Sustainable and Responsible Business Models In Tourismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and CSR orientation through “Edutainment” in tourism

Baldo

2018

Int J Corporate Soc Responsibility

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The aim of the paper is to present and discuss, using a fieldwork approach, the pillars and the outcomes of sustainable business models in the tourism sector. After having traced the theoretical framework, which combines the literature strands of sustainable tourism and sustainable business model, the work is centered on the analysis of an exemplary case-study. On the basis of an action-research approach, it focuses on the experience of Costa Edutainment Spa, Italian leader in the management of public and private structures dedicated to recreational, cultural and educational activities. Findings show that that the CSR and sustainability orientation which affects the business model lies on both the culture and the identity of the company which is characterized since its foundation by a deep socio-economic involvement. Promoted by the entrepreneurial family. Moreover, the set of key values (responsibility towards people, the environment and the society) and external factors affecting the cultural and touristic sector the company belongs to, favour the development of educational projects addressed to stakeholders (customers, suppliers, scientific community, research centres) aimed at building up innovative paths of sustainability.

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“…For advocacy NGOs, their primary mission related to certain sustainability issues (such as environment, human rights) in particular may influence the focus of those organizations' approach toward sustainability (Simaens and Koster 2013). NGOs' advocacy work may raise internal and external expectations about their own internal behavior and make those organizations vulnerable in case this behavior is not aligned with what they tell others to do (such as potential accusations of hypocrisy).…”

Section: Institutional Complexity and 'Walk The Talk'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, when we shift the focus from NGOs as sustainability advocates to NGOs as responsible players themselves, it appears that information on NGOs' internal policies and practices is incomplete, or even absent in some cases (Simaens and Koster 2013), and in the literature there is a lack of attention dedicated to NGOs' internal sustainable practices [apart from initial research on NGOs' sustainability reporting (Simaens and Koster 2013), accountability and communicative action (Dhanani and Connolly 2015), and limited evidence of sustainable practices by NGOs (e.g., Low and Davenport 2009;Wiser et al 2001)].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Advocate’s Own Challenges to Behave in a Sustainable Way: An Institutional Analysis of Advocacy NGOs

2017

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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly important drivers for businesses' self-regulation to operate in a sustainable way. We shift the perspective on NGOs from focusing on their advocacy role to focusing on their accountability for having sustainable internal operations. In a multiple case analysis, we explore the question 'What are the drivers and barriers to sustainable conduct of NGOs that are sustainability advocates?' Drawing on institutional theory, we obtain novel insights into the legitimacy-seeking motivations for sustainable conduct in the specific context of advocacy NGOs. We found that, affected by its mission, (1) the cultural-cognitive drive is particularly high, with sustainable conduct as an internally 'taken-forgranted' behavior, followed by (2) the normative drivers, with the balance between perceived vulnerability of needing to 'walk the talk' and the sense of immunity due to lack of external scrutiny, and (3) there are hardly any regulative drivers. Furthermore, these organizations face idiosyncratic trade-offs when balancing investments in their advocacy missions with investments in sustainable operations, reflecting ethical dilemmas. In a broader sense, this research elucidates the way advocates cope in situations of institutional complexity, with conflicting institutional demands between their mission and role-model function.

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Reporting on sustainable operations by third sector organizations: A signalling approach

Cited by 35 publications

References 63 publications

GRI Sustainability Reporting by INGOs: A Way Forward for Improving Accountability?

GRI Sustainability Reporting by INGOs: A Way Forward for Improving Accountability?

Sustainability and CSR orientation through “Edutainment” in tourism

The Advocate’s Own Challenges to Behave in a Sustainable Way: An Institutional Analysis of Advocacy NGOs

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