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Under what conditions is mandatory disclosure most likely to cause organisational change?

Author

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  • Shane Leong
  • James Hazelton

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how mandatory sustainability accounts can be designed to maximise the likelihood of moving society towards sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use institutional theory to show that organisations are constrained by institutions. Sustainability accounts can drive change by providing information that changes the institutional mix of pressures on organisations. Findings - Mandatory disclosure is most likely to drive change when: indicators are appropriate for information intermediaries or other intended users; information is provided at the appropriate level of aggregation; data are comparable to external benchmarks and/or other corporations; there exists a linkage to network of other relevant information; and sufficient popular and political support exists. Practical implications - Social changes will only come about if users receive information relevant to their goals and are able to translate it into political action. Corporate-level reporting may not be the best mechanism for this, because many users are interested in issues-based information. In many instances, due to the ability to facilitate greater comparability, a database mechanism is likely to be more helpful. Social and environmental accounting research should consider adopting more site-based reporting, ascertain what sustainability information governments already collect, determine what information NGOs need for campaigning purposes, and theorise how to create and link a nexus of accounts. Originality/value - While many studies have called for improved practice and lamented the impotence of reporting, few studies have explored this link from a theoretical perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Shane Leong & James Hazelton, 2019. "Under what conditions is mandatory disclosure most likely to cause organisational change?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 811-835, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:aaaj-12-2015-2361
    DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-12-2015-2361
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stefania Veltri & Elena Cristiano & Olga Ferraro, 2023. "Examining the quality of the consolidated mandatory non‐financial statements of a cooperative banking group: A longitudinal analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1573-1587, July.
    2. Harvey, Charles & Maclean, Mairi & Price, Michael, 2020. "Executive remuneration and the limits of disclosure as an instrument of corporate governance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Małgorzata Janicka & Artur Sajnóg, 2023. "Do environmental and economic performance go hand in hand? An industrial analysis of European Union companies with the non‐parametric data envelopment analysis method," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2590-2605, September.
    4. Huishui Su & Yu Lu & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko, 2023. "Good Governance within Public Participation and National Audit for Reducing Corruption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Celina Bade & Alexandra Olsacher & Philip Boehme & Hubert Truebel & Lena Bürger & Leonard Fehring, 2024. "Sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry—An assessment of sustainability maturity and effects of sustainability measure implementation on supply chain security," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 224-242, January.
    6. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max & Huang, Casey, 2023. "Data breaches in the age of surveillance capitalism: Do disclosures have a new role to play?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Susanne Arvidsson & John Dumay, 2022. "Corporate ESG reporting quantity, quality and performance: Where to now for environmental policy and practice?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1091-1110, March.

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