IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/humman/v4y2019i1d10.1007_s41463-019-00054-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Practical Wisdom behind the GRI

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Sasse-Werhahn

    (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

Abstract

In an effort to meet growing stakeholder demands for transparency, accountability, and responsibility, many large organizations globally have voluntarily adopted the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Moreover, triggered by recent management transgressions, the ancient virtue of practical wisdom (phronesis) has gained increased attention from management scholars, who argue that the Aristotelian concept, with its interdisciplinary nature, has the capacity of turning management back into a holistic, contextual, and virtue-orientated practice. Especially the fact that practical wisdom is firmly based on normative values, coupled with the emphasis on experience and practice, makes it well suited as a leitmotif for sustainable and responsible management. This conceptual paper builds on the link between practical wisdom and sustainability. I argue that the GRI may be regarded as an example of procedural practical wisdom in the context of sustainability reporting, specifically in terms of its emphasis on the holistic and situational dimensions, articulated through the concepts of materiality analysis and stakeholder dialogue. Practical implications, limitations, and avenues for further research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Sasse-Werhahn, 2019. "The Practical Wisdom behind the GRI," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 71-84, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:humman:v:4:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s41463-019-00054-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s41463-019-00054-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41463-019-00054-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41463-019-00054-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaus Dingwerth & Margot Eichinger, 2010. "Tamed Transparency: How Information Disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative Fails to Empower," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(3), pages 74-96, August.
    2. Claudius Bachmann & Laura Sasse & Andre Habisch, 2018. "Applying the Practical Wisdom Lenses in Decision-Making: An Integrative Approach to Humanistic Management," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 125-150, February.
    3. Cory Searcy, 2012. "Corporate Sustainability Performance Measurement Systems: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(3), pages 239-253, May.
    4. Paolo Perego & Ans Kolk, 2012. "Multinationals’ Accountability on Sustainability: The Evolution of Third-party Assurance of Sustainability Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 173-190, October.
    5. Wolfgang Grassl & André Habisch, 2011. "Ethics and Economics: Towards a New Humanistic Synthesis for Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 37-49, March.
    6. Matthias S. Fifka & Maria Drabble, 2012. "Focus and Standardization of Sustainability Reporting – A Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and Finland," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 455-474, November.
    7. Claudius Bachmann & André Habisch & Claus Dierksmeier, 2018. "Practical Wisdom: Management’s No Longer Forgotten Virtue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 147-165, November.
    8. Ali Intezari & David Pauleen, 2014. "Management Wisdom in Perspective: Are You Virtuous Enough to Succeed in Volatile Times?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 393-404, March.
    9. Sison, Alejo José G. & Hartman, Edwin M. & Fontrodona, Joan, 2012. "Guest Editors’ Introduction Reviving Tradition: Virtue and the Common Good in Business and Management," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 207-210, April.
    10. José M. Moneva & Pablo Archel & Carmen Correa, 2006. "GRI and the camouflaging of corporate unsustainability," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 121-137, June.
    11. Slack, Keith, 2012. "Mission impossible?: Adopting a CSR-based business model for extractive industries in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 179-184.
    12. David Owen, 2008. "Chronicles of wasted time?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 240-267, February.
    13. María del Mar Alonso‐Almeida & Josep Llach & Frederic Marimon, 2014. "A Closer Look at the ‘Global Reporting Initiative’ Sustainability Reporting as a Tool to Implement Environmental and Social Policies: A Worldwide Sector Analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(6), pages 318-335, November.
    14. Laura Dunham & John McVea & R. Edward Freeman, 2008. "Entrepreneurial wisdom: incorporating the ethical and strategic dimensions of entrepreneurial decision-making," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(1), pages 8-19.
    15. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2008. "Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 120-136, February.
    16. Joseph, George, 2012. "Ambiguous but tethered: An accounting basis for sustainability reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 93-106.
    17. Aris Solomon & Linda Lewis, 2002. "Incentives and disincentives for corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 154-169, May.
    18. Peter J Buckley & Martin J Carter, 2004. "A formal analysis of knowledge combination in multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(5), pages 371-384, September.
    19. Laura Dunham, 2010. "From Rational to Wise Action: Recasting Our Theories of Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(4), pages 513-530, April.
    20. Gray, Rob, 2010. "Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability...and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-62, January.
    21. Ali Intezari, 2015. "Integrating Wisdom and Sustainability: Dealing with Instability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(7), pages 617-627, November.
    22. Sandra Waddock, 2016. "Foundational Memes for a New Narrative About the Role of Business in Society," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 91-105, September.
    23. Igor Álvarez Etxeberria & Eduardo Ortas & Stefan Schaltegger & Carla Antonini & Carlos Larrinaga, 2017. "Planetary Boundaries and Sustainability Indicators. A Survey of Corporate Reporting Boundaries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 123-137, March.
    24. Erik G. Hansen & Stefan Schaltegger, 2016. "The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard: A Systematic Review of Architectures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 193-221, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vanessa Schäffner, 2021. "Between Real World and Thought Experiment: Framing Moral Decision-Making in Self-Driving Car Dilemmas," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 249-272, July.
    2. Stephen Deets & Vikki Rodgers & Sinan Erzurumlu & David Nersessian, 2020. "Systems Thinking as a Tool for Teaching Undergraduate Business Students Humanistic Management," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 177-197, December.
    3. Michael Pirson, 2019. "Managing Towards a World that Works for all," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-4, July.
    4. Joel A. Martínez-Regalado & Cinthia Leonora Murillo-Avalos & Purificación Vicente-Galindo & Mónica Jiménez-Hernández & José Luis Vicente-Villardón, 2021. "Using HJ-Biplot and External Logistic Biplot as Machine Learning Methods for Corporate Social Responsibility Practices for Sustainable Development," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(20), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Renato Ruffini & Valerio Traquandi & Marta Ingaggiati & Giovanni Barbato, 2022. "Covid 19 - some Lessons from Public Administrations for Humanistic Management," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 157-177, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laura F. Sasse-Werhahn & Claudius Bachmann & André Habisch, 2020. "Managing Tensions in Corporate Sustainability Through a Practical Wisdom Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 53-66, April.
    2. Claudius Bachmann & André Habisch & Claus Dierksmeier, 2018. "Practical Wisdom: Management’s No Longer Forgotten Virtue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 147-165, November.
    3. Journeault, Marc & Levant, Yves & Picard, Claire-France, 2021. "Sustainability performance reporting: A technocratic shadowing and silencing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    4. Claudius Bachmann & Laura Sasse & Andre Habisch, 2018. "Applying the Practical Wisdom Lenses in Decision-Making: An Integrative Approach to Humanistic Management," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 125-150, February.
    5. Olivier Boiral & Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria & Marie-Christine Brotherton, 2019. "Assessing and Improving the Quality of Sustainability Reports: The Auditors’ Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 703-721, March.
    6. Antonio Somoza, 2023. "Voluntary sustainability assurance in small and medium‐sized entities: The role of country origin in Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 462-483, January.
    7. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    8. Leanne Morrison & Trevor Wilmshurst & Sonia Shimeld, 2018. "Environmental Reporting Through an Ethical Looking Glass," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 903-918, July.
    9. Tsalis, Thomas A. & Nikolaou, Ioannis E. & Konstantakopoulou, Fotini & Zhang, Ying & Evangelinos, Konstantinos I., 2020. "Evaluating the corporate environmental profile by analyzing corporate social responsibility reports," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 63-75.
    10. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    11. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    12. Colin Higgins & Wendy Stubbs & Markus Milne, 2018. "Is Sustainability Reporting Becoming Institutionalised? The Role of an Issues-Based Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 309-326, January.
    13. Barry Ackers, 2017. "Independent corporate social responsibility assurance: a response to soft laws, or influenced by company size and industry sector?," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(4), pages 278-298, November.
    14. Olivera Kostoska & Ljupco Kocarev, 2019. "A Novel ICT Framework for Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-31, April.
    15. Diego Pérez‐López & Ana Moreno‐Romero & Ralf Barkemeyer, 2015. "Exploring the Relationship between Sustainability Reporting and Sustainability Management Practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 720-734, December.
    16. Passetti, Emilio & Cinquini, Lino & Marelli, Alessandro & Tenucci, Andrea, 2014. "Sustainability accounting in action: Lights and shadows in the Italian context," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 295-308.
    17. Gray, Rob, 2013. "Back to basics: What do we mean by environmental (and social) accounting and what is it for?—A reaction to Thornton," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 459-468.
    18. Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo, 2019. "Sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement in Spain: Different instruments, different quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 221-232, January.
    19. Jose Manuel Diaz‐Sarachaga, 2021. "Shortcomings in reporting contributions towards the sustainable development goals," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1299-1312, July.
    20. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2019. "Critical dialogical accountability: From accounting-based accountability to accountability-based accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 16-38.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:humman:v:4:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s41463-019-00054-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.