IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v15y2006i4p219-241.html

From sustainable management to sustainable development: a longitudinal analysis of a leading New Zealand environmental reporter

Author

Listed:
  • Helen Tregidga
  • Markus J. Milne

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an interpretive textual analysis of New Zealand's most consistent and arguably leading reporter on environmental and social impacts. Since 1995, Watercare Services Ltd, an Auckland‐based water utility, has been an award winning environmental reporter. The paper works with all of the organization's reports since 1993 through 2003 identifying and analysing the emergence and development of a sustainable development discourse. Focusing on the language and images used to construct meanings, and the context in which the reports emerged, the paper traces the organization's reporting developments. The paper illustrates how, in evolving from environmental reports to sustainable development reports, the organization has (re)constructed itself from one that sustainably manages resources to one that practises sustainable development. The implications of these developments are explored in terms of the literature on ‘capture’ and organizational change. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Helen Tregidga & Markus J. Milne, 2006. "From sustainable management to sustainable development: a longitudinal analysis of a leading New Zealand environmental reporter," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 219-241, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:4:p:219-241
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.534
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.534?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lele, Sharachchandra M., 1991. "Sustainable development: A critical review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 607-621, June.
    2. David J. Campbell, 2000. "Legitimacy Theory or Managerial Reality Construction? Corporate Social Disclosure in Marks and Spencer Plc Corporate Reports, 1969–1997," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 80-100, March.
    3. Amanda Ball & David Campbell & Glen Lehman, 2005. "Towards an environmentally enabling accounting and finance," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-6, March.
    4. Darrell, W. & Schwartz, Bill N., 1997. "Environmental disclosures and public policy pressure," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 125-154.
    5. David Owen & Tracey Swift & Christopher Humphrey & Mary Bowerman, 2000. "The new social audits: accountability, managerial capture or the agenda of social champions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 81-98.
    6. Mark S. Rossi & Halina Szejnwald Brown & Leo W. Baas, 2000. "Leaders in sustainable development: how agents of change define the agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(5), pages 273-286, September.
    7. Tinker, Tony & Neimark, Marilyn, 1987. "The role of annual reports in gender and class contradictions at general motors: 1917-1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 71-88, January.
    8. Jeff Everett & Dean Neu, 2000. "Ecological Modernization And The Limits Of Environmental Accounting?," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 5-29, March.
    9. Dennis M. Patten, 2002. "Media exposure, public policy pressure, and environmental disclosure: an examination of the impact of tri data availability," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 152-171, June.
    10. Delyse Springett, 2003. "Business conceptions of sustainable development: a perspective from critical theory," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 71-86, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Janet Haddock‐Fraser & Iain Fraser, 2008. "Assessing corporate environmental reporting motivations: differences between ‘close‐to‐market’ and ‘business‐to‐business’ companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(3), pages 140-155, May.
    2. Mäkelä, Hannele & Laine, Matias, 2011. "A CEO with many messages: Comparing the ideological representations provided by different corporate reports," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 217-231.
    3. Spence, Crawford & Husillos, Javier & Correa-Ruiz, Carmen, 2010. "Cargo cult science and the death of politics: A critical review of social and environmental accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 76-89.
    4. Kittiya Yongvanich & James Guthrie, 2006. "An extended performance reporting framework for social and environmental accounting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 309-321, September.
    5. Clara Pérez‐Cornejo & Esther de Quevedo‐Puente & Juan Bautista Delgado‐García, 2020. "Reporting as a booster of the corporate social performance effect on corporate reputation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1252-1263, May.
    6. Christine Byrch & Kate Kearins & Markus Milne & Richard Morgan, 2007. "Sustainable “what”? A cognitive approach to understanding sustainable development," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(1), pages 26-52, March.
    7. Patten, Dennis M., 2005. "The accuracy of financial report projections of future environmental capital expenditures: a research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 457-468, July.
    8. Olivier Boiral, 2016. "Accounting for the Unaccountable: Biodiversity Reporting and Impression Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 751-768, June.
    9. Aerts, Walter & Cormier, Denis & Magnan, Michel, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosure, financial markets and the media: An international perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 643-659, January.
    10. Fan, Yali & Wang, Ruofei & Alkaraan, Fadi & Wu, Wei, 2025. "Decoding greenwashing practices toward sustainability: The synergistic influence of governance structure and policy-derive rhetorical strategies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Guidry, Ronald P. & Patten, Dennis M., 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90.
    12. Denis Cormier & Michel Magnan, 2015. "The Economic Relevance of Environmental Disclosure and its Impact on Corporate Legitimacy: An Empirical Investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 431-450, September.
    13. Burnett, Royce D. & Hansen, Don R., 2008. "Ecoefficiency: Defining a role for environmental cost management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 551-581, August.
    14. Fareeha Shareef & Howard Davey, 2005. "Accounting for intellectual capital: Evidence from listed English football clubs," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(3), pages 78-116, June.
    15. Linyan Fan & Sheng Yao, 2022. "Analyst Site Visits and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-21, December.
    16. Mäkelä, Hannele, 2013. "On the ideological role of employee reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 360-378.
    17. Nancy E. Landrum & Brian Ohsowski, 2018. "Identifying Worldviews on Corporate Sustainability: A Content Analysis of Corporate Sustainability Reports," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 128-151, January.
    18. Kuruppu, Sanjaya & Milne, Markus J., 2010. "Dolphin deaths, organizational legitimacy and potential employees’ reactions to assured environmental disclosures," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-19.
    19. Dara K. Dimitrov & Howard Davey, 2011. "Sustainable development: what it means to CFOs of New Zealand," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(1), pages 86-108, May.
    20. Janet Elaine Haddock‐Fraser & Marielle Tourelle, 2010. "Corporate motivations for environmental sustainable development: exploring the role of consumers in stakeholder engagement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 527-542, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:4:p:219-241. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    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.