IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v12y2022i1p34-d751778.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability Reporting at a Crossroads in Italian Universities: Is Web-Based Media Adoption Deinstitutionalising Sustainability Reporting?

Author

Listed:
  • Patrizia Di Tullio

    (Department of Economic Studies, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 65122 Pescara, Italy)

  • Matteo La Torre

    (Department of Economic Studies, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, 65122 Pescara, Italy)

Abstract

Higher education institutions and universities have recently started to publish their sustainability and corporate responsibility reports. Yet, due to digitalisation and the benefits of digital reporting, websites offer organisations novel opportunities to communicate more updated, timely and interactive information than a periodic sustainability report. However, we know little about sustainability reporting practice within universities and their use of online communication. This study examines the relationship between sustainability reporting practices and web-based communication practices in Italian universities. We employed a qualitative enquire and content analysis of the sustainability web pages of Italian public universities by analysing their content and updates and their relationship with their adoption of sustainability reporting. Our results suggest there are risks to web-based media being used to replace sustainability reporting, resulting in a deinstitutionalising effect for sustainability reporting. This study contributes to the literature on sustainability reporting and disclosure in universities by exploring web-based university communication on sustainability issues and stimulating the debate on replacing sustainability reports with more timely and interactive forms of communication.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrizia Di Tullio & Matteo La Torre, 2022. "Sustainability Reporting at a Crossroads in Italian Universities: Is Web-Based Media Adoption Deinstitutionalising Sustainability Reporting?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:34-:d:751778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/12/1/34/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/12/1/34/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Natalia Aversano & Ferdinando Di Carlo & Giuseppe Sannino & Paolo Tartaglia Polcini & Rosa Lombardi, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, and universities: New evidence from the Italian scenario," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1892-1899, July.
    2. Giuseppe Nicolò & Natalia Aversano & Giuseppe Sannino & Paolo Tartaglia Polcini, 2021. "Investigating Web-Based Sustainability Reporting in Italian Public Universities in the Era of Covid-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Patrizia Di Tullio & Matteo La Torre & Michele Antonio Rea, 2021. "Social Media for Engaging and Educating: From Universities’ Sustainability Reporting to Dialogic Communication," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Fabio Caputo & Lorenzo Ligorio & Simone Pizzi, 2021. "The Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to the SDGs—An Evaluation of Sustainability Reporting Practices," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, September.
    5. Benedetta Siboni & Carlotta del Sordo & Silvia Pazzi, 2013. "Sustainability Reporting in State Universities: An Investigation of Italian Pioneering Practices," International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJSESD), IGI Global, vol. 4(2), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Sara Moggi, 2019. "Social and environmental reports at universities: a Habermasian view on their evolution," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 283-326, July.
    7. Parker, Lee, 2011. "University corporatisation: Driving redefinition," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 434-450.
    8. Adams, Carol A. & Frost, Geoffrey R., 2008. "Integrating sustainability reporting into management practices," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 288-302.
    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. Mohammed Alzoraiki & Abd Rahman Ahmad & Ali Ahmed Ateeq & Gehad Mohammed Ahmed Naji & Qais Almaamari & Baligh Ali Hasan Beshr, 2023. "Impact of Teachers’ Commitment to the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Sustainable Teaching Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, March.

    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. Patrizia Di Tullio & Matteo La Torre & Michele Antonio Rea, 2021. "Social Media for Engaging and Educating: From Universities’ Sustainability Reporting to Dialogic Communication," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Benedetta Esposito & Maria Rosaria Sessa & Daniela Sica & Ornella Malandrino, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement through Social Media. Evidence from the University of Salerno," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Giuseppe Nicolò & Natalia Aversano & Giuseppe Sannino & Paolo Tartaglia Polcini, 2021. "Investigating Web-Based Sustainability Reporting in Italian Public Universities in the Era of Covid-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Silvia Sacchetti, 2013. "Motivational resilience in the university system," Chapters, in: Roger Sugden & Marcela Valania & James R. Wilson (ed.), Leadership and Cooperation in Academia, chapter 8, pages 107-127, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Saba Sharif, 2022. "The Impact of Firm Sustainability on Firm Growth: Evidence from USA," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, August.
    6. Catherine Le Roux & Marius Pretorius, 2016. "Conceptualizing the Limiting Issues Inhibiting Sustainability Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Christopher, Joe, 2012. "Tension between the corporate and collegial cultures of Australian public universities: The current status," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(7), pages 556-571.
    8. Habersam, Michael & Piber, Martin & Skoog, Matti, 2013. "Knowledge balance sheets in Austrian universities: The implementation, use, and re-shaping of measurement and management practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 319-337.
    9. Natalia Semenova, 2021. "Management control systems in response to social and environmental risk in large Nordic companies," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Nurisyal Muhamad & Sofiah Md Auzair & Amizawati Mohd Amir & Md Daud Ismail, 2016. "Measuring Sustainability Performance Measurement System," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 3(12), pages 182-199, JUNE.
    11. Matthew Egan, 2015. "Driving Water Management Change Where Economic Incentive is Limited," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 73-90, November.
    12. María Dolores Aledo‐Ruiz & Eva Martínez‐Caro & José Manuel Santos‐Jaén, 2022. "The influence of corporate social responsibility on students' emotional appeal in the HEIs: The mediating effect of reputation and corporate image," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 578-592, May.
    13. Giorgio Mion & Angela Broglia & Angelo Bonfanti, 2019. "Do Codes of Ethics Reveal a University’s Commitment to Sustainable Development? Evidence from Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    14. Rebora, Gianfranco & Turri, Matteo, 2013. "The UK and Italian research assessment exercises face to face," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1657-1666.
    15. Mia Kaspersen & Thomas Riise Johansen, 2016. "Changing Social and Environmental Reporting Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 731-749, June.
    16. Komori, Naoko, 2015. "Beneath the globalization paradox: Towards the sustainability of cultural diversity in accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 141-156.
    17. Tobias Johansson, 2022. "Do Evaluative Pressures and Group Identification Cultivate Competitive Orientations and Cynical Attitudes Among Academics?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 761-780, April.
    18. Alan Goodacre & Clive Gaunt & Darren Henry, 2021. "Publication records of Australian accounting and finance faculty promoted to full professor, set within an international context," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 3089-3133, June.
    19. Alice Klettner & Thomas Clarke & Martijn Boersma, 2014. "The Governance of Corporate Sustainability: Empirical Insights into the Development, Leadership and Implementation of Responsible Business Strategy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 145-165, June.
    20. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

    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:gam:jadmsc:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:34-:d:751778. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.