A Qualitative Analysis of Social Indicators in Highly Polluting Sectors: The Challenge for Multifaceted Standards in Emerging Economies

The institutional current effort to regulate and increase the quantity and quality of sustainability information reported by companies is undeniable. However, the growing complexity of sustainability reporting standards creates isolated compartments for each major dimension of sustainability, leaving aside their interconnectedness and combined impacts. Indeed, highlighting the social impact of environmental issues requires a different approach, based on multifaceted indicators, which the current reporting standards fail to provide. This paper proposes a tool to measure and report on the social impacts of environmental issues, based on the Social Life Cycle Assessment (S‐LCA). Choosing the freight transport sector as a transversal industrial sector linked to high environmental risks and social impact in terms of pollution, we perform a case study with representative companies, applying the S‐LCA methodology to assess the multifaceted social impacts of the sector in three different countries from three different continents, presenting particular socio‐economic and cultural conditions. Through in‐depth communication with the sector stakeholders in every country, we conclude that social indicators linked to the freight sector activity are not reflected in standard reporting, nor adjusted to the stakeholders' needs. Contributions of this study are relevant to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners with several recommendations for management practice related to the perceptions of social indicators when addressing the interests of various stakeholders in different countries, according to their priorities and business mindset.