Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI's sustainability reporting |
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| Authors: | Halina Szejnwald Brown Martin de Jong David L. Levy |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610, USA;2. Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, 2628 BX Delft, the Netherlands;3. College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA;1. Department of Finance and Accounting, University of Vigo, Lagoas Marcosende s/n, 36310 Vigo, Spain;2. Department of Accounting, Law and Taxation, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Av, Montclair, NJ 08540, USA;1. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, University of Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 2, Utrecht 3584CS, Netherlands;2. Organisational Sustainability Ltd, 40 Machen Place, Cardiff CF11 6EQ, UK;1. CENSE, Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal;2. School of Environment & Life Sciences, College of Science and Technology, University of Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, United Kingdom;3. Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Aberta, R. Escola Politécnica, n° 141, 1269-001 Lisboa, Portugal;1. Division of Production Economics, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden;2. Division of Industrial Management, Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the best-known framework for voluntary reporting of environmental and social performance by business worldwide. Using extensive empirical data, including interviews and documentary analysis, we examine GRI's organizational field and conclude that since its modest beginnings in 1999 GRI has been by several measures a successful institutionalization project. But the institutional logic of this new entity, as an instrument for corporate sustainability management, leaves out one of the central elements of the initial vision for GRI: as a mobilizing agent for many societal actors. This emergent logic reflects GRI's dominant constituency – large global companies and financial institutions and international business management consultancies – and not the less active civil society organizations and organized labor. We attribute these developments to factors such as building GRI within the existing institutional structures; the highly inclusive multistakeholder process; and the underdeveloped base of information users. From the institutional theory perspective, this case shows how the process of institutionalization is deeply affected by initial strategies of the founders, and how it reproduces existing power relations. From the governance perspective, this case leads us to question the power of commodified information to mobilize civil society and to strengthen governance based on partnerships. |
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