Lehmann, Carolin, Dorothea Ruziczka, Tamara Pöhlmann, & Simone Huck-Sandhu (2018, December). Von Skeptikern, Sympathisanten und Zuschauern: Stakeholder-Typen und ihre Erwartungen an die Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung [Sceptic, sympathizer or spectator? A typology of stakeholders and their expectations regarding sustainability reporting]. NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, 26(1-4), 133-144. (doi: 10.1007/s00550-018-0470-2) (Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00550-018-0470-2)

English Abstract: With the increasing environmental, social and economic commitment of organizations sustainability communication is also gaining in importance. The goal of sustainability reporting is to establish transparency with regard to sustainability activities. To communicate such activities helps build and foster corporate reputation. Moreover, stakeholders themselves started to demand commitment to sustainability. So far, communications research has been mainly focused on the corporate perspective, whereas it paid significantly less attention to the recipients’ perspective. In this article, we ask the question which expectations stakeholders hold towards sustainability reporting. Based on a literature analysis, we established eight categories of expectations. We tested these categories empirically in a Q study among students, supplemented by an accompanying questionnaire. The study identified individual clusters of expectations and led to three stakeholder types.

Simone Huck-Sandhu <simone.huck-sandhu@hs-pforzheim.de> is in the Faculty of Economics and Law, School of Business, Pforzheim University, Pforzheim, Germany.