Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and critique of several sustainability reporting (SR) frameworks from the perspective of the public and third sectors.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a literature-based analysis and also critiques several of the major SR frameworks. The current study examines patterning of SR criteria in a group of selected SR guidelines. The research applied content analysis to these frameworks using a number of criteria for coding.
Findings – The paper demonstrates that the current SR frameworks are incomplete. Also, the dominance of European based frameworks was noted. Most of the SR frameworks analysed are generic in nature, as they provide broad principles and recommend organisations to specify their indicators, allowing flexibility to organisations in developing the content of their reports.
Research implications/limitations – The paper only examines six international and national SR frameworks.
Originality/value – There is little prior critical research on the field of SR frameworks for public and third sector organisations.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research, CSEAR 2009 |
| Place of Publication | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Publisher | CSEAR |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Australasian Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (8th : 2009) - Christchurch, New Zealand Duration: 6 Dec 2009 → 8 Dec 2009 |
Conference
| Conference | Australasian Conference on Social and Environmental Accounting Research (8th : 2009) |
|---|---|
| City | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Period | 6/12/09 → 8/12/09 |
Keywords
- SR frameworks
- third sector
- public sector
- GRI
- sustainability reporting