Towards a stakeholder responsible approach: the constructive role of reporting

Abstract

It is commonly recognized that nowadays social and environmental aspects, and more in general stakeholder‐linked issues, are becoming important corporate value drivers. It is also rather clear that there is a strong relationship between the stakeholder perspective, and a number of concepts and practices which stress non‐financial aspects of company behavior, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability (including environmental respect) and corporate governance. Accordingly, these emerging company ideas and attitudes are here collectively referred to as “stakeholder responsible (or oriented) approaches”. Current literature underlines especially the importance and difficulty of the implementation phase of these approaches into concrete company actions, but it seems to largely overlook the impact which the reporting process has on both concepts and company actions. On the basis of an ad hoc theoretical model, the paper aims to provide insights into the “active role” subtly played by stakeholder oriented reporting (e.g. social and sustainability statements) in constructing and reconstructing the underlying ideas and notions, as well as company behaviors in this field. Far from being a neutral and “passive” mirror of the stakeholder responsible approach implemented, reporting carries out the decisive and constitutive role to concretize abstract concepts, and to visualize company activities, thus substantially contributing to make the “stakeholder philosophy” viable and reliable.