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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Boundary objects
T2 - sustainability reporting and the production of organizational stability
AU - Fernandez Chulian, Manuel
AU - Garcia-Torea, Nicolas
AU - Larrinaga, Carlos
AU - Bebbington, Jan
PY - 2025/2/5
Y1 - 2025/2/5
N2 - PurposeThe study investigates how sustainability reporting constructs a narrative about an organization that provides its members with a reality they can accept, with the consequence of producing organizational stability.Design/methodology/approachThe article reports a research engagement concerning the “backstage” of sustainability reporting in one Spanish savings bank, which the researchers engaged with for more than three years.FindingsThe article describes how sustainability reporting operates as a boundary object occupying the space between the organization’s loosely coupled systems and facilitating the cooperation of members with different interpretations of the organization. Different translations of discourses and actions ensure that the sustainability report conveys a ductile narrative that can be tailored to specific interpretations. At the same time, the editing inherent in sustainability reporting ensures that any narrative that may challenge the organization’s dominant perspective is ignored and marginalized. In this way, sustainability reporting produces a discourse that inscribes a narrative of the organization and eventually ensures organizational inertia.Research limitations/implicationsThe article highlights the relevance of investigating sustainability reports by exploring the backstage of their production rather than solely the final document.Originality/valueIn contrast to prior research that has been concerned with exploring the extent to which sustainability reporting is associated with organizational change, this study applies different lenses to show how and why sustainability reporting is implicated in the construction of the organization and the maintenance of its stability and inertia.
AB - PurposeThe study investigates how sustainability reporting constructs a narrative about an organization that provides its members with a reality they can accept, with the consequence of producing organizational stability.Design/methodology/approachThe article reports a research engagement concerning the “backstage” of sustainability reporting in one Spanish savings bank, which the researchers engaged with for more than three years.FindingsThe article describes how sustainability reporting operates as a boundary object occupying the space between the organization’s loosely coupled systems and facilitating the cooperation of members with different interpretations of the organization. Different translations of discourses and actions ensure that the sustainability report conveys a ductile narrative that can be tailored to specific interpretations. At the same time, the editing inherent in sustainability reporting ensures that any narrative that may challenge the organization’s dominant perspective is ignored and marginalized. In this way, sustainability reporting produces a discourse that inscribes a narrative of the organization and eventually ensures organizational inertia.Research limitations/implicationsThe article highlights the relevance of investigating sustainability reports by exploring the backstage of their production rather than solely the final document.Originality/valueIn contrast to prior research that has been concerned with exploring the extent to which sustainability reporting is associated with organizational change, this study applies different lenses to show how and why sustainability reporting is implicated in the construction of the organization and the maintenance of its stability and inertia.
KW - Sustainability reporting
KW - Research engagement
KW - Boundary object
KW - Linguistic work
KW - Sensemaking
KW - Orgnizational change
U2 - 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2021-5391
DO - 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2021-5391
M3 - Journal article
VL - 38
SP - 509
EP - 536
JO - Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
JF - Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
SN - 0951-3574
IS - 2
ER -