Stakeholder Engagement in the Process of Sustainability Reporting

Abstract

As businesses move toward sustainability, there is increasing stakeholder demand for sustainability reports. Sustainability reporting is considered to be a responsible business practice that provides external and internal stakeholders with necessary financial and non-financial information. Sustainability reports give business entities an opportunity to provide their stakeholders with an insight into their effectiveness in solving sustainability issues as well as benefits and challenges they face navigating this process. Current trends require stakeholders’ involvement in sustainable business practices in order to ensure coordination in achieving sustainability goals. Stakeholder engagement in the business process enhances accountability as it requires businesses to engage stakeholders in the identification, understanding and resolving of sustainability issues, as well as to report on decisions, actions and outcomes. This paper examines stakeholder engagement by analyzing the development of relationship with stakeholders, the elements of stakeholder engagement, as well as the involvement of stakeholders in the process of sustainability reporting. The main objective of our research is to demonstrate the need for a systematic approach to stakeholder engagement and to stimulate discussion and further research on the importance of stakeholder engagement in the process of sustainability reporting. We provide an overview of existing research on the development and benefits of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting and analyze this process.