Stakeholder engagement in corporate reporting : towards building a strong reputation

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which organisations engage with stakeholders about social and environmental issues. The authors establish where the designers of these reports source the information reported. Design/methodology/approach: This was an exploratory study that employed a qualitative research design. Interviews with 24 individuals from 15 organisations in New Zealand that are involved with the writing of sustainability reports were conducted. In addition documents were analysed from a number of organisations to allow for triangulation. Findings: Findings indicate that engagement with stakeholders was important and one of the main purposes was to have a licence to stay in business. It was also found that managers do prioritise the saliency of issues. Generally, stakeholders do not get involved in the decision making pertaining to environmental issues in organisations. Research limitations/implications: The sample investigated in this study was relatively small so generalisation of the results would be difficult. However, these in depth interviews did provide insights that can be used in further study using large samples and in different countries. Originality/value: This is the first time that the designers of annual reports were interviewed. They have knowledge of the extent of stakeholder engagement with firms.