Exploring the impact of the CSRD double materiality requirements on stakeholder engagement and internal processes - The role of institutional pressures in the creation of internal and external networks

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2024-07-01

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en

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The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) presents companies with an intensified set of legislation that mandates elaborated non-financial reporting. As a result, the CSRD poses institutional pressures on companies to comply with the legislation. Stakeholder engagement becomes increasingly important, specifically to cover the double materiality requirements as an integral part of the CSRD. Yet, explanations of this stakeholder engagement are missing in academic literature. Furthermore, the existing body of literature lacks evidence on complementary internal process changes. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of the institutional pressures stemming from the CSRD double materiality requirements on stakeholder engagement and internal processes via a qualitative case-study. Data has been gathered via document analysis complemented by eight semi-structured interviews. The key finding is that coercive pressures are the most prevalent type of pressure that effectuate the creation of an internal network of stakeholders with increased ownership within the network. Internal data collection processes are renewed to effectively cover the CSRD double materiality requirements for non-financial topics and link these topics to the corporate strategy. Finally, this study has found some evidence for the creation of external networks because of mimetic and normative pressures.

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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen

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