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Assessing Universities’ Global Reporting Initiative G4 Sustainability Reports in Concurrence with Stakeholder Inclusiveness

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New Trends in Public Sector Reporting

Part of the book series: Public Sector Financial Management ((PUSEFIMA))

Abstract

The chapter provides an insight into stakeholder engagement (SE) processes of universities’ Sustainability Reports (SRs) and analyses the extent to which universities comply with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Guidelines.

After introducing strategic stakeholder theory and neo-institutionalism for identifying arguments for an interpretation of the findings, the results of a systematic literature review are presented.

The empirical findings are based on the recent G4 SRs worldwide and show that universities document their main stakeholders and main communication topics. However, the importance of the identified topics is not mirrored in the GRI coverage rates.

This is a clear sign that SRs of universities are far from comprehensive stakeholder accountability. The reporting behaviour is more in line with the expectations of neo-institutionalism than with strategic stakeholder theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Management Accounting, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

    Judith Frei, Melanie Lubinger & Dorothea Greiling

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  1. Judith Frei
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  2. Melanie Lubinger
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  3. Dorothea Greiling
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Correspondence to Judith Frei .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics Management and Institutions, University of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy

    Francesca Manes-Rossi

  2. Department of Management Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Rebecca Levy Orelli

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Frei, J., Lubinger, M., Greiling, D. (2020). Assessing Universities’ Global Reporting Initiative G4 Sustainability Reports in Concurrence with Stakeholder Inclusiveness. In: Manes-Rossi, F., Levy Orelli, R. (eds) New Trends in Public Sector Reporting. Public Sector Financial Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40056-9_3

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