The Behavioral Effects Of Sustainability Reporting

This research aims to discover if the standards released by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) on sustainability reporting impact the behavior of companies to improve their sustainability performance on environmental, social, and economic impacts. Sustainability performance of companies that follow the GRI standards will be compared to the performance of companies that do not follow any sustainability reporting standards. A sample of thirty companies within the same industry will be analyzed, fifteen of which produce sustainability statements in accordance with the GRI, and fifteen others that produce non-GRI sustainability reports. Because each company discloses on sustainability measures differently, the organizations will be measures on their own improvement of the indicator, and that percentage change will be the key comparing factor. If the GRI publishing companies disclose greater improvement of sustainable performance to those of non-GRI reporters, it will be concluded that GRI sustainability statements do behaviorally effect the performance of organizations