The Influence of Stakeholder Engagement on Sustainability Reporting: Evidence from Italian local councils

This study investigates the motivations of local councils for producing a sustainability report. Inter-connecting theories of legitimacy, accountability, and the New Public Management are used to structure an investigation that explains patterns of behaviours by Italian local councils. The project assesses if, and how, stakeholder engagement can influence the local councils’ decision-making process through the adoption of sustainability reporting. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the sustainability report preparers of a sample of Italian local councils. The findings demonstrate that initially sustainability reporting is introduced for accountability and legitimacy reasons. However, over time traditional sustainability reporting was incidental to more sophisticated tools of policy-making and reporting, in which some of the stakeholders were actively involved. The findings highlight the political negotiations in which sustainability reporting finds itself. The stakeholder engagement projects implement legitimizing strategies within the context of the search for an arrangement between political programs and stakeholder demands.