Paradoxical Legitimation Strategies : An Exploration of Changes from GRI to ESRS

Sammanfattning

Background Climate change is at historic levels, and companies face increasing pressure for transparency in environmental sustainability. Sustainability accounting has often been presented as a means to improving transparency, accountability, and to encourage sustainable transformation. This ambition is apparent in the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the European Union. This opens up an avenue of research on how the change from the prior reporting standard (GRI) to the current (ESRS) affects corporate paradoxical legitimation in environmentally sensitive industries. Methodology This study employed a qualitative longitudinal archival three-step document analysis of the sustainability reporting. A conceptual framework was generated that can benefit future research. Findings Findings indicate that few changes in paradoxical legitimation strategies have occurred through the transition from GRI to ESRS. A developed conceptual framework was generated that adds to prior research by formulating paradoxical tensions among legitimation strategies and how these potentially could interrelate between sources of legitimacy. Implications Theoretical implications include application of the generated conceptual framework in new contexts and studying relationships between sources of legitimacy.