Will the revisions to GRI 303 improve corporate water reporting? The challenges of defining and operationalising “water stress”

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dushyanthi Hewawithana ◽  
James Hazelton ◽  
Greg Walkerden ◽  
Edward Tello
Keyword(s):  
Water Stress ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Risk Indicators ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Source Data ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to examine whether the disclosure obligations in areas of water stress required under the revised Global Reporting Initiative standard (GRI) 303 Water and Effluents, 2018 will improve the quality of corporate water reporting. As a key new requirement is to disclose the impact of water withdrawals from (and discharges to) areas experiencing water stress, the authors examine the ambiguity of the term “water stress” and the extent to which following the GRI’s guidance to use the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and/or the Water Risk Filter will enable quality corporate water reporting. Design/methodology/approach The study is informed by the notion of public interest reporting, on the basis that the provision of contextual water information is in the public interest. To explore the ambiguity of the term “water stress”, the authors conduct a semi-systematic review of hydrology literature on water stress and water stress indices. To explore the efficacy of using the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and/or the Water Risk Filter, the authors review the operation and underlying data sources of both databases. Findings The term “water stress” has a range of definitions and the indicators of water stress encompass a wide variety of differing factors. The Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas and the Water Risk Filter use a combination of different risk indicators and are based on source data of varying quality and granularity. Further, different weightings of water risk information are available to the user, which yield different evaluations of water stress. A variety of approaches are permitted under GRI 303. Practical implications Effective implementation of GRI 303 may be impeded by the ambiguity of the term “water stress”, varying quality and availability of the water stress information and the fact that different water stress calculation options are offered by the water databases. The authors suggest that the GRI closely monitor compliance, implementation approaches and scientific developments in relation to the water stress requirements with a view to providing further guidance and improving future iterations of the standard. Originality/value Whilst there have been many calls for improved contextual water reporting, few previous studies have explored the challenges to implementing reporting requirements related to the determination of “water stress”.

Sustain and legitimize reputation

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nubia Cristina Mapa ◽  
Luiz Claudio Vieira de Oliveira ◽  
Mario Teixeira Reis Neto
Keyword(s):  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Rhetoric ◽  
Rational Discourse ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sustainability Report ◽  
Discursive Resources

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the discursive resources used to sustain and legitimize the reputation of the mining company Samarco Mineração regarding sustainability, before the environmental accident occurred in 2015. Design/methodology/approach The sustainability reports from 2005 to 2014 were accessed for the analysis of the presentation texts, and the discourse analysis method was applied to access the discursive resources employed. Findings From the classical concepts of rhetoric, ethos, pathos and logos, it was found that they reinforced the reputation and legitimacy of the company. The ethos is responsible for the company’s image, while pathos triggers the emotional reception of that image, provoking positive expectations. The logos relate the built image and its emotional reception to a rational discourse that values the company’s expertise. The analysis, in the light of the new rhetoric, exposes the strategies to lead the public to accept the image of solidity and confidence given by a reputation respected nationally and internationally. Research limitations/implications As a limitation, the quantitative data of the report were not analyzed, since the objective was to analyze the discourse construction, understanding that the research was adequate for the established purposes. For the future, it is suggested to analyze the discourse of the company after the environmental accident in order to verify the strategies used in the same theme; analyze the discourses in other reports published in the Global Reporting Initiative model; investigate how the logic of sustainability report construction based on a standard model can interfere in the formation of reputation and legitimacy of the companies; and analyze the impact of CSR on the strategy of the companies. Practical implications The knowledge about the functioning of the language and discourse as an indicative of subjectivity provides a more critical reading and reveals elements implicit in the discourse of the organization. It was verified that the sustainability reports in encapsulated formats allow some stability in the discourse, since companies tend to follow the same line of previous years, even with changes in the organizational structure. Originality/value Discourses built by the companies do not always reflect the true operational and engineering situation practiced by them, and that successful and reputed companies can surprise their stakeholders with events of great magnitude that cause significant losses, be they monetary or human lives.

“Green washing” or “authentic effort”? An empirical investigation of the quality of sustainability reporting by banks

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Habib Zaman Khan ◽  
Sudipta Bose ◽  
Abu Taher Mollik ◽  
Harun Harun
Keyword(s):  
Social Performance ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Regulatory Guidelines ◽  
External Reporting ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study explores the quality of sustainability reporting (QSR) and the impact of regulatory guidelines, social performance and a standardised reporting framework (using the Global Reporting Initiative [GRI] guidelines) on QSR in the context of banks in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 315 banking firm-year observations over 13 years (2002–2014), a content analysis technique is used to develop the 11-item QSR index. Regression analysis is used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsInitially, QSR evolved symbolically in Bangladesh's banks but, over our investigation period, with QSR indicators gradually improving, the trends became substantive. The influences on QSR were sustainable banking practice regulatory guidelines, social performance and use of the GRI guidelines. However, until banks improve reporting information, such as external verification and trends over time, QSR cannot be regarded as fully substantive.Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances QSR research and debate among academic researchers. With regulatory agencies and stakeholders increasingly using sustainability reporting information for decision making, the information's quality is vital.Originality/valueThis study is the first on QSR in the banking industry context, with previous research mostly investigating the quantity of sustainability reporting. The current study also synthesises QSR with sustainability regulation and social performance factors which have rarely been used in the sustainability literature. To gain a holistic understanding of QSR, existing QSR measures are advanced by combining external reporting efforts with banks' internalisation initiatives.

Centrist television in the democratic South Africa: policymakers fail to answer the regional/local question, 1990-2011

Info ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 128-140
Author(s):  
Chris Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Regulation ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the disconnect between policy intent and policy implementation in relation to regional/local (sub-national) TV deliverables in South Africa between 1990 and 2011, and evaluate the impact of this disconnect in pursuit of public interest objectives. Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on a research case study in which data extracted from policy documents and interviews were qualitatively analysed via the Kingdon “policy streams” framework and the Feintuck and Varney public interest media regulation framework. Findings – It was found that ruptures in deliberative policymaking, and policy implementation missteps, undermined sub-national TV delivery and, in turn, undermined pursuit of the public interest. Originality/value – By combining a political science conceptual framework with a media policy conceptual framework, the article provides unique insights into South African TV policymaking in the early democratic era.

Whistleblowing in Kuwait and UK against corruption and misconduct

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 1020-1033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Al-Haidar
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Private Enterprise ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Made In

Purpose This paper aims to explore the nature and the scope of whistleblowing in Kuwait and in the UK. Whistleblowing is when a person, usually an employee, in a government agency or private enterprise, discloses information to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption or other wrongdoing. Due to the unpredictable consequences of whistleblowing, it is probable that many employees who witness wrongdoing do not consider blowing the whistle, because they fear the impact of such action on their relationship with their employers. Design/methodology/approach The author evaluated the whistleblowing systems in different countries. He first tackled the nature of whistleblowing in general, proceeded to analyse whistleblowing in Kuwait with mentions from other countries and finally evaluated the whistleblowing process in the UK. Findings The whistleblowing situation in the UK is clearer than that in Kuwait. Recent improvements have been made in the UK to protect whistleblowers. In the UK, the whistleblowing law under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 came into force in July 1999 to protect whistleblowers. Kuwait also has had some improvements, which were seen to offer legal protection for those raising concerns about corruption under Law no. 24 of 2012. However, the author recommends that the Kuwaiti Government should give more protection to whistleblowers, and there is a need to protect the whistleblowers. Originality/value Potential whistleblowers might feel discouraged from disclosing information against their organisation, fearing a backlash against them. This is where the law and the rights of employees must be clarified. This paper will, therefore, evaluate the system of whistleblowing in the UK under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and examine this against the whistleblowing law in Kuwait under the Whistleblowing Act no. 24 of 2012.

scholarly journals Theoretical Problems of Public Interest Sector Industrial Relations

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Philips
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Third Party ◽  
The Public ◽  
Third Party Intervention ◽  
Explicit Consideration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This paper develops a simple industry bargaing model with explicit consideration of the determinants of the bargaining range and the narrowing of that range over time as a function of perceived bargaining power and costs of settlement. The model is then applied to the public-interest sector under altered assumptions of costs of settlement and the introduction of political influences in the determination of bargaining paths. The impact of third party intervention is considered in both the industry and public-interest sector cases.

Management practices impacting on the rostering of medical scientists in the Australian healthcare sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian Cavanagh ◽  
Timothy Bartram ◽  
Patricia Pariona-Cabrera ◽  
Beni Halvorsen ◽  
Matthew Walker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Care ◽  
Job Stress ◽  
Job Demands ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quality Of Patient Care ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study examines the management rostering systems that inform the ways medical scientists are allocated their work in the public healthcare sector in Australia. Promoting the contributions of medical scientists should be a priority given the important roles they are performing in relation to COVID-19 and the demand for medical testing doubling their workloads (COVID-19 National Incident Room Surveillance Team, 2020). This study examines the impact of work on medical scientists and rostering in a context of uncertain work conditions, budget restraints and technological change that ultimately affect the quality of patient care. This study utilises the Job-Demands-Resources theoretical framework (JD-R) to examine the various job demands on medical scientists and the resources available to them.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative methodological approach, this study conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with managers and trade union officials and 9 focus groups with 53 medical scientists, making a total 76 participants from four large public hospitals.FindingsDue to increasing demands for pathology services, this study demonstrates that a lack of job resources, staff shortages, poor rostering practices such as increased workloads that lead to absenteeism, often illegible handwritten changes to rosters and ineffectual management lead to detrimental consequences for medical scientists’ job stress and well-being. Moreover, medical science work is hidden and not fully understood and often not respected by other clinicians, hospital management or the public. These factors have contributed to medical scientists’ lack of control over their work and causes job stress and burnout. Despite this, medical scientists use their personal resources to buffer the effects of excessive workloads and deliver high quality of patient care.Originality/valueFindings suggest that developing mechanisms to promote sustainable employment practices for medical scientists are critical for the escalating demands in pathology.

Freedom of Expression versus Privacy and the Right to Reputation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Voorhoof
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
Investigative Journalism ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right Of Privacy ◽  
The One ◽  
Grand Chamber ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

The normative perspective of this chapter is how to guarantee respect for the fundamental values of freedom of expression and journalistic reporting on matters of public interest in cases where a (public) person claims protection of his or her right to reputation. First it explains why there is an increasing number and expanding potential of conflicts between the right to freedom of expression and media freedom (Article 10 ECHR), on the one hand, and the right of privacy and the right to protection of reputation (Article 8 ECHR), on the other. In addressing and analysing the European Court’s balancing approach in this domain, the characteristics and the impact of the seminal 2012 Grand Chamber judgment in Axel Springer AG v. Germany (no. 1) are identified and explained. On the basis of the analysis of the Court’s subsequent jurisprudence in defamation cases it evaluates whether this case law preserves the public watchdog-function of media, investigative journalism and NGOs reporting on matters of public interest, but tarnishing the reputation of public figures.

Public Sector Employment, Quality of Government, and Well-Being: A Global Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 223386592110117
Author(s):  
Robert Davidson ◽  
Alexander Pacek ◽  
Benjamin Radcliff
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Employment Quality ◽  
The Impact

While a growing literature within the study of subjective well-being demonstrates the impact of socio-political factors on subjective well-being, scholars have conspicuously failed to consider the role of the size and scope of government as determinants of well-being. Where such studies exist, the focus is largely on the advanced industrial democracies of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. In this study, we examine the size of the public sector as a determinant of cross-national variation in life satisfaction across a worldwide sample. Our findings strongly suggest that as the public sector grows, subjective well-being increases as well, conditional on the extent of quality of government. Using cross-sectional data on 84 countries, we show this relationship has an independent and separable impact from other economic and political factors.

Do disclosure and transparency affect bank’s financial performance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1344-1361
Author(s):  
Isaiah Oino
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Loan Portfolios ◽  
Cent Level ◽  
Transparency And Disclosure ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transparency and disclosure on the financial performance of financial institutions. The emphasis is on assessing transparency and disclosure; auditing and compliance; risk management as indicators of corporate governance; and understanding how these parameters affect bank profitability, liquidity and the quality of loan portfolios. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 20 financial institutions was selected, with ten respondents from each, yielding a total sample size of 200. Principal component analysis (PCA), with inbuilt ability to check for composite reliability, was used to obtain composite indices for the corporate governance indicators as well as the indicators of financial performance, based on a set of questions framed for each institution. Findings The analysis demonstrates that greater disclosure and transparency, improved auditing and compliance and better risk management positively affect the financial performance of financial institutions. In terms of significance, the results show that as the level of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs increases, the performance of financial institutions – as measured in terms of the quality of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability – increases by 0.3046, with the effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Furthermore, as the level of auditing and the degree of compliance with banking regulations increases, the financial performance of banks improves by 0.3309. Research limitations/implications This paper did not consider time series because corporate governance does not change periodically. Practical implications This paper demonstrates the importance of disclosure and transparency in managerial affairs because the performance of financial institutions, as measured in terms of loan portfolios, liquidity and profitability, increases by 0.4 when transparency and disclosure improve, with this effect being statistically significant at the 1 per cent level. Originality/value The use of primary data in assessing the impact of corporate governance on financial performance, instead of secondary data, is the primary novelty of this study. Moreover, PCA is used to assess the weight of the various parameters.

scholarly journals Compliance with materiality in G4-sustainability reports by electric utilities

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Slacik ◽  
Dorothea Greiling
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Electric Utility ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Reporting Practice ◽  
Sustainability Reports

Purpose Materiality as an emerging trend aims to make sustainability reports (SR) more relevant for stakeholders. This paper aims to investigate whether the reporting practice of electric utility companies (EUC) is in compliance with the materiality principle of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) when disclosing SR. Design/methodology/approach A twofold content analysis focusing on material aspects (MAs) is conducted, followed by correlation analysis. Logic and conversation theory (LCT) serves to evaluate the communication quality of documented materiality in SR by EUC. Findings The coverage and quality of documented MAs in SR by EUC do not meet the requirements for relevant and transparent communication. Materiality does not guide the reporting practice and is not taken seriously. Research limitations/implications Mediocre quality of coverage and communication in SR shows that stakeholders’ information needs are not considered adequately. The content analysis is limited in focusing on merely documented aspects rather than on actual performance. Originality/value This study considers the quality of communication of documented materiality through the lens of LCT. It contributes to the academic debate by introducing LCT as a viable theoretical perspective for analyzing SR. The paper evaluates GRI-G4 reporting practices in the electricity sector, which, while under-researched is crucial for sustainability. It also contributes to the emerging body of empirical research on the relevance of materiality as a guiding principle for sustainability reporting.

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