Sustainability performance indicators: definition, interaction, and influence of contextual characteristics

Financial markets and investors are pushing modern firms to increase their commitment to sustainable development. Corporate sustainability refers to processes that develop from normative traditions, ethical roots, and stakeholder attitudes in such organizations. These processes require that we define suitable sustainability indicators and other measurement instruments. Therefore, this study analyzes the influence of cultural and legal contextual characteristics on the design and internal workings of such indicators. The results show that sustainability measurements are indeed shaped by cultural and legal factors. However, no unique pattern can be identified. Thus, what emerges is variation under different cultural contexts and legal systems.