The construction of the normative persuasion of social and environmental reporting regulation

dc.contributor.authorLuque-Vílchez, Mercedes
dc.contributor.authorHusillos Carques, Francisco Javier
dc.contributor.authorLarrinaga González, Carlos
dc.contributor.departmentGestión de Empresases_ES
dc.contributor.departmentEnpresen Kudeaketaeu
dc.contributor.departmentInstitute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBEen
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-03T14:17:53Z
dc.date.available2024-09-03T14:17:53Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.date.updated2024-09-03T13:54:27Z
dc.description.abstractPurpose – This study aims to understand why some social and environmental reporting (SER) regulations are more successful than others in modifying collective corporate reporting behaviour and expectations. More specifically, it presents a qualitative and historically informed exploration of the construction of the enabling conditions for corporate adoption of SER regulation in a national context. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on insights from structuration theory and the sociological approach to legal studies, the authors examined the normative persuasion of the first regulation in Spain requiring firms to disclose social and environmental information in a stand-alone report: Article 39 of the Spanish Sustainable Economy Law. The case study is based primarily on 38 semi-structured interviews with relevant actors involved in this SER regulation from 2008 to 2014. Other sources such as legal and policy documents, historical documents, books, press reports and field notes from attendance at technical meetings related to the phenomenon under study help inform and complement the analysis of the interviews. Findings – The analysis reveals that the agency of regulators, regulatees and other relevant actors involved in the SER regulation led to the law becoming a dead letter. However, only by examining the structural circumstances, shaped by history and socio-economic context, can the authors understand how the normative persuasion of law is constructed or undermined. Research limitations/implications – The study underscores the importance of the national context in developing corporate social responsibility (CSR) regulation and the crucial role of history. The results of this research also suggest that significant progress towards a more transformative CSR regulation cannot be achieved without the support of enabling structures/ Practical implications – Recent SER regulations (European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and IFRS sustainability standards, to mention those that are gaining most traction) may not achieve sufficient compliance if those responsible for drafting them do not ensure that the conditions for the emergence of regulatory persuasion are met. Regulators must therefore have a profound understanding of how these conditions are constructed as part of a historical process inextricably linked to the social structures of the environment in which the law is to be applied. Social implications – The study reveals the changing landscape of corporate social responsibility, where scientists, academics, NGO activists and civil society organisations struggle to gain some agency in a field populated by actors, such as trade unions or employers, who were constitutive of Western industrial liberal democracies. Originality/value – This study presents an in-depth and historically grounded analysis of the dynamics involved in creating the conditions that lead to successful SER legislation in a national context.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe financial support provided by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y la Agencia Estatal de Investigación) (grant numbers PID2021-122389OB-I00 and TED2021-129520B-I00] is gratefully acknowledged.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationLuque-Vilchez, M., Husillos, J., Larrinaga, C. (2024) The construction of the normative persuasion of social and environmental reporting regulation. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-11-2023-0816.
dc.identifier.doi10.1108/SAMPJ-11-2023-0816
dc.identifier.issn2040-8021
dc.identifier.urihttps://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/51529
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherEmarald
dc.relation.ispartofSustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal 15(7), 2024, pp. 34-62
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023/PID2021-122389OB-I00/ES/
dc.relation.projectIDinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI//TED2021-129520B-I00/
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://doi.org/10.1108/SAMPJ-11-2023-0816
dc.rights© Mercedes Luque-Vílchez, Javier Husillos and Carlos Larrinaga. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectSustainabilityen
dc.subjectRegulationen
dc.subjectSocial and environmental reportingen
dc.subjectNormative persuasionen
dc.titleThe construction of the normative persuasion of social and environmental reporting regulationen
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dspace.entity.typePublication
relation.isAuthorOfPublication384631a4-3983-4dde-9813-b679a528d289
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery384631a4-3983-4dde-9813-b679a528d289

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