Sustainability reporting in the Nordic real estate companies : Empirical evidence from Finland

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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Date
2018
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
13
51-63
Series
International Journal of Strategic Property Management, Volume 22, issue 1
Abstract
The purpose of our study was to investigate the content of sustainability reporting issued by real estate sector. Content analysis was employed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of sustainability information provided by sample companies. The content analysis structure considered both quantity and quality of information simultaneously. Our results show an inconsistency in the form, extent and quality of sustainability reports. In addition, our findings recognise a lack of clear approach to embrace materiality, external assurance, and further engagement of stakeholders in the sample reports. It seems that most of the sample companies were engaged in issuing sustainability reports to fulfil the legislative requirement and avoiding financial or legal risks. Our study provides information on the current status of sustainability reporting to real estate professionals. In addition it contributes in decreasing the financial and legal risks, and increasing the corporate reputational capital, by revealing the common weaknesses prevalent in the sustainability reports.
Description
Keywords
Content analysis, Global Reporting Initiative, Listed real estate companies, Quantity and quality of sustainability information, Sustainability reporting
Other note
Citation
Rashidfarokhi , A , Toivonen , S & Viitanen , K 2018 , ' Sustainability reporting in the Nordic real estate companies : Empirical evidence from Finland ' , International Journal of Strategic Property Management , vol. 22 , no. 1 , pp. 51-63 . https://doi.org/10.3846/ijspm.2018.321