Hållbarhetsredovisning : varför utför klädåterförsäljande företag frivilligt hållbarhetsredovisning?

Sammanfattning: The awareness of social and environmental responsibility has increased among companies over the years. It has become increasingly important for companies to show the world that they are committed and do take responsibility towards communities. The clothing industry is sensitive to public opinion and has gotten critiqued for their negative impact on the environment and societies. Many companies have published their sustainability reports and disclose their sustainability activities.  Previous research is divided on why the companies voluntarily report on their sustainability. Why do companies in the clothing industry voluntarily publish their sustainability reports? What are the underlying motivations of the companies? Our suspicion was that the companies wanted to legitimize their business by imitating the competitors' sustainability activities in order to obtain legitimacy from their stakeholders. Through three interviews with sustainability managers from MQ Retail AB, Gina Tricot AB and Ellos Group AB, and content analysis of the three companies' sustainability reports, we found that the primary reason why companies choose to report on their sustainability is because they want to legitimize their business.