Utvecklingen av svenska företags hållbarhetsredovisningar : En innehållsanalys av OMXS30-företags hållbarhetsrapporter under påverkan av EU-direktiv 2014/95/EU

Sammanfattning: Background: Sustainability is a highly important topic and businesses are expected to take greater responsibility and be more transparent about the effects they have on their surroundings. The EU has in Directive 2014/95/EU set a requirement that leading businesses produce a sustainability report. It is hoped that this study can contribute to the understanding of the EU directive’s impact in Sweden - a country characterised by an institutional context where the expectations placed on businesses’ sustainability were high even before the directive was adopted. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how sustainability reports of OMXS30 businesses developed in the period that Directive 2014/95/EU was adopted. Method: In this study the sustainability reports of OMSX30 businesses were investigated using a content analysis method. A longitudinal design made it possible to examine the development both prior to and following the adoption of EU Directive 2014/95/EU. The analysis was based ininstitutional theory with isomorphism, legitimacy theory and normativity contributing to an understanding of the study’s empirical evidence. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that both the quality and quantity of OMXS30 businesses’ sustainability reports increased following the adoption of EU Directive 2014/95/EU. The results suggest that the directive, through coercive isomorphism, has been an important driving force behind the development of OMXS30 businesses’ sustainability reports. The directive has been most meaningful concerning reporting on risks and anti-corruption as well as for those businesses whose reports included less information before the directive’s adoption. The study showed that hard law can be a useful tool in growing the transparency of firms’ sustainability reports. Future iterations of the directive have the potential to contribute to continued developments within sustainability reporting.