Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_3661
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
xii, 243 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Svetlana V. Grushina
Abstract (type = abstract)
This study examines the communication design practice (Aakhus, 2007) of a third-party expert communication-information service – the Global Reporting Initiative –by describing the evolutionary path of a design for communication. The object of study is the change in the design proposal for the reporting move as stipulated in the GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. GRI’s proposal for sustainability reporting is an intervention into civil regulation made by institutionalizing a way for organizations to
disclose their social, environmental, and economic performance to their stakeholders, and thus an effort to shape the quality of communication about issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that arise at the intersection of business and society. The Report Content sections of the Guidelines – G1 (2000), G2 (2002), G3 (2006), and G3.1 (2011) – were used as data in this study. Analysis identified changes over time between the Guidelines’ versions and was guided by the design stance conceptually (Aakhus & Jackson, 2005), and a modified grounded theory (GT) approach
procedurally (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). A main finding in this study is that the “success” of the GRI Guidelines has been puzzling, in light of the documents’ increasingly normative and prescriptive approach, yet increased distancing from the reporting organizations as primary stakeholders alongside emerging orientation toward international standard-setting organizations as main drivers of report content. Findings also showed that the GRI’s specifications for the reporting move have changed over time from flexible requests to provide factual information about current activities in G1 to more imperative requests to account for past and present behavior while embracing a global view of expansive civic responsibilities in G3/3.1. Analysis has shown that the GRI has intervened significantly in the arena of civil regulation, although the promise of substantive company-stakeholder dialogue about CSR matters has not been realized. Instead, the GRI has created a new bureaucracy that seemingly satisfies all the participants yet whose contribution to a more sustainable world is questionable. The study has introduced theory-practice implications for civil
regulation, which are grounded in design rationality as explanatory framework.
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.