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Tamed Transparency: How Information Disclosure under the Global Reporting Initiative Fails to Empower
Open accessAbstract
In this contribution, we explore the tensions that seem inherent in the claim that transparency policies “empower” the users of disclosed information vis-àvis those who are asked to provide the information. Since these tensions are particularly relevant in relation to voluntary disclosure, our analysis focuses on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as the world's leading voluntary corporate non-financial reporting scheme. Corporate sustainability reporting is often hailed as a powerful instrument to improve the environmental performance of business and to empower societal groups, including consumers, in their relations with the corporate world. Yet, our analysis illustrates that the relationship between transparency and empowerment is conflictual at all four levels of activity examined in this article: in the rhetoric and policies of the GRI as well as in the actual reporting practice and in the activities of intermediaries in response to the organization's disclosure standard.
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“Second, supply chain transparency information is usually made public in a complex, abstract and vague manner.This can obscure the ability and willingness of individual users to interpret given information accurately and act accordingly (Dingwerth and Eichinger, 2010).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dingwerth, K., & Eichinger, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Bremen (DE)
- ORCID
- Dingwerth, Klaus
- Venue
- Global Environmental Politics
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2010-08
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 74-96
- ISSN
- 1526-3800 (ISSN-L)
- 1536-0091
- OpenAlex
- W2029292915
- Cited by
- 234
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 26.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Global Environmental Politics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Alexandria (UniSG) (University of St.Gallen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Governance, Compliance, and Sustainability
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
- Keywords
- Global Reporting Initiative, corporate sustainability reporting, voluntary disclosure, transparency, empowerment, non-financial reporting, stakeholder relations
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