Search results

This paper aims to critically reflect on the formation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), its current agenda and likely future direction. The authors consider the relationships between the ISSB and other standard setters, regulators, practitioners and stakeholders, and develop a comprehensive research agenda.

The authors review and critically analyse academic and practitioner publications alongside the ISSB’s workplans to identify the themes impacting the future of the ISSB and to develop a research agenda.

Three key themes emerge from the authors’ analysis that are likely to influence the future of the ISSB: the jurisdiction and scope of the ISSB – how far its influence is likely to extend, both geographically and conceptually; the ongoing legitimacy challenge the ISSB is facing in terms of setting an agenda for sustainability reporting; and the “capture” of sustainability reporting by influential stakeholders including capital providers.

The formation of the ISSB is critical to the future of sustainability reporting. The authors provide a comprehensive and topical overview of the past, present and potential future of the ISSB, highlighting the need for further research and providing a research agenda that addresses outstanding questions in the field.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) ISO standards have been noted as an essential marketing strategy by which firms can achieve consumer trust while improving environmental, social, and quality factors. This study discloses the contextual relationship between CSR ISO standards and sustainable impulse buying behavior. This study also looks to uncover the CSR ISO driving and linkage factors that motivate consumers to make sustainable impulsive purchases.

Three distinct research methods were employed in this research. First, a consumer expert opinion-based Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach was adopted to reveal the contextual relationship between CSR ISO factors and sustainable impulse buying behavior. Secondly, Matrice Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliques Classement (MICMAC) was used to examine these factors' driving and dependent power. In addition, Minitab package software was also used to check the statistical validation of ISM-MICMAC results.

The results indicate that although environmentally responsible CSR ISO 14001, socially responsible CSR ISO 26000, and consumer perception of product quality CSR ISO 9001 standards contain strong driving power, their dependent power was weak. All these CSR ISO factors (14,001, 26,000, and 9001) strongly impact each other and sustainable impulse buying. Therefore, these three CSR ISO factors have been placed at the bottom of the ISM model. The CSR ISO 14020 standard (labeling of the product), knowledge of CSR ISO standards, consumer trust, and advertising about CSR ISO standards have been placed in the middle. The mentioned factors have intense driving and dependent power and are classified as linkage factors for sustainable impulse buying. Impulse buying behavior has weak driving and strong dependent power, yet this factor strongly depends on other CSR ISO factors. Hence, this factor is placed at the top of the ISM model. In addition, the Minitab package software results indicate that ISM-MICMAC results are statistically valid.

To the best of our knowledge, this research is unique and examines the influence of CSR ISO factors on sustainable impulse buying in the context of Pakistani consumers. Secondly, our study has thoroughly investigated several CSR ISO factors and allied these factors in the context of consumer buying behavior. Third, several CSR ISO factors and impulse buying behavior were examined using a mix of ISM-MICAC and Minitab methods. Thus, including these steps in our study has led to the development of a novel technique.

This paper aims to examine sites of dissonance or consensus between global investor responses to the draft standards, International Financial Reporting Standards S1 (IFRS) (General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information) and IFRS S2 (Climate-related Disclosures), issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).

A thematic content analysis was used to capture investor views expressed in their comment letters submitted in the consultation period (March to July 2022) in comparison to the ex ante position (issue of draft standards, March 2022) and ex post summary feedback (ISSB staff papers, September 2022) of the ISSB.

There was investor consensus in support of the ISSB and the development of the draft standards. However, there were sites of dissonance between investors and the ISSB, notably regarding the basis and focus of reporting (double or single/financial materiality and enterprise value); definitional clarity; emissions reporting; and assurance. Incrementally, the research further highlights that investors display heterogeneity of opinion.

The ISSB standards will provide a framework for future sustainability reporting. This research highlights the significance of such reporting to investors through their responses to the draft standards. The findings reveal sites of dissonance in the development and alignment of draft standards to user needs. The views of investors, as primary users, should help inform the development of sustainability-related standards by a global standard-setting body apposite to current policy and future reporting requirements, and their usefulness to users in practice.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper makes an original contribution to the comment letter literature, hitherto focused on financial reporting with a relative lack of investor engagement. Using thematic analysis, sites of dissonance are examined between the views of investors and the ISSB on their development of sustainability reporting standards.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the impacts that the recent proliferation of private and overlapping standards is having in the trade of agricultural products from developing countries.

In a first stage industry experts in the Chilean fresh fruit trading industry were interviewed to understand the perceived impact that private standards are imposing in the industry. These interviews allowed to identify the market case study, table grapes, the landscape of private standards and their prevalence in different countries. In a second stage, a gravity trade model for trade in table grapes was estimated, with a focus on the more stringent countries identified by experts in the first stage.

We show evidence that the proliferation of private standards required by large European retailers has diverted trade away from more stringent countries that require more certifications (and into less stringent European markets). We also show that the costs of these additional certifications have been shared by trading partners, via an increase in direct sales, as opposed to consignment (the traditional marketing mode), which is associated with higher prices.

The impacts of the recent proliferation of private and overlapping standards in international trade needs to be better understood both by the legal and economic literature. While the use of private standards has been growing since the 1990s, there is a recent trend of large European retailers imposing their own and overlapping standards that needs to be better understood to inform policy.

While there is a thin literature on the impact of private standards on trade, most of this has studied the effects of the now de facto mandatory GlobalGAP certification. However, there is a recent trend by large European retailers of demanding their own private certifications, together with other already existing overlapping private standards. This study describes and analyzes the impacts of this rather new trend.

The main objective of the study was to compare Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) norms with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, so as to establish whether BRSR norms match the global standards and best practices or not. Additionally, an effort was made to ascertain and highlight areas where BRSR norms are more comprehensive, just match, or require further refinement to be at par with the GRI standards. The study highlights the similarities and dissimilarities between the internationally accepted GRI standards and the BRSR framework; thereby suggesting areas of improvement for the BRSR framework.

Scrutinised all the 36 standards of the Global reporting initiative and BRSR format and guidelines of the Securities Exchange Board of India. The Content Analysis Technique was used to ascertain the percentages of similarities between the two frameworks.

The content analysis found that there are 52.30% similarities between BRSR norms and GRI standards. Further, this study shows the factors that led to the dissimilarities between BRSR and GRI standards. This study found 18 areas where BRSR is more informative than GRI, and 7 areas where BRSR could be further refined.

This study contributes to research in the sustainability reporting framework to be adopted by Indian listed companies. There are a few Indian listed companies who are already reporting as per the GRI framework and might perceive the BRSR as a separate reporting altogether. But as found in this study, more than half of the BRSR framework is similar to the GRI framework; thus, half the work is almost done. As such this study helps Indian firms in developing an understanding of the BRSR and puts in perspective its standing among global sustainability reporting standards. This study shall help institutional investors, rating agencies, and external assurers to better visualize an Indian entity, by referring to its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting.

Hazel Kyrk’s recognised contributions include a shift in analytic focus from production to consumption, pioneering work to measure household production as part of family income, empirical studies of family behaviour, and contributions to policy. But her account of ‘wise’ consumption and its intersection with ‘high’ living standards is not well understood. The three aims of this chapter are to explain ‘wise’ consumption across Kyrk’s three major books, to consider its role in Kyrk’s empirical studies, and to explain why it fell into oblivion. Tackling what Wesley Mitchell described as the ‘most baffling of difficulties’, Kyrk explained what constitutes a family’s ‘good’ in a manner that was critical of mere emulation. Her 1923 book required that wise consumption include new and personal elements. Her 1929/1933 book detailed five qualitative criteria (balance between interests, full and varied experiences, originality, rational sources of satisfaction, and the use of scientific information). But her 1953 book weakened this normative language, reflecting Margaret Reid’s view that Kyrk’s account was too demanding. Although Kyrk felt wise consumption avoided paternalism, her peers disagreed (Hoyt, 1938/1945; Reid, 1938/1945). We close with some problems with Kyrk’s account and a brief consideration of its continuing relevance.

This research aims to establish the applicability of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 18404 standard to the service sector, identify any required amendments and identify the critical success factors and barriers to deploying the standard within the service sector.

The study used a qualitative approach by interviewing operational excellence (OPEX) professionals who work in the service sector.

The findings indicate a significant lack of knowledge about the existence of the standard and a general scepticism regarding the applicability of the current ISO 18404 standard to the service sector.

Limited examples of the application of ISO 18404 in organisations exist, as only a few organisations have adopted the standard. Therefore, the research focussed on the challenges and obstacles that experienced OPEX professionals perceived could be an issue.

The study will aid service sector organisations in understanding the standard and, subsequently, determine whether to pursue it as part of an OPEX programme. This research is the first study on the application of ISO 18404 to the service sector.

We study ceremonial adoption of voluntary standards, where participants adopt the standard in principle but do not change their practices. Ceremonial adoption can benefit individual participants, who may be able to reap the benefits of association with the standard at lower cost, but it can be problematic for overall levels of adoption. We conceive of ceremonial adoption as an interaction between strategic incentives of participants and social ties to their audiences, such that not all participants are likely to ceremonially adopt. Our setting is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for sustainable construction. We study the conditions under which projects register for LEED certification, allowing them to claim affiliation with LEED, but then do not actually finish certification. While our data are correlational in nature, our results suggest that studying the competition for audience members (in our case, occupants) can provide greater understanding of certification behavior as well as overall levels of adoption. Our findings have implications for organizations that design and maintain voluntary standards and for organization theorists who wish to understand field-level change. Thus, we provide more evidence that strategy and organizational theory interact in important and often unexamined ways.

This chapter offers Australian and international insights into leadership development and discusses how aspirant and current middle leaders can use leader and teacher professional standards to foster their professional growth. Standards help inform performance and development planning, and shape feedback and provide a framework for professional learning design. This chapter provides an overview of how systems such as New Zealand, Australia, and Scotland, among others, describe leadership in terms of standards. When used alongside an annual performance and development process, middle leaders can tap into the power of standards to continually sharpen their leadership practice and create a thriving career leading from the middle. Practical guidance is provided for middle leaders to engage with national teacher and leadership standards.

This study aims to adjust Thesis-type properties on Schema.org using metadata models and standards (MS) (Bibframe, electronic thesis and dissertations [ETD]-MS, Common European Research Information Format [CERIF] and Dublin Core [DC]) to enrich the Thesis-type properties for better description and processing on the Web.

This study is applied, descriptive analysis in nature and is based on content analysis in terms of method. The research population consisted of elements and attributes of the metadata model and standards (Bibframe, ETD-MS, CERIF and DC) and Thesis-type properties in the Schema.org. The data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist, and the data collection method was structured observation.

The results show that the 65 Thesis-type properties and the two levels of Thing and CreativeWork as its parents on Schema.org that corresponds to the elements and attributes of related models and standards. In addition, 12 properties are special to the Thesis type for better comprehensive description and processing, and 27 properties are added to the CreativeWork type.

Enrichment and expansion of Thesis-type properties on Schema.org is one of the practical applications of the present study, which have enabled more comprehensive description and processing and increased access points and visibility for ETDs in the environment Web and digital libraries.

This study has offered some new Thesis type properties and CreativeWork levels on Schema.org. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time this issue is investigated.