The Decision of Swedish Municipalities Compile a Voluntary Sustainability Report - Paper Example

The sustainability subject is regarded to be more important within various organizations over a long period. The involvement of sustainability reporting within the organization is, therefore vital in informing the stakeholders on anything that concerns the sustainability work in the organization. The research shows that among Swedish municipalities, only a few have been managed to issue and publish a sustainability report within their websites. There is no law or regulations that are put forward to ensure that all the municipalities to be in a position that they are capable of disclosing sustainable information which means that any compilation of sustainability reports only occurs voluntarily. The main purpose of this particular thesis is to explore better understanding based on why Swedish municipalities have decided to compile a separate sustainability report by exploring the underlying reasons that influence the choice of issuing a voluntary report. In fulfilling the purpose of the thesis, there is a procedure that is followed including the qualitative method which was highly used in conducting the case studies which included five Swedish municipalities which are known to be issuing the sustainability report. In this context, the empirics were collected through interviews based on those who prepared the sustainability reports. There are various theories that are incorporated in to identify the potential reasons that would answer why the Swedish municipalities have decided to compile a sustainability report. The theories include legitimacy theory, signaling theory, and also the institutional theory. The motivations and drivers are highly used in the process of implementing voluntarily sustainability reporting that have been used in the identification of potential reasons.

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This particular study contains major findings that show why the municipalities decided of compiling a sustainability report as a result of internal motivations which are derived from the major actors and also inspirations from other municipalities, political influence, and professional networks. There are also some other reasons which indicate that the municipalities have enough resources which enable them to compile the report as a basis about decision-making. The incorporation of prospective planning as a tool for follow-up is also a major reason that is used in this particular study. The study also contains the background information and statement of problem where sustainability is presented and discussed the concept of sustainability reporting about the public sector. There are research questions presented, as well as the paper outline based on the thesis topic. Sustainability is known to be more important over many years since the organizations require to have a sustainable strategy to survive in a competitive market. There is increased movement of sustainability; hence, the society expects the organizations to get engaged in the corporate responsibility which has highly increased making various organizations realize it is much important in attracting and retaining the stakeholders. The study contains a literature review which gives much information concerning the issues of sustainability reports. There are various reasons that are displayed which have given the analysis of why there is the implementation of voluntary sustainability reporting among the Swedish. Regarding the key factors that are found within the municipalities such as the financial outcomes, communication tools and internal motivation among the others are the voluntary sustainability reporting that are developed and also promoted through the use of the sustainability reporting idea.

According to my analysis, this particular master thesis contains the overall and forms that are credibly good. The structure appears to be logical and appealing to the reader. Even though the dissertation of the study appears to be boring to read, it contains very rich information that is used in the discussion of the topic. Each chapter displayed in this particular thesis contains a lot of rich information that I found to be relevant about the topic that is being discussed. The preview and summary lack information that is captivating to the reader, but it is generally okay. The research problem is well stated, which enables the reader to understand its definition in relations to the reasons that are listed through incorporating more detailed information that shows the root cause of the problems in a detailed manner. The research problem has highlighted the preview and the summary in every chapter. The theoretical framework appears much relevant and creates a connection between the theories that are discussed and presented in the study and the problem or the dissertation purpose. This, therefore, gives a room for the flow of the events, thus making the readers have a clear view based on the study. The choice of the method that is incorporated in the study is logical and highly motivated. The procedures are also reliable about sustainability reporting based on the Swedish municipalities. The analysis part is of high quality according to the information that is provided in this particular study. The conclusion is varied, but it consists of more information that has already been discussed and presented in the paper rather than giving a summary of the whole study in detail. The conclusion is coherence with theory, research problem, analysis, and the method used.