Sustainability Based Corporate Identity: A Study of Corporate Websites

This study explores the emerging concept of corporate sustainable identity and analyzes the dimensions involved in the communication of such identity. A content analysis of the top global 100 sustainable companies reveals that corporate sustainable identity is organized around environmental, social, and economic dimensions that constitute the triple bottom line conceptualization of the global reporting initiative. Findings evidence a wide variation in the aspects used as well as the type of information reported. Further, assigning equal weights to all aspects skew the data in favor of companies that demonstrate average performance on a number of dimensions to the exclusion of companies that provide exemplary performance on a few dimensions. The paper concludes with practical implications of sustainability reporting and future research directions.