Coercive; Institutions; Mimetic; Normative; Organizations; Sustainability Reporting

This study investigated managerial perceptions of the determinants of sustainability reporting in Nigeria. The rationales that managers construct around institutional pressures in relation to sustainability reporting constitute an under explored area in research. A survey research design was employed. A questionnaire was designed for the purpose of data collection and copies were administered to 81 companies in oil and gas, banking, industrial goods and consumer goods sectors in Nigeria. The results showed that corporate respondents opined that a mix of factors – coercive, normative and mimetic factors actually influence sustainability reporting of companies.

The findings showed that corporate actors attributed higher values to initiation from the company chief executive officer (CEO) and investors’ concern with long-term performance of the business. Interestingly, regulatory pressures and employee training were found to have higher mean scores than pressures arising from corporate membership of external governance bodies, total asset base and foreign operations. Results from factor analysis showed that respondents opined that sustainability reporting was influenced by a mix of coercive, normative and mimetic factors. Pearson correlation between the level of sustainability reporting and coercive, normative and mimetic pressures showed significant association between the level of sustainability reporting and coercive and normative pressures.

This study identified that a number of pressures combine to influence sustainability reporting. The rationales attributed to the factors could be a pointer to the areas that members of the organizational field need to improve upon to enable companies to provide reliable sustainability reporting and disclosures. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on aspects of the organizational field or environment of business that can aid improvements in the quantity and quality of sustainability reporting. This aspect of research is yet to be undertaken in the Nigerian context.