Stand-alone Sustainability Reporting and the Use of GRI in Italian Vodafone: A Longitudinal Analysis

This study examines sustainability reporting in a case study organisation in Italy. It uses content analysis to examine the use of the Global Reporting Initiative categories, including those of the telecommunication sector supplement in Italian Vodafone. It also considers the application of stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory in sustainability reporting studies. Taking a longitudinal perspective, the study finds there is a pattern in Vodafone's increasing and improving information disclosed in the report and that this improvement in disclosing sustainability information can be explained by the company‘s need for legitimacy.