Assessing the quality of sustainability reporting: an alternative methodological approach

Against the background of the growing importance in corporate sustainability reporting, the Institute for Sustainable Management at the University of OAS in Aargau, North-Western Switzerland, instigated a research project in 2003. This represents one of the first attempts to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of corporate sustainability reporting in one country (Switzerland) and is the second and, at the time, most comprehensive national study worldwide on reporting practices. The object of this paper is to reflect the methodology of the Swiss study independent of other procedures used to-date. The extent to which the new methodological approach overcomes the weaknesses of other approaches will primarily be demonstrated. Secondly, the research team's findings from the results of the study and interviews with managers from 25 Swiss companies in connection with the study will be presented.