Deconstructing corporate sustainability: a comparison of different stakeholder metrics

Although Corporate Sustainability Performance Measurement (CSPM) has been a subject of growing interest both in academia and in practice, knowledge on which Corporate Sustainability (CS) aspects should be considered to account for CSPM is still limited. The purpose of this article is to compare the most widely used CSPM instruments to highlight their similarities and differences as well as to advance toward a more standardized list of sub-dimensions that should be covered when accounting for the economic, social and environmental dimensions of CS. We first conducted a systematic literature review to identify the most relevant CSPM instruments. This process yielded 9 instruments developed by different stakeholders (e.g., KLD, DJSI, GRI, Bansal, 2005). Second, we analyzed their content based on a systematic process. We found that the instruments differ quantitatively and qualitatively on how they measure CS, although there seems to be more consensus regarding the CS environmental dimension. Finally, we created a list of sub-dimensions that could be used as a reference for academics, practitioners and other stakeholders interested in measuring CS at the corporate level.