Stakeholder Engagement in Sustainability Reporting Evidence of Reputation Risk Management in Large Australian Companies

The objective of this research is to examine whether stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting constitutes the process of managing reputational risk. This research utilises Shrives and Brennan's (2017) framework of rhetorical strategies of non?compliance to obtain empirical evidence of reputation risk management (RRM) in the context of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was undertaken on 154 sustainability disclosures in both the annual and sustainability reports of large Australian companies. This research finds that large Australian companies engage with their stakeholders to manage reputational risk: to increase market share and pre?empt social issues. It is evident that large Australian companies use several forms of rhetorical statements in their sustainability disclosures with respect to RRM. However, there is no evidence that they shirk their responsibilities.