Sustainable statements: an investigation of organisational green statements

Green Statements are at the forefront of public institutional communications. As the key form of environmental organisational disclosure, Green Statements are a valuable tool which can enhance the communicative capacity of an organisation. However, most current studies have fallen short of adequately examining the content of Green Statements. This thesis will aim to investigate the content and evolution of green statements over time. Additionally, this thesis will also investigate the role of IS in influencing green statement development. The thesis will undertake a qualitative thematic analysis in order to identify the key themes present within organisational Green Statements. Data is collected from listed entities within the ASX200 in Australia with an extensive history of environmental reporting. Following the data collection phase, the data is processed by the thematic analysis software: Leximancer; sorted by the dimensions of industry and year. These results are then viewed through the lens of Engeström’s Activity theory, which is utilised as a framework for data analysis. It is revealed that there are three main types of Green Statement themes: Resource, Technological and Initiative-based. The results of this study will have significant implications for future investigations of Green Statements due to the exploratory nature of the research and will greatly contribute to our understanding of environmental reporting practice.