How to construct an account of sustainability performance - The power and danger of calculation

Abstract: This study responds to the call for further research about how other organisations, corporations more specifically, achieve calculability and account for sustainable development, from Sobkowiak et al. (2020). By drawing upon a multiple case study of three companies, this paper seeks to explain how corporations become capable of constructing an account of their sustainability performance. The study provides an analysis through the lens of Callon & Law's (2005) Three stages of calculation to find how the case companies frame calculable spaces. This paper contributes to Sobkowiak et al. (2020) by finding that i) there are differences in how to construct an account of sustainability performance depending on type of organisation, type of industry, and what type of SDG that is in focus, finding that users' perception of the results can affect ability to contribute to a sustainable development, confirming the need for a user dimension in how to construct an account in the context of corporations, and ii) that not only globally but also locally defined indicators can be problematic in the context of corporations, contributing to Sobkowiak et al.'s (2020) problematisation of globally set indicators when creating an account for sustainability performance. In addition, this study supports previous literature (Bebbington & Larrinaga, 2014; Callon, 1998; Cederberg, 2019; Eccles & Serafeim, 2013; Sobkowiak et al., 2020; Solomon, Jill Frances & Solomon, 2006) that sustainability reporting experiences a tough challenge in finding a stable common frame. As such, this study finds that sustainability reporting constitutes a "hot situation" (Callon, 1998).