Embellishment or declaration? A single case study on constructing a responsible image towards stakeholders through sustainability reporting

Abstract: The thesis exams how an international company conveys its business operations through sustainability reporting. Drawing on Brennan & Merkl-Davies (2014)'s rhetorical strategies in social and environmental reporting as well as Cho et al. (2015)'s organizational façades in sustainability reporting, a single case study on H&M has been conducted by reviewing its sustainability reports from year 2011 to 2020. This study also aims to establish a clearer picture on how stakeholders' responsibility has been presented and interpreted, further shedding a light on Manetti (2011)'s findings. The empirical findings firstly suggested a clear preference on using different strategies to declare various sustainable actions and organizational façades in the reports. Secondly, with these methods, H&M mainly constructed three roles which indicate its attitude change towards different stakeholders. Lastly, these changes lead to a paradox on responsibility in the reports: Is it more responsible to shift more responsibility towards stakeholders? Through this single case study, we argue that language should be considered as a principle aspect that needs to be carefully observed in the sustainability reporting process, and related readers should also concentrate on the intentions behind the rhetoric.