Developing a sustainability reporting framework to manage the drivers of social and economic performance in the Malaysian context

Sustainability Reporting (SR) has gained momentum in Malaysia since the launch of Bursa Malaysia’s Sustainability Framework in October 2015. Bursa Malaysia, a member of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges, clearly signalled that companies should consider their social responsibility seriously. The challenge has shifted from “whether” to “how” to integrate corporate sustainability into day to day management decisions, given, managers at all levels have significant incentives to increase short- term earnings. Thus, this study’s objectives are to: 1) investigate how CEOs and boards navigate the processes in aligning strategy, structure, performance measures and rewards to effectively manage the various drivers of social and economic performance, 2) examine factors influencing CEOs and boards to promote SR, and 3) develop an appropriate SR framework that reflects the board actions to address environmental and climate change concerns. The study uses participatory action research underlying an inductively driven research using the grounded theory approach. The framing theory facilitates understanding the action of CEOs and board members in aligning their business strategies to sustainability issues.