Determinants of the dissemination of economic, social and environmental information at the university level in the context of commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

In the context of universities' commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the paper aims to analyse the factors that influence the degree of information disclosure related to the economic, social, and environmental (ESE) aspects of SDGs. Based on a content analysis of the annual and/or sustainability reports for 2021 and the websites of the top 200 universities in the Shanghai ranking, the results show that the volume of ESE disclosures at universities is associated with gender diversity in the governance team, stakeholder commitment and position in academic and environmental rankings. By taking entities that are global benchmarks, the results make practical and managerial contributions. First, they can serve as a guide to setting policy frameworks for institutions to create procedures to develop their SDG-compliant actions. Second, the promotion of women's participation on the board and the active presence of stakeholders favour universities' information disclosure policies. Third, the results show that the efforts towards disclosure at the top universities in both academic and environmental rankings are related to legitimising their actions and meeting stakeholders' demands. In addition, this study proposes the development of an index that could help improve the ESE information disclosed by universities, which is currently low, yet some aspects of it, such as economic aspects, are barely covered but essential to ensure sustainability. Finally, the proposed indicators can also serve as a guide for governing bodies' management of SDG-related aspects.