Problem: Legitimacy is a resource that organizations depend on for their survival. According to legitimacy theory companies need to make sure that they are recognized as operating within the bounds and norms of society and sustainability reports is a way for companies to communicate this. Due to an addition to the Swedish annual accounting law in 2016, large companies are required to produce a sustainability report and to report the consequences that the company operations has on the environment, social conditions, employees, respect for human rights and counteracting corruption. Because companies are required to disclose these negative aspects, they need to do it strategically to not damage their legitimacy. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how Swedish companies in the steel industry legitimize negative aspects of their operations in sustainability reports and to understand if there is a pattern between the type of negative aspect disclosed and the type of legitimation strategy used. Method: To achieve the purpose of our study, a qualitative method has been used. A multiple case-study with a document analysis has been conducted on the sustainability reports of Sandvik, SSAB, Boliden, LKAB and Outokumpu for year 2018. To conduct this study, legitimacy theory and Hahn & Lülfs (2014) legitimation strategies have been essential to fulfill the purpose. Results: Swedish companies in the steel industry use Hahn & Lülfs (2014) legitimation strategies and our new identified legitimation strategy, balancing, to legitimize negative aspects in their sustainability reports. We found four clear patterns between the type of negative aspect reported and the strategy used to legitimize the aspect. Conclusion: Our findings confirm that Hahn & Lülfs (2014) strategies to explain how companies legitimize negative aspects in sustainability reports are also applicable to the Swedish steel industry. The contribution to previous research on this topic is the new additional strategy that is used by the analyzed companies.

Områdesbeskrivning: Hållbara fonder har med tiden blivit ett alltmer populärt investeringsalternativ för fondsparare. Tillsammans med en högre hållbarhetsmedvetenhet bland konsumenter, har företag behövt anpassa sina strategier för att nå upp till samhällets förväntningar kring hållbarhet. Den högre efterfrågan på hållbara alternativ, har bidragit till att antalet hållbara fonder har ökat med tiden. Fondbolagens implementering av mer hållbara strategier, medför en positiv marknadsföring för de bolagen och därigenom även en större lönsamhet. Samtidigt som hållbarhetsaspekten har blivit ett alltmer populärt fokuseringsområde för fondbolagen, har populariteten bidragit till striktare förordningar, för huruvida fondbolagen ska kunna marknadsföra sina fonder som hållbara. Bland annat innebär de nya förordningarna att fondbolagen har större upplysningsplikt gentemot investerarna, som ska få möjligheten att granska om fondbolagens ageranden, når upp till deras preferenser eller inte. Unga personer har genom tidigare undersökningar, visat på högt hållbarhetsmedvetande. Därav anses det intressant att studera hur unga vuxnas preferenser är och hur det påverkar deras inställning till att investera i hållbara fonder.  Syfte: Undersökningen syftar till att undersöka huruvida ekonomistudenter värdesätter hållbara fonder idag och om de anser det som troligt att de kommer att investera i hållbara fonder i framtiden. Studenternas preferenser om hållbara fonder, kan ge en indikation på hur fondbolagen kan skapa legitimitet gällande investeringar i hållbara fonder, gentemot studiens målgrupp. Metod: En kvantitativ metodundersökning har gjorts för att studera ekonomistudenters inställning till hållbara investeringar. Det empiriska materialet har insamlats med hjälp av en enkät online, vilken skickades ut till hela populationen. Hypoteser har framställts gällande huruvida studenters preferenser om hållbarhet och fonder, påverkar deras inställning till att investera i hållbara fonder.Resultat: Studiens resultat framhäver att studenternas preferenser om hållbarhet och fonder, har en positiv påverkan på hur deras inställning är kring investeringar i hållbara fonder. Resultatet från studien bekräftas av tidigare forskning, att privata investerare efterfrågar fonder som uppfyller deras etiska värderingar. Studien visar att unga vuxna, trots att de är i början av sitt livssparande, eftersträvar hållbara alternativ. Exempelvis anser de flesta studenterna, att de är villiga att få en lägre avkastning, om deras investeringar överensstämmer med deras etiska ställningstaganden. För fondbolagens sida visar det att hållbara strategier gynnar deras legitimitetssökande. Samtidigt visar resultatet att om hållbara fonders förvaltningar inte anses vara hållbara, kan det bidra till ett legitimitetsgap gentemot studiens population. Begränsningar: Studien är avgränsad till att studera preferenserna hos ekonomistudenter på Högskolan i Borås, vilka hör till gruppen unga vuxna. Avgränsningen gjordes, eftersom en studie där alla unga vuxna hade inkluderats, hade blivit alltför omfattande. Samma tanke låg till grund för valet att endast inkludera ekonomistudenter på en högskola, istället för alla högskolor i Sverige. Anledningen till att ekonomistudenter valdes till populationen, var framförallt för att de studenterna ansågs ha ett större intresse i studiens ämnesområde. / Area description: With time, sustainable funds have become a more popular investment alternative for fund savers. Together with a higher sustainable awareness among consumers, companies have had to adapt their strategies to reach up to the sustainable expectations from the society. The higher demand on sustainable alternatives, have contributed to that the number of sustainable funds have increased with time. The fund companies implementation of more sustainable alternatives, results in a positive marketing for those companies and thereby even a larger profitability. In the same time as the sustainability aspect has become a more popular focus area for the fund companies, the popularity have contributed to more strict regulations. These regulations include that the fund companies have a duty of disclosure towards the investors, who will get the possibility to examine if the fund companies actions, reach up to the investors preferences or not. Young adults have in previous studies, showed to have high sustainable awareness. With that in mind, it seems interesting to study how young adults preferences are and how these affect their attitude to invest in sustainable funds. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to study how students of economics, value sustainable funds today and if they see it likely that they will invest in sustainable funds in the future. The students preferences about sustainable funds, can give an indication on how fund companies can create legitimacy concerning investments in sustainable funds, towards the population in this research. Method: A quantitative research method have been used to study the students of economics, attitudes about investments in sustainable funds. The empirical material have been collected with an online survey, which was sent to the entire population in this study. Hypotheses have been made about how students preferences about sustainability and funds, affects their attitudes on investing in sustainable funds. Result: The results of this study highlights that the students preferences about sustainability and funds, have a positive effect on how their attitudes are about investments in sustainable funds. The result from this study confirms from previous research, that many private investors request funds which fulfill their ethical values. The study shows that young adults, even if they are in the beginning of their life savings, seek after sustainable alternatives. For example, most students consider that they are willing to get a lower return on their savings, if their investments corresponds with their ethical values. Regarding the fund companies, this study shows that sustainable strategies benefits their legitimacy seeking. At the same time, the results from this study shows that if the investments from the sustainable funds are not sustainable, a legitimacy gap can arise towards the population of this study.Limitations: This research is limited to study the preferences of economics students at Högskolan i Borås, which belong to the group of young adults. The limitation was made because a study with all young adults included, would have become to comprehensive. The same thought was behind the decision to only include economics students on one university, instead of including all universities in Sweden. The reason that economics students was choicen to the population, was mainly because these students seems to have more interests in the subject matter of this research.