Submitted by Joana Azevedo (joanad@id.uff.br) on 2017-08-22T13:30:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-08-22T16:39:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-22T16:39:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / Sustentabilidade é um tema cada vez mais abordado nos meios acadêmico e organizacional. A partir de uma primeira definição - ampla e generalista - sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável, uma série de estudos foi desenvolvida, no intuito de conceituar a sustentabilidade e delimitar suas práticas. Vê-se emergir inúmeras vertentes conceituais, dentre elas o modelo do Triple Bottom Line, o qual pressupõe as dimensões financeira, ambiental e social para o desenvolvimento da sustentabilidade e cuja aplicabilidade pode ser vislumbrada em contextos organizacionais. Neste paradigma, esta pesquisa se baseia na gestão por competências, conceito amplamente utilizado nas organizações para a alavancagem de resultados. Mediante a realização de uma pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória, o presente trabalho apresenta uma análise acerca das competências necessárias à gestão da sustentabilidade, a partir de um estudo de caso em uma indústria brasileira. A coleta de dados contou com os procedimentos de pesquisa bibliométrica, pesquisa documental, realização de entrevistas com sete profissionais da referida organização e aplicação, nestes, do inventário de personalidade NEO-PI-R. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir, tanto para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos associando tais temáticas em questão, como sobretudo para facilitar a incorporação e aplicabilidade da sustentabilidade nas organizações, em suas esferas operacional, tática e estratégica. Os resultados da presente pesquisa demonstraram o alinhamento das competências organizacionais em sustentabilidade da empresa pesquisada com o modelo do Triple Bottom Line, a complexidade de sua gestão e a necessidade constante de revisão e integração entre suas ações, bem como a mobilização das diversas áreas organizacionais que a compõe. Observou-se a existência de competências funcionais em gestão da sustentabilidade transversais, além de competências funcionais específicas por função. Evidenciou-se, ainda, grande afinidade entre os perfis de personalidade dos gestores entrevistados, especialmente entre os que desempenham as funções de gestão dos projetos sociais de sustentabilidade e entre os que gerenciam as demais dimensões da sustentabilidade na organização. Por fim, denota-se coerência, por parte da organização, na escolha dos profissionais que ocupam tais funções na organização pesquisada, tendo em vista a aderência observada entre seus perfis de personalidade e as atividades desempenhadas por eles. / Sustainability is a subject increasingly addressed in the academic and organizational environment. From a first definition - broad and general - about sustainable development, a series of studies for its development, intended to conceptualize sustainability and delimit its practices. A number of conceptual strands emerged, including the Triple Bottom Line model, which presupposes financial, environmental and social dimensions for the development of sustainability and its application can be seen in organizational contexts. In this paradigm, this research is based on the management by competences, concept widely used in the organizations for leverage of results. By conducting a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research, the research presented an analysis on sustainability management competencies of a case study in a Brazilian industry. Data collection included the procedure of bibliometric research, documentary research, interviews with the professionals of the organization and the application, in these, NEO-PI-R personalitu inventory. It is hoped that this work can contribute both to the development of new studies associated with such themes, and especially to facilitate the incorporation and application of sustainability in companies, in their operational, tactical and strategic spheres. The results of the research demonstrated the alignment between the organizational competencies in sustainability of the surveyed company and the Triple Bottom Line model, the complexity of its management and the constant need for revision and integration between its actions, as well as the mobilization of the several organizational areas that compose it . It was observed the existence of transversal functional competences in sustainabilitu management, besides functional specific competencies by function. It was also evidenced a great affinity between the personality profiles of the managers interviewed, especially among those who perform social in sustainability projects and among those who manage the other dimensions of sustainability in the organization. Finally, there is coherence on the part of the organization in the choice of the professionals who occupy these functions in the organization researched, due to an adherence observed in their personality profiles and their activities.

Submitted by Joana Azevedo (joanad@id.uff.br) on 2017-08-22T18:30:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-08-28T17:54:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-28T17:54:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Priscylla Mello A M D Leventis.pdf: 3255273 bytes, checksum: df7879b229f6137a25f5239c68cbdcd9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-23 / Sustentabilidade é um tema cada vez mais abordado nos meios acadêmico e organizacional. A partir de uma primeira definição - ampla e generalista - sobre o desenvolvimento sustentável, uma série de estudos foi desenvolvida, no intuito de conceituar a sustentabilidade e delimitar suas práticas. Vê-se emergir inúmeras vertentes conceituais, dentre elas o modelo do Triple Bottom Line, o qual pressupõe as dimensões financeira, ambiental e social para o desenvolvimento da sustentabilidade e cuja aplicabilidade pode ser vislumbrada em contextos organizacionais. Neste paradigma, esta pesquisa se baseia na gestão por competências, conceito amplamente utilizado nas organizações para a alavancagem de resultados. Mediante a realização de uma pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória, o presente trabalho apresenta uma análise acerca das competências necessárias à gestão da sustentabilidade, a partir de um estudo de caso em uma indústria brasileira. A coleta de dados contou com os procedimentos de pesquisa bibliométrica, pesquisa documental, realização de entrevistas com sete profissionais da referida organização e aplicação, nestes, do inventário de personalidade NEO-PI-R. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir, tanto para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos associando tais temáticas em questão, como sobretudo para facilitar a incorporação e aplicabilidade da sustentabilidade nas organizações, em suas esferas operacional, tática e estratégica. Os resultados da presente pesquisa demonstraram o alinhamento das competências organizacionais em sustentabilidade da empresa pesquisada com o modelo do Triple Bottom Line, a complexidade de sua gestão e a necessidade constante de revisão e integração entre suas ações, bem como a mobilização das diversas áreas organizacionais que a compõe. Observou-se a existência de competências funcionais em gestão da sustentabilidade transversais, além de competências funcionais específicas por função. Evidenciou-se, ainda, grande afinidade entre os perfis de personalidade dos gestores entrevistados, especialmente entre os que desempenham as funções de gestão dos projetos sociais de sustentabilidade e entre os que gerenciam as demais dimensões da sustentabilidade na organização. Por fim, denota-se coerência, por parte da organização, na escolha dos profissionais que ocupam tais funções na organização pesquisada, tendo em vista a aderência observada entre seus perfis de personalidade e as atividades desempenhadas por eles. / Sustainability is a subject increasingly addressed in the academic and organizational environment. From a first definition - broad and general - about sustainable development, a series of studies for its development, intended to conceptualize sustainability and delimit its practices. A number of conceptual strands emerged, including the Triple Bottom Line model, which presupposes financial, environmental and social dimensions for the development of sustainability and its application can be seen in organizational contexts. In this paradigm, this research is based on the management by competences, concept widely used in the organizations for leverage of results. By conducting a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research, the research presented an analysis on sustainability management competencies of a case study in a Brazilian industry. Data collection included the procedure of bibliometric research, documentary research, interviews with the professionals of the organization and the application, in these, NEO-PI-R personalitu inventory. It is hoped that this work can contribute both to the development of new studies associated with such themes, and especially to facilitate the incorporation and application of sustainability in companies, in their operational, tactical and strategic spheres. The results of the research demonstrated the alignment between the organizational competencies in sustainability of the surveyed company and the Triple Bottom Line model, the complexity of its management and the constant need for revision and integration between its actions, as well as the mobilization of the several organizational areas that compose it . It was observed the existence of transversal functional competences in sustainabilitu management, besides functional specific competencies by function. It was also evidenced a great affinity between the personality profiles of the managers interviewed, especially among those who perform social in sustainability projects and among those who manage the other dimensions of sustainability in the organization. Finally, there is coherence on the part of the organization in the choice of the professionals who occupy these functions in the organization researched, due to an adherence observed in their personality profiles and their activities.

Titel: Hållbarhetsrapportering - En kvantitativ studie om företag som påverkas av de nya direktiven i årsredovisningslagen väljer att presentera sin hållbarhetsrapport i årsredovisningen eller i en separat publikation. Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi, 15 HP Författare: Kristoffer Saglind & Egzon Selimi Handledare: Fredrik Hartwig Datum: 2019 – Januari Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om de svenska företag som påverkas av den nya reformen (SFS 2016:947) väljer att presentera sin hållbarhetsrapport i årsredovisningen eller i en separat publikation. Studien undersöker även om branschtillhörighet, antalet kvinnor i styrelsen och skuldsättningsgrad kan förklara om hållbarhetsrapporten presenteras i årsredovisningen eller i en separat publikation. Metod: Undersökningen utgår från den positivistiska traditionen och tillämpar en deduktiv ansats. För att besvara syftet har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi tillämpats genom en innehållsanalys samt att hypoteser har utformats för att sedan testas i en regressionsanalys. Datainsamlingen för undersökningen har inhämtats från databasen Retriever där alla aktiebolag som påverkas av den nya lagstiftningen undersöks. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att 45,42% av alla de undersökta företagen väljer att placera sin hållbarhetsrapport i årsredovisningen medan 54,58% presenterar den i ett separat dokument. Vidare så finner studien ett positivt signifikant samband mellan 2 av de 28 undersökta branscherna och att integrera hållbarhetsrapporten i årsredovisningen. Studien finner även ett positivt signifikant samband mellan antalet kvinnor i styrelsen och att ha en integrerad hållbarhetsrapport. Skuldsättningsgrad visar inget signifikant samband i undersökningen. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens praktiska bidrag är att sannolikheten är högre att ett företag inkluderar hållbarhetsrapporten i årsredovisningen ju fler kvinnor som finns i styrelsen. Vidare så tenderar företag verksamma inom branscherna ”företagstjänster” och ”fastighetsverksamhet” att placera hållbarhetsrapporten i årsredovisningen. Det teoretiska bidraget är att det finns ett positivt signifikant samband mellan antalet kvinnor i styrelsen, och till viss del branschtillhörighet med att integrera hållbarhetsrapporten i årsredovisningen. Vidare fann faktorerna skuldsättningsgrad och företagsstorlek inte något signifikant samband och kan därför inte förklara något. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi föreslår att vidare forskning bör undersöka huruvida andra faktorer kan förklara var ett företag väljer att placera sin hållbarhetsrapport. Vidare föreslår vi att vidare forskning bör undersöka hur det skiljer sig mellan olika länder där en liknande reglering finns. Denna undersökning bör då använda samma oberoende variabler för att studien skall bli jämförbar. / Title: Sustainability reporting - A quantitative study on how companies affected by the new directives regarding the annual report choose to present their sustainability report either in the annual report or in a separate document. Level: Bachelor thesis in Business Administration, 15 HP Author: Kristoffer Saglind & Egzon Selimi Supervisor: Fredrik Hartwig Date: 2019 – Januari Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate whether Swedish companies affected by the new reform (SFS 2016: 947) choose to present their sustainability report in the annual report or in a separate publication. The study also investigates whether industry affiliation, the number of women on the board and leverage can explain if the sustainability report is presented in the annual report or in a separate publication. Method: The study is based on a positivist philosophy and applies a deductive approach. In order to respond to the aim of the study a quantitative research strategy has been applied through a content analysis. Thus, hypothesis has been designed to then be tested in a regression analysis. Data collection for the survey has been retrieved from the database Retriever where all companies affected by the new legislation are being investigated. Result & Conclusions: The results of the study shows that 45.42% of all the companies investigated choose to place their sustainability report in their annual report, while 54.58% present it in a separate document. Furthermore, the study finds a positive significant correlation between 2 of the 28 investigated industries and integrating the sustainability report into the annual report. The study also finds a positive significant correlation between the number of women on the board and an integrated sustainability report. Finally, leverage show no significant correlation in the study. Contribution of the thesis: The practical contribution of the study is that the probability is higher that more women present on the board makes the probability higher that the sustainability report is included in the annual report. Furthermore, companies active in the sectors of "business services" and "real estate activities" tend to place the sustainability report in the annual report. The theoretical contribution is that there is a positive significant correlation between the factors number of women on the board, and to some extent the industry of the company in integrating the sustainability report in the annual report. Furthermore, the factors leverage and company size did not find any significant correlation and therefore can not explain anything. Suggestions for future research:  We propose that further research should investigate whether other factors can explain where a company chooses to place its sustainability report. Furthermore, we suggest that further research should investigate how it differs between different countries where a similar regulation exists. This study should then use the same independent variables to make the study comparable.

With the invention of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in 2009, the world's first blockchain application was developed. While academic research gradually begins to investigate cryptocurrencies more closely and attempt to understand their functioning, technology is rapidly evolving and ecosystems grow exponentially. The research is still scattered and chaotic and has not produced common guidelines. Therefore, the question remains: how sustainable cryptocurrencies and their digital ecosystems are.Only a few models and frameworks take a holistic view on digital sustainability. Only two frameworks were identified that take distributed ledger technologies (blockchain) or cryptocurrencies into consideration: the three governance strategies for digital sustainability of Linkov et al. (2018) and 10 basic conditions of sustainable digital artifacts according to Stuermer, Abu-Tayeh and Myrach (2016). These two frameworks were combined into a new integrated sustainability framework for cryptocurrencies. The developed integrated sustainability framework consists of four dimensions and 12 categories.Existing secondary data, self-conducted social media interviews and practical insights gained through an ASIC mining experiment were used to fill the framework with sufficient data. It confirms Bitcoin's sustainability problems in energy consumption and scalability, highlights Ethereum's great potential as a blockchain platform and explains the higher scalability and faster payment of Ripple and IOTA.While 2017 marked the temporary peak of the cryptocurrency hype, 2018 was a transformative year in which the leading cryptocurrencies were increasingly occupying more specialised niches.

Oil and gas companies in Alberta, Canada lose millions of dollars per year due to ineffective management of retired assets. Ineffective management of inactive oil and gas assets in Alberta has led to over 80,000 inactive wells, highlighting the practice of prolonged deferment of asset end-of-life costs. Using the corporate sustainability model and asset management concept model as frameworks, this multiple case study was conducted to explore the strategies that asset managers in small- and medium-sized oil and gas companies used to manage retired assets effectively to increase organizational sustainability. The population for the study included 3 business leaders of small- and medium-sized oil and gas companies in Alberta who implemented effective strategies to manage their retired assets. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with the leaders and review of artifacts including firm documents and websites. Data were compiled, disassembled into fragments, reassembled into a sequence of groups, clarified, and interpreted for meaning. Methodological triangulation and member checking validated the interpretations. Data analysis resulted in 7 themes: responsible leadership commitment, adoption and communication of corporate social responsibility philosophy, regulatory compliance, asset management software tools, dedicated inactive assets and reclamation champion/team, annual budget/long-term planning, and performance measurement/reporting. The findings may contribute to positive social change by providing insights for small- and medium-sized oil and gas business leaders on strategies for managing inactive assets and for fostering an environmental culture among employees that has beneficial impacts on their families and communities.

The Nigerian microfinance banks often close their offices abruptly, leading to the loss of shareholders' funds. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore strategies microfinance bank directors use to maintain business sustainability. The concepts of microfinance banking, sustainability value, and strategic management theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. Twenty managing directors from microfinance banks in the Anambra state of Nigeria participated in semistructured interviews. The data analysis process involved the use of Moussakas' modified van Kaam process, which resulted in the emergence of 3 themes: strategic management, fear of microlending, and maintaining sustainability. The emergent themes indicated the necessity of a strategic management focus on maintenance of sustainability, growth in microfinance banking knowledge, best practice implementations, savings mobilization, technological input, and expansion of microlending services. The implications for positive social change involved the potential for bank directors to apply these findings to improve Nigerian microfinance banking performance and provide regular payments of shareholders' dividends. The increase in shareholders' funds and provision of credit administration to indigent Nigerians may contribute to economic growth within local communities, decrease crime, and increase income generating business activities in Nigeria.

Abstract Sustainability has been one of the most discussed topics among the business world and society for the last decade. The globally growing concern about sustainability related issues has led to businesses and non-businesses meet the demand of their stakeholders by producing a sustainability report to demonstrate their work and development in sustainability and how they have measured it. There has been a fast-growing trend of sustainability reporting in few years and there are a number of different initiatives and requirements that define what kind of sustainability reports are produced. From the different sustainability initiatives, the largest principle-based initiative is the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) with almost 13 000 signatories and the largest reporting-based initiative is the Global reporting initiative (GRI). These two initiatives entered in to a partnership in 2010 with the aim of the GRI providing guidance for the signatories on how to disclose information from different areas in sustainability in their sustainability reports. There has been previous research that criticized the UNGC to be too broad and the principles difficult to translate in to sustainability reporting despite the existing partnership with the GRI. These previous studies expressed the lack of qualitative studies about the subject especially from the signatories’ perspective and the importance of approaching the topic from a practical point of view. The purpose of our research study was to create an understanding of the practicalities in UNGC signatories’ sustainability reporting, the challenges they face in the progress and how are they approaching those challenges. The thesis focuses on the Nordic region and the two research questions are:   How are the UNGC signatories practically translating the 10 principles into their sustainability reporting? What challenges do UNGC signatories find in sustainability reporting in general and how have they approached these challenges?   To answer these research questions the authors conducted a qualitative study by semi-structured interviews with company representatives from different Nordic UNGC signatories. The research study identified how do they practically identify what to report about the principles which is determined by materiality assessment provided by the GRI framework. This determines what is material for the company and its industry and focus on those areas in their sustainability report. Legal requirements, internal regulations and other commitments were also identified guiding sustainability reporting. The main challenges related to the sustainability reporting were mainly about data related issues, satisfying the stakeholders and the high number of different frameworks and regulations that are not necessarily interrelated. Majority of the participants approached these challenges by carrying out the materiality assessment as accurate and clear as possible in order to avoid data related difficulties. Some participants offer their different stakeholders with sustainability related information by different forms in order to make the sustainability reporting easier to read and understand. For the high number of frameworks and regulations, the participants have expectations for alignment among them in the future in order to make the reporting easier for everyone involved with sustainability reporting. The results of our findings were supported by theories and concepts such as the stakeholder’s theory, signalling theory and the CSR concept. Previous studies about sustainability reporting and UNGC were also compared to our findings in the analysis.

Since 1970s neoclassical economics has been identified as a major obstacle for reaching sustainability. Despite the world's growing attention to sustainability education, there has been just few attempts to assess the content and the competency building of sustainable development (SD) postgraduate programs. None has been evaluating if and how economics is integrated in such curricula. This study fills this gap in the empirical research by conducting a novel assessment of six leading SD transdisciplinary master programs in Sweden. Our study uses a qualitative approach to inquire how these programs teach students to understand, challenge and reorient dominant neoclassical economics and the reasoning behind it. Results revealed that the absence of an agreed-upon definition of both the economy and sustainability lead to the wide range of approaches on how to introduce the place and the role of the economy. Every program relies on their own understanding, perspectives and resourcefulness, while agreeing that their teaching should challenge neoclassical economics and engage their students in the various scales of system change. Yet, the time allocated to economics teaching does not exceed 8% of the programs ECTS. We argue that economics should take a much bigger place in postgraduate SD education. A proposed “transdisciplinary economics” calls for more collaboration with students, academia and outside of academia in a joint search for economic alternatives.

abstract: City governments are increasingly incorporating urban and peri-urban agriculture into their policies and programs, a trend seen as advancing sustainability, development, and food security. Urban governance can provide new opportunities for farmers, but it also creates structures to control their activities, lands, and purposes. This study focused on Mexico City, which is celebrated for its agricultural traditions and policies. The study examined: 1) the functions of urban and peri-urban agriculture that the Government of Mexico City (GMC) manages and prioritizes; 2) how the GMC’s policies have framed farmers, and how that framing affects farmers’ identity and purpose; and 3) how the inclusion of agrarian activities and lands in the city’s climate-change adaptation plan has created opportunities and obstacles for farmers. Data was collected through participant observation of agricultural and conservation events, informal and semi-structured interviews with government and agrarian actors, and analysis of government documents and budgets. Analysis of policy documents revealed that the GMC manages agriculture as an instrument for achieving urban objectives largely unrelated to food: to conserve the city’s watershed and provide environmental services. Current policies negatively frame peri-urban agriculture as unproductive and a source of environmental contamination, but associate urban agriculture with positive outcomes for development and sustainability. Peri-urban farmers have resisted this framing, asserting that the GMC inadequately supports farmers’ watershed conservation efforts, and lacks understanding of and concern for farmers’ needs and interests. The city’s climate plan implicitly considers farmers to be private providers of public adaptation benefits, but the plan’s programs do not sufficiently address the socioeconomic changes responsible for agriculture’s decline, and therefore may undermine the government’s climate adaptation objectives. The findings illuminate the challenges for urban governance of agriculture. Farms do not become instruments for urban sustainability, development, and food security simply because the government creates policies for them. Urban governments will be more likely to achieve their goals for agriculture by being transparent about their objectives, honestly evaluating how well those objectives fit with farmers’ needs and interests, cultivating genuine partnerships with farmers, and appropriately compensating farmers for the public benefits they provide. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2017

La théorie du signal soutient qu’une entreprise qui limite l'étendue de sa communication sociale et environnementale limite la capacité de ses parties prenantes à évaluer son degré réel de performance en termes de développement durable, lui permettant potentiellement d’atteindre une meilleure performance financière. Cependant la transparence est une norme institutionnalisée à laquelle ces parties prenantes sont attachées. Les entreprises peuvent donc ne pas être capables de limiter l’étendue de leur communication sans être pénalisées. Cette thèse soulève donc la question de savoir si les entreprises peuvent stratégiquement limiter leur communication sociale et environnementale afin d’atteindre des niveaux de profit plus élevés, ou si la pression de conformité à la norme de transparence affaiblit ces stratégies. Cette thèse démontre économétriquement que les agences de notation sociale et environnementale ne convergent pas dans leur évaluation des entreprises, soutenant l'hypothèse que les entreprises sont capables de limiter la capacité des parties prenantes à évaluer leur degré de performance sociale et environnementale. Cette thèse démontre également que les entreprises les moins durables, et les plus réputées, sont les plus susceptibles de limiter l’étendue de leur communication, que les entreprises les plus durables accèdent à de plus hauts retours financiers sur le court et long terme lorsqu'elles adoptent une communication exhaustive, et que les entreprises les moins durables au contraire sont plus rentables sur le court terme quand elles limitent l’étendue de leur communication. Cette thèse montre donc que, conformément à la théorie du signal, les entreprises peuvent à court terme stratégiquement ajuster l’étendue de leur communication sociale et environnementale afin d’atteindre de plus hauts retours financiers. Cependant, sur le long terme, la pression de conformité à la norme de transparence est trop élevée, et limite les bénéfices de telles stratégies. / The signaling perspective argues that when a firm limits the extent of its sustainability disclosure, it prevents stakeholders from evaluating its achieved degree of sustainability performance, and may thus reach higher financial returns. However, transparency is an institutionalized norm that stakeholders value, and firms may not be able to limit their disclosure without being penalized. This thesis therefore raises the question of whether firms can strategically limit their sustainability disclosure to reach higher profits, or if pressure for conformity to the norm of transparency exists and weakens such strategies. Using econometrical methods, this thesis empirically shows that sustainability raters do not converge in their assessment of firms’ sustainability performance, supporting the assumption that firmsmay prevent stakeholders from evaluating their actual degree of sustainability. It also shows that less sustainable and more reputed firms are more likely to limit their sustainability disclosure, that highly sustainable firms encounter higher short and long term financial returns when they adopt an extensive disclosure, and that less sustainable firms, on the contrary are more profitable in the short term when theylimit their disclosure. This thesis therefore shows that in line with the signaling perspective, firms may strategically adjust the extent on their disclosure to reach higher returns in the short term. However, in the long term, normative pressure for transparency is too high and weakens the benefits of such strategies.