Environmental disclosure management: a constructivist case

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to present a framework to create a better understanding of the context and to aid the environmental disclosure management process. The paper seeks to present a case study illustrating the proposed methodology for assessing environmental disclosure management.

Design/methodology/approach

The ProKnow‐C process is used to identify the opportunities in the literature and the MCDA‐C methodology is used in order to build up the environmental disclosure management (MED) model.

Findings

First the ProKnow‐C process was used to identify opportunities in the literature about environmental disclosure and later the MCDA‐C methodology was used to discover the opportunities and to show a process for generating actions to promote improvement in environmental disclosure.

Practical implications

The case study allowed the manager to develop an understanding of environmental disclosure, showing that organizational performance is the key factor according to managers' perception. This knowledge allowed the manager to identify what the company needs to improve in its environmental disclosure regarding the following aspects: targets for using water, energy program, management of effluent and waste, biodiversity, adaptation to emergency plans, training and environmental awareness, expanding the coverage of the certification process and increasing operational performance in specific indicators relating to the electricity sector (pruning control, fire and oil spill).

Originality/value

The structured process of the MCDA‐C methodology enabled a model to be built that showed graphically and numerically the systemic diagnosis of environment disclosure, allowing the manager to know the consequences of a decision a priori and to suggest a set of improvement actions.

Citation

Silva da Rosa, F., Rolim Ensslin, S., Ensslin, L. and Joao Lunkes, R. (2012), "Environmental disclosure management: a constructivist case", Management Decision, Vol. 50 No. 6, pp. 1117-1136. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211238364