Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting: A classification model

Abstract This study presents analysis criteria used to identify and classify the level of engagement between firms and stakeholders. We analyzed 119 sustainability reports disclosed by companies operating in the energy sector from 40 different countries. Our study adopted the following stakeholder engagement classification levels: information strategy, response strategy, and involvement strategy. The results show that, although strategic involvement actions are at a high quality level, they are the least adopted by the companies studied, which concentrate their engagement actions at the least complex levels. Our contribution is to propose a matrix of engagement strategies as a tool that is formed by nine strategic quadrants, providing clear differentiation between engagement strategies that can be used to improve sustainability reports and to rethink the quality and focus of actions with stakeholders.