STAKEHOLDERS-DRIVEN SUSTAINABILITY PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

Sustainability assessments tools are usually developed and applied by technical staff exposing a clear opportunity to stakeholders effectively contribute to the process. In this perspective, stakeholders-driven sustainability... [ view full abstract ]

Sustainability assessments tools are usually developed and applied by technical staff exposing a clear opportunity to stakeholders effectively contribute to the process. In this perspective, stakeholders-driven sustainability performance assessment can be a key tool for organizational management, complementing formal performance assessments. At the same time it can effectively empower stakeholders at organizational level. This research aims to develop a tool of informal/complementary stakeholders-driven sustainability performance assessment to be integrated in the formal sustainability performance assessment models. This tool reflects a checklist composed by questions covering the main sustainability domains that aims to evaluate three dimensions: i) stakeholders’ perceptions on the organizational sustainability performance; ii) self-evaluation of stakeholders’ individual sustainability practices in their workplace; and iii) collection of sustainability qualitative data by direct observation. The checklist development was based on literature review, expert knowledge and a participatory workshop to collect contributions of a public sector organization’s employees as a case study. Nineteen participants evaluated the understanding, usefulness and reliability of the preliminary checklist. The quantitative and qualitative employees’ judgements and the experts’ contributions were taking into account to validate the tool. A final stakeholders’ checklist is then proposed reducing, simplifying and clarifying items pointed out by the participants. This research reinforces the importance given to the existence of a stakeholders-driven sustainability performance assessment tool, although there is a lack of confidence relative to the practical impact on the organizational management. Despite the limitations, stakeholders’ involvement was an essential component of the proposed framework otherwise it could not be possible to bring out qualitative aspects crucial for the checklist reformulation. The potential use of this tool will be able to contribute and complement the formal sustainability performance assessment in the public sector, and also encourage companies to rethink theirs actual management and assessment models.