Comparative sustainability disclosure in state-owned enterprises: insights from Oceania countries

Purpose Given their ownership model and mandates, state-owned companies (SOEs) are expected to be guardians of sustainability principles encompassing environmental, social, governance and economic considerations, as sustained by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This implies that they have a responsibility to act responsibly socially and operate with transparency and accountability. Within this premise, this paper aims to explore the voluntary sustainability disclosure of SOEs in New Zealand and Australia from 2020 to 2022. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a content analysis approach to examine the voluntary sustainability disclosure of the selected SOEs in the respective nations. The analysis focused on the annual/integrated sustainability reports, as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reports of the SOEs. A disclosure index developed from the 2021 revised GRI Standards indicators was used to assess the level of compliance of the sampled SOEs with the sustainability disclosure requirements outlined in the GRI Standards. The authors used Atlas.ti (Version 24), a qualitative data analysis software, for organizing data points (annual/integrated/GRI/sustainability reports) for data analysis. Findings The findings suggest that the sustainability disclosure of the selected SOEs in both nations is generally inadequate, given the uneven pattern observed across the three-year period. Overall, the results of the study appear to suggest that Australian SOEs exhibit superior sustainability disclosure compared to their New Zealand counterparts, except in environmental sustainability. Among the four sustainability practices considered using the GRI index in New Zealand, environmental sustainability had the greatest disclosure, followed by governance sustainability and then social sustainability, before economic sustainability. Australia’s disclosure on governance sustainability ranked best, followed by environmental and social sustainability, with economic sustainability trailing behind. Generally, the results further indicate that the SOEs also inadequately disclose the generic indicators that may be considered key to all organizations and their operations. The authors gave insights into the likely events of the results before further discussing the results in terms of what the focus of SOEs regarding sustainability disclosure should entail, before analyzing the research, policy and practical consequences of this work and then offering suggestions for further study. Practical implications Considering the characteristics and mandates of SOEs, part of being socially responsible is using public resources in the form of taxpayers’ money in an efficient, effective and accountable manner. The discussion in this paper indicates that paying attention to sustainability issues is part of a broader accountability mechanism expected from SOEs. In this context, the study following its findings noted that for sustainability disclosure to improve in SOEs, owning departments should endeavor to be transparent in constituting the executives of SOEs as well as the board members, as this has direct implications on the activities of the executives, including attention to sustainability practices. Social implications Most SOEs’ mission statements urge them to be socially responsible and improve their owning states’ economies. This rationale alone suggests SOEs should consider sustainability practices, whether they are mandatory or not. Accounting for and disclosing sustainability issues ensures that SOEs pay adequate attention to these issues, thereby improving the impact of SOEs on sustainability disclosure. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper appears to be the first SOE comparative analysis on this topic in Oceania, and it contributes to the developing literature on sustainability disclosure in SOEs, considering that the notable earlier contribution on this topic is in the private sector with only one similar study on sustainability reporting/disclosure in SOEs, acknowledging that there are studies that focused on environmental, social and governance and corporate social responsibility. In this regard, the authors contribute to the developing literature on social, environmental, governance and economic sustainability practices, especially regarding sustainability accounting and disclosure in SOEs, by extending the previous study on sustainability in the context of SOEs, which is about five years.