The role of Sustainability Reporting in B2B companies and its impact on customer behavior

Abstract

This paper investigates the current status of Sustainability Reporting in the European Union and its influence on sales practices and customer behavior. The concept of Sustainability Reporting has steadily risen in importance in the last two decades. After the seen need for a standardized framework for Sustainability Reporting in the EU, the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive with additional European Sustainability Reporting Standards has been established in 2023. This research contributes to the understanding of how and how much the upcoming trend of Sustainability Reporting is influencing the choice of customers when searching for a new supplier and how sales professionals adapt their strategies accordingly. To address this research gap, the presented study employs a qualitative research approach. The first step is a literature review, explaining the background of Sustainability Reporting and the current influence of Sustainability Reporting in business practices. The second step are qualitative interviews with selected sales professionals and customers from the railway industry. Following, the interviews are analyzed with the computer aided text analysis software MAXQDA 24. The gathered information was used to answer the research questions. The findings reveal that Sustainability Reporting is gaining more and more importance in business surroundings, but is not fully integrated in the sales process yet. Depending on company size, most companies are highly engaged in driving sustainable initiatives in their business, but do not see any need from the customers side, to integrate the argumentation about sustainability reports in their sales negotiations yet. Whereas customers see sustainability reports as a sign of credibility for a potential supplier, price and quality are still the determining factors when it comes to a final choice. The relevance of this study lies in contribution to the limited availability of publications concerning the effects of Sustainability Reporting on business practices and customer choices. Further, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of this study, such as the restricted time frame and only little literature about the effects of Sustainability Reporting in general. Another limitation is also the number of participants in the interviews. Future research could focus on getting more qualitative information from a broader geographically perspective. Additionally, it must be taken into account that in the timeframe in which this thesis is written, only few companies had to face the influence of Sustainability Reporting on their business yet, which would be an indicator that this study could be done in a similar way, but at a later point in time.

Datum der Bewilligung	2024
Originalsprache	Englisch
Betreuer/-in	Georg Feichtinger (Betreuer*in)