Purpose

This study aims to explore to what extent stakeholder engagement affects the sustainability reporting (SR) process and if it succeeds in facilitating the encounter between demand and supply of accountability, as well as the main challenges of this practice, by focusing on a crucial and under-investigated public sector area, the judicial system.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts an action research (AR) approach. Specifically, it focuses on a specific phase (i.e. stakeholder engagement) of the broader project that was carried on from 2019 in an Italian Public Prosecutor’s Office. Data were collected from multiple sources, i.e. written notes and reports gathered during meetings, the survey administered to stakeholders and the published sustainability reports.

Findings

Stakeholder engagement may be a valuable and effective tool for improving the level of accountability, as it increases the responsiveness of SR to the informative needs of stakeholders. However, the study also highlights some critical points that must be addressed to exploit this fully. Among these is the need to act upstream of the process by working on an accounting system that goes beyond the economic dynamics and can effectively answer the accountability demand.

Originality/value

The study contributes to theoretical and empirical knowledge by exploring a topic and a public sphere still limited investigated, i.e. the stakeholder engagement in sustainability in the judicial sector. The AR approach also presents some originality points, as it is low widespread in management and accounting literature.

中文翻译：

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加强问责制和可持续发展报告：利益相关者的参与真的有效吗？来自司法部门的证据

目的

本研究旨在探讨利益相关者的参与在多大程度上影响可持续发展报告（SR）流程，以及它是否成功地促进了问责制的需求和供给之间的接触，以及这种做法的主要挑战，通过关注关键和欠缺的问题- 调查公共部门领域、司法系统。

设计/方法论/途径

该研究采用行动研究（AR）方法。具体来说，它侧重于意大利检察官办公室自 2019 年起开展的更广泛项目的特定阶段（即利益相关者参与）。数据从多个来源收集，即会议期间收集的书面笔记和报告、向利益相关者进行的调查以及已发布的可持续发展报告。

发现

利益相关者参与可能是提高问责水平的有价值且有效的工具，因为它提高了 SR 对利益相关者信息需求的响应能力。然而，该研究还强调了充分利用这一点必须解决的一些关键点。其中之一是需要在流程的上游采取行动，建立一个超越经济动态并能有效满足问责要求的会计系统。

原创性/价值

该研究通过探索一个仍受到有限调查的主题和公共领域，即利益相关者对司法部门可持续发展的参与，为理论和经验知识做出了贡献。 AR 方法还提出了一些独创性点，因为它在管理和会计文献中的普及程度较低。