Abstract:

The concept of sustainability is constantly used in the environment, tourism and architectural fields as well as in and economies. In this study, sustainability reports of operating in Turkey and included in the BIST Sustainability Index, based on the Global Reporting Initiative Guide, have been studied in economic, environmental and social categories. The purpose of the study is to determine how much the concepts of sustainability are explained in. The study examined the sustainability reports of companies included in the BIST Sustainability Index using the Nvivo program and the content analysis method and evaluated the results of the analysis of how companies included in the BIST Sustainability Index reported the concept of sustainability. The most emphasized element in economic sustainability was economic performance, products and services in environmental sustainability, and social sustainability in employment and occupational health and safety. In addition, according to the results of regression within the work scope, the increase in the age of the company and the number of employees, the content of the companies’ sustainability reports becomes more comprehensive. Keywords: Sustainability, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), BIST Sustainability Index, Enterprise Age, Enterprise Size JEL Classification: F65, M10, M40, M42, M49, O16, P45

Keywords:

Abstract:

The concept of sustainability is continuously used in the environment, tourism, architecture, businesses and economy. In this study, the sustainability reports of public companies listed in BIST Sustainability Index are analysed under economic, environment and social categories identified by in the Global Reporting Initiative Reporting Guide. The aim of the study is to determine the disclosure practices of listed companies about sustainability issues. The sustainability reports of companies listed in BIST Sustainability Index are analysed with content analysis using Nvivo software programme and the result of the analysis are evaluated. The results of the study indicated that the most highlighted issues are as follows; in economic sustainability economic performance, in environmental sustainability products and services, in social sustainability employee and, health and safety issues. Further, the results of the regression analysis indicate that as the firm age and number of employees increase firms issue more comprehensive sustainability reports. Key Words: Sustainability, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), BIST Sustainability Index, Company Age, Company Size JEL Classification: F65, M10, M40, M42, M49, O16, P45