ESG Initiative–Led Corporate Reporting Practices: A Legitimate Move Towards Combating Climate Change

Legitimacy is a key underlying motive for a firm to disclose its environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. The literature has undermined the potential of legitimacy theory in advancing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting. The study has utilized a mixed method approach with a focus on the tourism and hospitality sector, which is a significant contributor to climate change. Study A performs a qualitative analysis of the sustainability reports of tourism and hospitality firms with the objective of establishing ESG initiatives as the essence of the sustainability reports. Study B involves a qualitative analysis of the data collected from tourism and hospitality experts with a focus on establishing strategies to gain and maintain legitimacy in this sector. The findings of this study help in bridging the literature gaps by establishing that the ESG disclosures based on tangible initiatives meet the information needs and the expectations of the stakeholders on climate change combat actions. Furthermore, it demonstrates how ESG initiatives undertaken by the tourism and hospitality firms can act as substantive business strategies that enable firms to gain and maintain legitimacy in front of their stakeholders.