Short summary of dissertation:

Electric utility companies (EUC) play a key role toward implementing ambitious climate change aims with the focus on economic, social and ecological concerns being under critical scrutiny by regulators and stakeholders. However, EUC provide an under-researched field regarding sustainability reporting and the implementation of Sustainability Management Control Systems (SMCS) – both aspects of Sustainability Management (SM) for Sustainability Development (SD). This dissertation analyzes sustainability reports (SR) and SMCS in EUC. A twofold documentary analysis of GRI-G4 SR by EUC followed by quantitative analyses were conducted. Neo-institutionalism, strategic stakeholder theory, stewardship theory and ‘Logic and conversation theory’ serve as theoretical lenses. Furthermore, in-depth interviews in Austrian public EUC are conducted to identify the implementation and use of SMCS in EUC. This dissertation builds on ‘MCS as a package’ and institutional logics to analyze the Sustainability Development (SD) in EUC. Findings show that the coverage in SR is mediocre. Private and listed EUC show better coverage rates than public and not-listed in SR by EUC. Materiality does not guide the reporting practice. Selective homogenization, insufficient stakeholder compliance and a mediocre communication quality are noticed in the sector. Managers cope with integrating hybrid logics for SD and implementing selectively coupled SMCS making sense by building a communication-bridge between the strategic and operative level creating awareness. This implies the use of informal controls and the focus on administrative- and cultural controls as main control mechanisms for SM. This dissertation contributes by focusing on the under-researched electricity sector. It provides practical reporting insights for EUC, the GRI and regulators. Findings allow for better understanding the control mechanisms behind SM.