Initiating sustainable development reporting: evidence from New Zealand Jan Bebbington University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK Colin Higgins Faculty of Business and Law, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and Bob Frame Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Lincoln, New Zealand Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document organizations’ self descriptions of why they initiated sustainable development (SD) reporting and explore these explanations using an institutional theory framework. Design/methodology/approach – Constructs organizational narratives from semi-structured in-depth interviews with reporting champions who participated in an SD reporting workshop series. The narratives are analysed using institutional theory to explore how regulatory, normative and cognitive institutions combine with organizational dynamics to influence SD reporting activity. Findings – For these particular organizations, choosing to engage in reporting appears not to be a rational choice. Rather reporting is initiated because it has come to be an accepted part of pursuing a differentiation strategy, it offers some contribution to existing business challenges, and organizations value the rewards it offers. This rationale constitutes a cognitive mechanism within institutional theory. Originality/value – The paper provides useful information on initiating sustainable development reporting based on organizations’ self descriptions. Keywords Corporate social responsibility, Sustainable development, Narratives, New Zealand Paper type Research paper Introduction In recent years commentators have sought to understand why some organizations undertake social and environmental reporting (SDR)[1] and what drivers exist in the external (societal) and internal (organizational) environment for reporting (Buhr, 1988, 2002; Cormier and Gordon, 2001; Adams, 2002; Solomon and Lewis, 2002). Papers considering reporting have attempted to deduce motivations from the pattern of social/environmental disclosures in the annual report and accounts package The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-3574.htm The authors thank Richard Gordon, Ann Smith and Ian Whitehouse of Manaaki Whenua, Landcare Research, New Zealand for their assistance. The time and input from interviewees of the six companies involved in the study are gratefully acknowledged. The work was funded in part through the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology programme “Building capacity for sustainable development: The enabling research” (C09X0310). Comments on earlier versions of this paper from Nola Buhr, Javier Husillos and Crawford Spence are also most gratefully acknowledged. The input of two anonymous reviewers also greatly improved this paper. AAAJ 22,4 588 Received 29 May 2005 Revised 19 December 2006 Accepted 20 August 2008 Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal Vol. 22 No. 4, 2009 pp. 588-625 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0951-3574 DOI 10.1108/09513570910955452