Stakeholders Prioritários e a Ecologia Profunda: as contradições reveladas pelas divulgações ambientais nos relatórios de sustentabilidade

Abstract

The issue of stakeholders is a relevant theme in organizational studies, because according to Freeman (1984), the interests and claims of stakeholders must be taken into account in the decision-making process. In this context, companies are charged to disclose information about what they are doing, not only to investors, but also to all stakeholders, who in some way are affected or affect the activities performed. A topic considered important by all stakeholders is environmental issues, which are increasingly becoming the focus of the world, at different levels. Also, in this context, Naess (1973) proposed the term Deep Ecology, in which she divided the movements related to the environment, between a superficial and deep approach, being the superficial term applied when the practices are defended, because nature has value for the human being and the deep movement considers it with intrinsic value. In this context, this research was conducted with the objective of analyzing how environmental disclosures can reveal the contradictions between priority stakeholders and ecological philosophies contained in sustainability reports. In relation to methodology, in relation to the problem, it is classified as qualitative, in relation to the objective, it is classified as descriptive and in relation to procedures, it is classified as documental. For the documentary analysis, 18 sustainability reports were used, in which the model of priority stakeholders, proposed by Mitchell et al. (1997), was applied, the identification through key words, of the study by Boaventura et al. (2017) and the classification of practices related to the environment, through the superficial/raso, intermediate and deep paradigm. The selected companies have activities considered of high environmental impact, according to Law 6.938/81 and are organizations considered eligible by ISE (Corporate Sustainability Index), for presenting commitments related to the environment. The results showed that the environmental disclosures prioritize the stakeholders, Government and Community and do not focus on deep environmental practices, revealing the contradiction between them. Both groups have the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency, a fact that classifies them as definitive audiences of interest. Other interest groups, such as clients, employees, suppliers, investors, competitors and NGOs, were also identified, but according to the model used, it was not possible to perceive the attributes, to be considered priority. In relation to environmental paradigms, the disclosures presented a prioritization by practices related to superficial ecology, always seeking the internal interests of the company or its stakeholders, when performing some practice related to the environment. Then, the intermediate ecology was identified as the second most used, because other practices focused on the environment, but still linked to the interests of the company/stakeholders. Finally, deep ecology presented itself as less addressed, having only some isolated practices, which consider nature with intrinsic value, not depending on the utility employed to it. From these findings, it was possible to identify that the companies present contradictions, in relation to the disclosures about environmental practices, because their actions are influenced by audiences of interest and not focused on deep ecology, which is concerned with nature, for its value itself.