Sustainability standard setting as local government matter: an Italian experience

ABSTRACT

Sustainability is a globally targeted concept widely debated in the literature, but still seeking a commonly agreed operationalization within applicable standards. The role of standard setter is commonly played by multi-stakeholder international organizations aiming at offering sound solutions for all kind of organizations, while what could be the role of a local government (LG) as sustainability standard setter and how this could impact on the definitions, rubrics, and measurement of sustainability is currently under-investigated. The case of an Italian LG already acting as standard setter allows to understand the reasons for, the strengths and the weaknesses of territorially bounded standards.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• local government
• standard setter
• metrics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francesca Pepe

Francesca Pepe, PhD. in Business Administration. Her main research interests are: public accounting; strategic planning for public organizations; performance management and measurement in public sector organizations. She was a visiting PhD. student at the Lund University (Sweden) and research fellow at University of Pavia. Since January 2017 she is an independent researcher.

Sergio Paternostro

Sergio Paternostro, PhD, is research fellow in business administration at the University of Palermo, where he teaches ‘Business Administration’. His main research interests are: corporate social responsibility; social and integrated disclosure; organized crime. He was a visiting PhD. student at the IESE Business School (Barcelona – Spain) and a visiting researcher at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Albacete – Spain).

Patrizio Monfardini

Patrizio Monfardini, PhD, is associate professor in business administration at the University of Cagliari (Italy), where he teaches ‘Business Administration’ and ‘Public Sector Management’. His main research interests are: social and integrated disclosure; performance management and measurement in public sector organizations. He was a visiting PhD. student at the Kristianstad University (Sweden) and a visiting researcher at the Zeppelin University (Germany).