Patrizia Tettamanzi

Recent regulatory initiatives, including the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), are reinforcing the demand for more structured, transparent, and accessible sustainability reporting. However, empirical evidence on how digital tools influence the narrative dimension of these disclosures remains limited. This study explores the relationship between digitalization and the textual attributes of sustainability reporting in a civil law country context. Focusing on Italian listed companies, it investigates how the presence of digital tools and references within non‐financial reports relates to the quality of narrative content, with attention to aspects such as clarity, conciseness, and tone. Using content analysis and multivariate regression, the research explores how digital content relates to dimensions such as completeness, conciseness, readability, and tone. The findings highlight complex and differentiated effects of digitalization on the narrative quality of sustainability reports, offering implications for firms, regulators, and scholars engaged in shaping future ESG communication practices.

Purpose: This study examines how sustainable practices are implemented and communicated in Italian restaurants awarded the Michelin Green Star restaurant (MGSR). This study aims to assess the level of online transparency and identify the gap between operational sustainability and how it is communicated to the public. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods research approach was adopted. Firstly, a content analysis was carried out on the official websites of all 58 MGSR restaurants in Italy, with a view to examining six key dimensions of sustainability. Secondly, an in-depth case study was conducted through an interview with the chef at Casa Format, a restaurant renowned for its advanced sustainability practices. Findings: The findings highlight a clear imbalance in sustainability communication. While high-profile practices, such as sustainable menus, are widely publicised (94%), more complex and less tangible aspects – such as energy efficiency (14%) and community engagement (28%) – continue to be poorly communicated. The case study also highlights a significant gap between implementation and communication, demonstrating that even the most advanced practices often fail to translate into effective signals for stakeholders. These findings suggest that sustainability communication in the luxury hospitality sector is selective and fails to fully capture the depth of operational commitment. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to website-based analysis and a single case study. Future research should broaden the empirical scope through more comprehensive qualitative and quantitative approaches and explore alternative communication channels, including interactions between customers and staff and on-site communication. Practical implications: The findings provide practical guidance for restaurants, policymakers and industry bodies on how to improve transparency on the topic of sustainability. In particular, regarding the adoption of minimum disclosure standards and how the incorporation of communication practices into sustainability certification schemes could enhance the visibility and credibility of sustainable gastronomy. Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing literature by conceptualising the gap between implementation and communication as a failure of reporting, demonstrating how limited disclosure prevents sustainability practices from gaining legitimacy and standing out. Furthermore, it expands research on luxury services by highlighting the challenges associated with communicating sustainability in experiential and intangible contexts.

In recent years, organizations are adapting their control systems to meet institutional demands for sustainability disclosure. However, the process of integrating sustainability within management control systems (MCSs) remains underexplored, despite extensive literature on sustainability controls. Through the review of 85 articles, we investigate how the integration process unfolds, how and why it is addressed by different actors and identify avenues for future research. We developed an analytical framework that highlights key actors shaping the process, their purposes, the main dimensions of integration and its potential barriers. We contribute to theory by proposing an extended framing of the process, which comprises a conceptual dimension (embedding of sustainability values and interconnection of MCSs and sustainability control systems) and a technical dimension (architecture design). We also offer practical and policy insights, clarifying the influential actors' roles, suggesting different ways to configure integrated systems and illustrating how organizations respond differently to institutional pressures.