Relational transparency and the constant report : interrogating transparency & reporting practices in environmental governance

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorGanesh, Shiv
dc.contributor.committeeMemberStohl, Cynthia
dc.contributor.committeeMemberScott, Craig
dc.contributor.committeeMemberTreem, Jeffrey
dc.creatorHarness, Delaney
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-0149-8651
dc.date.accessioned2022-11-16T02:10:39Z
dc.date.available2022-11-16T02:10:39Z
dc.date.created2022-08
dc.date.issued2022-08-10
dc.date.submittedAugust 2022
dc.date.updated2022-11-16T02:10:40Z
dc.description.abstractGovernance by disclosure has been the longstanding expectation for global environmental governance bodies but increases in federal regulations have caused changes to perceptions and practices of transparency. Using interviews with executive directors for the UN Global Compact and its national secretariats, the dissertation introduces a relational approach to transparency by highlighting three prominent relationship types in the network of the United Nations Global Compact. The first relationship between the UNGC to corporations can be perceived in terms of partnerism, and transparency here is practiced as embedded disclosure. The second relationship is between governments and corporations and can be perceived as co-optive; here, transparency is practiced as mandatory disclosure. The third relationship is between corporate actors, where the relationship is perceived as co-opetitive, and transparency is practiced as selective disclosure. The implications of this relational perspective of transparency include (1) transparency is understood as multidimensional, (2) transparency recursively shapes the network, and (3) transparency distorts power asymmetries. Although there is a longstanding tradition of environmental reporting among corporate actors, there are reasons to assume that environmental reporting has changed in an era of visibility. This dissertation then uses an extended case study of IKEA environmental reporting and sustainability communication practices to advance the notion of a constant report, a kind of sustained sustainability campaign where information is constant, relentless, and highly visible. I derive six characteristics of the constant report, including (1) the constant report is visible; (2) the constant report is networked; (3) the constant report is pluralistic; (4) the constant report is personalized; (5) the constant report is promotional; (6) the constant report is performative. This has important implications for digital ubiquity on environmental reporting, exploring a concept called authentic babble to denote the simultaneous authenticity and performativity that occurs within environmental reporting today.
dc.description.departmentCommunication Studies
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2152/116711
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/43606
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectTransparency
dc.subjectEnvironmental governance
dc.subjectUnited Nations Global Compact
dc.subjectRelationality
dc.subjectEnvironmental reporting
dc.titleRelational transparency and the constant report : interrogating transparency & reporting practices in environmental governance
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.departmentCommunication Studies
thesis.degree.disciplineCommunication Studies
thesis.degree.grantorThe University of Texas at Austin
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

Access full-text files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
HARNESS-DISSERTATION-2022.pdf
Size:
10.9 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt
Size:
4.45 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
1.84 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

UT Electronic Theses and Dissertations