Developing stakeholder engagement as a prerequisite to sustainability reporting: the case of the UK supermarket sector

This paper contends that the accounts exchanged within stakeholder engagement and dialogue initiatives with organizations can be viewed as being a practice of mutual learning. The discussion instituted with and by stakeholders has the potential to bring about change in perceptions of the organizational actions and their social and environmental impact.
Drawing upon the above points, the paper aims to critically analyse the learning capabilities of stakeholder engagement, as part of the social and environmental accountability process. The research provides theoretically informed empirical insights into the extent to which stakeholder engagement is conceptualised and used as a means to facilitate dialogue and mutual understanding with stakeholders.