Social sustainability disclosure and engagement of local communities by North American Class I Railways

Abstract

This study explores the nature of relationships between North American Class I railways (NACI) and local communities (LCs). The objectives of the research include the following: 1) assessing the extent and quality of sustainability disclosure by NACI; 2) determining the techniques of stakeholder engagement, with a focus on infrastructure projects; and 3) highlighting better practices from other countries and industries. The scope of the investigations spans the 10-year period following the global financial crisis, as civil society and investors increased their expectations for non-financial sustainability reporting. In responding to this charge of information asymmetry and justice within balanced NACI-LC relationships, the implication for this work from the strategic management perspective involves examination of firm-specific sustainability behaviours within a multiple case study methodology; while a complementary economic sociologist approach looks at industry-wide trends or aspects of institutionalism that are pervasive within the railways of North America. This exploratory study used only documents found in the public domain, such as: sustainability/CSR/corporate responsibility reports, subject matter expert reports, rating agencies’ databases, industry association documents, government reports, company web pages regarding sustainability activities, and other company documents, such as financial reports and securities commissions documents. Findings both consistent and divergent with academic and grey literature point to the inadequacy of NACI sustainability reports for several reasons. The following key findings were revealed through the analysis: 1) asymmetry between what is reported to local communities and actual performance on investigated variables of social sustainability; 2) the complexity of understanding the NACI-LC relationship from sustainability reports; 3) the future challenges inherent in building the capacity needed to develop sustainable communities and resilient infrastructure in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, 2030; and 4) the difficulty of determining the efficacy of novel approaches and techniques of stakeholder engagement to advance sustainability. Better practices are drawn from global standards and guidelines as interpreted by three Eurasian networks. Suggestions are made as to how to improve both the quality of relationship with NACI stakeholders and reporting with an emphasis that they be projectized. Future research ideas and recommendations for practitioners and decision-makers are also provided.