Sustainability reporting in higher education: a comprehensive review of the recent literature and paths for further research

Over the last decade, sustainability reporting (SR) has gained importance in both profit and non-profit environments. In spite of the slowly emerging trend of SR in higher education, it is still unclear for certain actors within this field what SR entails. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the existing literature on SR in higher education, aimed at providing guidance on the topic, uncovering gaps and inconsistencies in the literature, and finding new paths for research. The findings show that the topic of SR has been approached in a rather fragmented way in the literature, while the scientific field would benefit from more in-depth studies, preferably supplemented by empirical evidence. Important issues for future research are: the potential of SR for organisational change, the influence of stakeholder engagement processes on SR, the link between SR and general sustainability management, and the link between existing reporting indicators, tools, and management standards. Structuring and defining these topics can stimulate scholars to further study them in depth, leading to a better understanding of the dynamics of the reporting process, and in a broader sense of the process of sustainability integration in higher education. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.