Organisational-level translation of the SDG framework: Evidence from Chilean companies

Multiple calls have been made for businesses to engage in the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 SDGs. Companies can be crucial actors in the achievement of the SDGs and have the challenge of translating these goals, designed to be implemented at the national level, to the organisational level. Empirical literature addressing the SDGs at this level remains scarce and underdeveloped, particularly in exploring corporate motivations and processes of engagement with the SDGs in depth. This literature has been primarily based on secondary data without clear contextualisation of the findings, and research in Global South countries is especially low. Addressing these limitations, this research examines how and why the SDGs have been translated into the corporate organisational level. Framed in the field of accounting for sustainable development, this research also illustrates the role played by accounting in these processes, which has mostly been addressed conceptually in extant accounting literature.
Chile, a Latin American country, provides a context for studying this phenomenon. The country offers a rich context to explore the intricate interplay between business and sustainability, which is more nuanced in emerging countries. Some of the issues that remain relevant include income inequality, air pollution, biodiversity loss, and longstanding conflicts with indigenous communities. This study will provide insights into how companies consider (or not) these contextual sustainability-related needs at the national, industry, and local levels when translating the SDGs.
The research design encompassed two stages: 1) A cross-sectional analysis of corporate sustainability reports of Chilean companies from 2016 to 2018, making reference to the SDGs. 2) A single case study of a Chilean company in the forest and forest products sector. These materials have been analysed thematically and the results obtained have been interpreted by drawing from the sociology of translation literature in general, and Callon's (1986) moments of translation in particular. Overall, the results show that extra-organisational voluntary initiatives influence engagement with the SDGs, mainly supranational institutions, while the influence of the government and other societal actors has remained weak. Extant corporate practices, reporting frameworks and accounting systems have provided a starting point for companies to translate the SDG framework. These translations have not substantially challenged corporate practices or social configurations at the national level, although some early changes were observed in the case study. Gaining legitimacy and showing leadership in sustainability matters seem to be relevant motivations for corporate engagement with the SDGs, while improving sustainability in practice seems to be a secondary aim. This work extends discussions within the field of accounting for sustainable development, and the emerging literature on the SDGs, while expanding the application of the sociology of translation. Several implications for policy and practice are proposed.