Challenges, motivations and opportunities of the Iranian Exchange Industry in order to issue sustainability reports and sustainability of procedures

Considering the importance of exchanges sustainability, in this research, in addition to identifying most important stakeholders, the challenges, motivations and opportunities for the sustainability of procedures and sustainability reporting have been investigated.

In order to achieve the research objectives, a combination of content analysis methods, focus group and individual interviews with 21 industry experts have been used.

The lack of comprehensive reporting framework and assurance services, reporting costs and reporting culture, are among the important challenges, alignment by international community, reputation, performance improvement, accountability and achieving a competitive advantage are among the important motivations of paying attention to sustainability. Cultivation, regulation and design of sustainable tools are among the opportunities available to exchanges to promote the culture of sustainability among listed companies. Also, the findings have shown that government and regulators, board of directors and investors are among the most important stakeholder groups of this industry.

Not publishing of sustainability reports indicates a higher impact of reporting challenges over reporting motivations. Therefore, it is suggested to provide the necessary platforms for the publication of reports by the law-making bodies.

Contribution: 

Considering the strategic role of the exchange industry in promoting sustainability goals, the findings can be effective in decision making of related bodies to solve challenges and strengthen the motivations of sustainability reporting.