Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the practices, challenges and ethical issues underlying the fabric and dissemination of corporate sustainability ratings.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on 36 semi-structured interviews with sustainability rating practitioners, the study shows the trade-offs, ethical judgments and customizable aspects involved in rating practices, which cannot rely only on formal and predefined methods.

Findings

In contrast with the official optimistic rhetoric about the rationality and rigor of sustainability rating methods, agencies face serious challenges in the measurement and comparison of performance in this area, particularly in terms of the aggregation of scattered and fuzzy indicators, commercial pressures and the availability, materiality and reliability of the information collected. Despite these concerns, sustainability ratings do appear to be useful in improving corporate responsiveness and increasing investor awareness of the complex and difficult-to-measure aspects of nonfinancial reports.

Practical implications

Rating agencies should collaborate to set up common indicators that would be easier for firms to produce and should better separate their sustainability rating production activities from other services they offer to companies (e.g. consultancy).

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the measurement and promotion of corporate sustainability by analyzing rating practices through the lens of moral fictionalism, which here refers to the human tendency to build ethical judgments on fictional but convenient and useful representations.

中文翻译：

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可持续性评级与道德虚构主义：揭开非金融机构的黑匣子

目的

本文的目的是探讨构成和传播企业可持续性评级的基础的实践，挑战和道德问题。

设计/方法/方法

基于对可持续性评级从业者的36次半结构化访谈，研究显示了评级实践中所涉及的权衡，道德判断和可定制方面，它们不能仅依赖于正式和预定义的方法。

发现

与官方对可持续性评级方法的合理性和严格性的乐观言论相反，各机构在衡量和比较该领域的绩效方面面临着严峻的挑战，特别是在分散和模糊的指标的汇总，商业压力和可用性方面，所收集信息的重要性和可靠性。尽管存在这些担忧，但可持续性评级的确对提高公司的响应能力和增强投资者对非财务报告复杂而难以衡量的方面的认识很有帮助。

实际影响

评级机构应合作建立共同的指标，使公司更容易生产，并且应更好地将可持续性评级生产活动与提供给公司的其他服务（例如咨询服务）区分开来。

创意/价值

这项研究通过道德虚构主义的视角分析评级实践，从而为衡量和促进公司可持续性发展的文献做出了贡献。道德虚构主义在这里指的是人类倾向于根据虚构但方便而有用的表述建立道德判断的趋势。