DOI: 10.26650/istjecon2026-1894356 ISSN: 2602-3954

Employee Participation in Sustainability Processes: A Qualitative Study on Selected Companies from the BIST Sustainability 25 Index

Irmak Aksoy
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This study aims to examine the extent and depth of employee participation in corporate sustainability initiatives. In addition to this general aim, it focuses particularly on a few leading Turkish companies listed on the BIST Sustainability 25 Index. For this purpose, the criterion sampling and maximum variation sampling, which are widely used purposeful sampling methods in qualitative studies, were employed. Thus, the qualitative content analysis of the Integrated Annual Reports published in 2024 for 13 companies selected according to the criteria was performed. In the context of the study, the Integrated Annual Reporting (IR) Framework was used as a perspective for examining employee participation. This study applied a four-dimensional coding method to analyse participation mechanisms. Employee participation varied from the superficial level of “suggestion and ideation systems” and “survey and feedback mechanisms” to the more in-depth level of “committees and working groups” and “shared decision-making.” The findings indicate that while consultative participation is widespread, shared decision-making remains limited. This study contributes to the literature by introducing an organisational agility perspective to explain sectoral differences and distinguishing between symbolic and substantive forms of participation in sustainability processes.

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