Insights Into the Roles of the Corporate Governance Mechanism in Sustainability Assurance Practices

ABSTRACT

Our study explores the roles of corporate governance mechanisms in sustainability assurance practices in China through 40 semi‐structured interviews with sustainability reporting preparers and assurance providers. Guided by framing theory, the findings unveil distinct frames of the two groups perceiving governance of sustainability assurance. Six influential governance mechanisms emerge, including boards of directors, audit committees, internal auditors, the Communist Party Committee, governing bodies and external assurance providers. Three insights are identified from the interviewees' storylines: (1) the Chinese central government and its authority departments dominate the sustainability assurance legitimacy process, (2) in the absence of comprehensive assurance standards, legitimacy needs to be maintained to constrain managerial opportunism and (3) organisational and regional cultural factors shape report preparers' and assurance providers' perceptions of sustainability activities. Our study extends the application of framing theory by providing preliminary evidence of legitimised corporate governance roles in an emerging economy context.