Applying Materiality Assessment in Strategic Management: The Implicit Coating of the Materiality Lens

Abstract

Pressure on managers to integrate sustainability more systematically in strategic management and thereby rethink strategic management is intensifying. Materiality assessment, a compulsory part of many non-financial reporting frameworks, is promoted as a useful tool to achieve this integration. However, the analytical instrument is based on a highly generic concept of materiality. Two exemplary non-financial reporting initiatives show that conceptualizations of materiality and consequently the methods of materiality assessment differ widely. Hereby, the analogy of a lens that comes in different coatings is used to describe this characteristic of materiality assessment. It is argued that firms who want to exploit materiality assessment for strategic management need to be sensitive in their choice of non-financial reporting guidelines and standards. They need to be aware of their own specific objectives regarding the adoption of the tool in order to find the framework that aligns best with their goals. One version of the tool focuses on enhancing performance through risk reduction and business development, but barely deviates from business as usual in terms of the integration of sustainability. The other is more suited to enable rethinking of strategic management regarding sustainability and open forms of strategizing, but does not primarily serve to increase shareholder value.