How Does the EU CSRD Shape Stakeholder Salience, and to What Extent do Any Resulting Shifts Translate Into Substantive ESG Action?

Abstract

This study investigates how the CSRD shapes firms’ stakeholder dynamics and whether this potential shift can lead to substantive ESG action. To explore this, a qualitative research design was used, involving semi-structured interviews with ESG professionals from seven large Nordic firms and their respective ESG reports, analysed through a grounded theory inspired and summative content analysis approach. Our findings showed that the CSRD actively reshapes firms’ stakeholder salience and how this, combined with available internal capabilities, can lead to substantive ESG action. These insights contribute to understanding how regulatory pressure, provided that internal capabilities and stakeholder salience are present, can drive substantive ESG action. This study proposes the CCAC (context + condition → action → consequence) model that can be applied to and tested for further industries and geographies that fall within the scope of the CSRD or potentially other ESG regulations.