Communicating sustainability: an analysis of sustainability websites and reports of Italian state universities

Nowadays, universities represent laboratories through which to develop and transmit good practices and knowledge necessary to speed up the transition to sustainable development. The approach to sustainability, which finds expression in the missions (teaching, research, and third mission) pursued and in the governance models adopted, guarantees universities the possibility of assuming an elective role in spreading sustainable logic. This orientation toward sustainability paradigms within the academic context has contextually prompted universities to equip themselves with accountability tools to respond to the resulting demand for stakeholder information concerning these issues. The purpose of this paper is to assess how Italian state universities report on sustainability through appropriate reporting documents and, at the same time, communicate it through their websites. In particular, the authors compare how and to what extent sustainability is communicated through institutional websites versus more traditional sustainability reports. The study found that 51 percent of universities in the sample have had at least one sustainability reporting document in place since 2015. However, the analysis shows that alongside such accounting practices, most universities (68 percent) use a dedicated sustainability webpage as an additional tool for disseminating sustainable approaches. The results of this study may encourage Italian universities to identify their status regarding the sustainable accountability processes implemented, enabling them to have a more conscious and responsible orientation concerning the strategies to be undertaken with a view to sustainability communication.