Handbook on Corporate Reputation and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Editors: Prof. Rumina Dhalla, University of Guelph and Prof. Armand Bam, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
This handbook aims to provide a comprehensive and critical examination of the relationship between corporate reputation and sustainable development, while offering insights relevant to scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and organizational leaders. We invite theoretical, empirical, and practitioner-oriented chapter proposals from scholars across disciplines including management, marketing, public relations, communication studies, sustainability, sociology, governance, international business, and related fields.
This handbook seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on the intersection of corporate reputation and the SDGs. Taking an organizational perspective, the volume will examine how firms integrate SDGs into strategy, governance, communication, and stakeholder engagement, as well as how these efforts shape organizational legitimacy and reputational outcomes. The handbook also aims to critically examine the broader role of corporations in advancing global sustainable development objectives.
We welcome contributions examining how small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) engage with sustainable development and construct organizational legitimacy in contexts where formal ESG reporting and reputational infrastructures may be limited.
Suggested Topics Include, but Are Not Limited To:
Foundations of SDGs and Corporate Reputation
- The evolution and implementation of the UN SDGs
- Global progress and challenges in achieving Agenda 2030
- Corporate participation in sustainable development
- UN Global Compact and Forward Faster initiatives
- Corporate reputation, legitimacy, identity, and signalling
- Interdisciplinary perspectives on reputation
Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives
- Resource-Based View and sustainability strategy
- Institutional Theory and organizational legitimacy
- Signalling Theory and sustainability communication
- Image management and impression management
- Reputation construction and stakeholder perceptions
- Organizational identity and legitimacy tensions
Corporate Reputation and Sustainability Governance
- Reputation management and reputational risk
- ESG ratings and sustainability rankings
- SDG disclosure and reporting practices
- Boards of directors and CEO leadership in SDG strategy
- Governance mechanisms for sustainability accountability
- SDG washing and symbolic sustainability engagement
Organizational Outcomes and Stakeholder Responses
- SDGs and financial performance
- Investor behaviour and sustainability disclosure
- Consumer trust, loyalty, and perceptions of legitimacy
- Reputational capital and competitive advantage
- Stakeholder engagement and corporate citizenship
- Case studies of successful and unsuccessful SDG implementation
Industry and Global Perspectives
- SDGs across industries, including:
- Banking and finance
- Hospitality and tourism
- Luxury goods
- Higher education
- Manufacturing and technology
- Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and entrepreneurship
- Cross-national and institutional perspectives
- Global South and emerging economy perspectives
- Informality, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development
- Small business contributions to the SDGs
- Reputation construction in resource-constrained environments
- Community legitimacy and relational trust
- Entrepreneurial signalling and sustainability communication
- AI, digital visibility, and reputation management in small businesses
Future Directions
- Emerging research agendas on SDGs and reputation
- Methodological and theoretical innovations
- Artificial intelligence, digital communication, and sustainability
- Future challenges in corporate sustainability and governance
Submission Information
Potential contributors are invited to submit:
- A proposed chapter title
- An extended abstract (500–1,000 words)
- Author name(s) and affiliation(s)
- A brief biography (100–150 words)
Final Chapters should be 6000 words.
Send submissions : Prof. Rumina Dhalla @ rdhalla@uoguelph.ca or Prof. Armand Bam @ armandb@sun.ac.za
Submission of Extended Abstract by: August 30th, 2026
Successful Authors Notified by: September 30th, 2026
Submission of Full Chapters no later than: March 31st, 2027
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Rumina Dhalla
University of Guelph
Guelph ON
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