CEO Sustainability Narratives in the World’s Best Workplaces: An Exploratory Gender-Sensitive Content Analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ecmlg.22.1.5336

Keywords:

CEO communication, Female leadership, Stakeholder accountability, ESG reporting, Gender equality, Content analysis

Abstract

Despite the growing institutionalization of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) frameworks and the proliferation of corporate sustainability reporting, relatively little is known about how CEOs narrate sustainability as a leadership construct, and even less about how gender may inflect that narrative. Existing scholarship has examined sustainability disclosure mainly through compliance, legitimacy, and stakeholder theory perspectives, overlooking the communicative dimension of CEO leadership: how executives rhetorically construct ESG meaning, which stakeholders they privilege, and what values they invoke to position sustainability within organisational purpose. The paper addresses this gap by examining how CEOs of globally recognised best workplaces construct sustainability as a leadership and governance narrative, using gender equality both as a substantive ESG dimension and as an interpretive lens for leadership communication. The empirical corpus comprises 24 CEO letters from the World’s Best Workplaces 2024 dataset, analysed through inductive content analysis. Eight thematic clusters emerged: strategic sustainability integration; environmental transition and decarbonisation; people-centred organisational culture; stakeholder ecosystem and community impact; innovation, technology and artificial intelligence; governance, accountability and ESG credibility; purpose, values and ethical responsibility; and risk, resilience and external pressure. Sustainability is rarely framed as a compliance obligation: CEO messages consistently embed ESG within narratives of long-term value creation, organisational purpose, human capital development and systemic resilience. As a complementary line of inquiry, the study undertakes a close, case-based reading of the two female-authored letters against the male-authored corpus. The reading suggests that female-authored messages foreground relational stakeholder language, inclusion-oriented framing and shared-impact narratives, while male-authored messages more frequently emphasise scale, performance and technological transformation alongside shared social and purpose-oriented themes. The strong numerical asymmetry between female- and male-authored letters also reflects the persistent under-representation of women in CEO roles, even among organisations recognised as best workplaces. The paper offers an exploratory interpretive synthesis of CEO sustainability discourse and a preliminary, case-based framework for future research on gender and leadership voice in corporate ESG communication.

Author Biographies

Stefania Roberta Miccoli, Department of Engineering, University of Rome Niccolò Cusano, Rome, Italy

Stefania Roberta Miccoli, is Ph.D. student in Territory, Innovation and Sustainability at University of Rome “Niccolò Cusano”. She holds a Classical high school diploma, a Conservatory Diploma in Piano, a Master’s degree in Economics and Management, and postgraduate qualifications in Counselling, and in Teaching. As a graduate of LUM University, she developed interests in academic research, teaching, and publishing in human resource management and business organization. Since 2014, she works in education and training as a coordinator, designer, and counsellor. Her research focuses on sustainability and gender equality at both macro-level dynamics (communities) and micro-level processes (organizational and business contexts).

Tamara Menichini, Department of Engineering, University of Rome Niccolò Cusano, Rome, Italy

Tamara Menichini, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Business and Management Engineering at the University of Rome “Niccolò Cusano”.  She received her Ph.D. in Economic and Management Engineering from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. She is co-author of different papers published on international refereed journals and proceedings of international conferences. Her research interests and areas of expertise mainly regard: Corporate Sustainability (CS), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sustainability Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement, Gender Equality, Eco-innovation, Circular economy, Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making Methods (MCDM), Content Analysis.

Nicoletta Maria Strollo, Department of Engineering, University of Rome Niccolò Cusano, Rome, Italy

Nicoletta Maria Strollo is a Research Fellow at the University of Rome “Niccolò Cusano”, Italy. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Civil Engineering, specializing in Business and Management Engineering. Her research interests include the Twin Transition, the Circular Economy, Industry 4.0, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting, sustainability reporting, ESG reporting, and sustainable development.

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Published

2026-10-26

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026): The Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ECMLG 2026)

Section

Academic Papers