Institutional pressures and accountability processes in pursuit of sustainable development goals: Insights from Ghanaian indigenous oil companies

This paper aims at exploring the institutional pressures and accountability processes in pursuit of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in indigenous oil companies in Ghana. Applying a qualitative research strategy, semi‐structured interviews with 20 company managers and other industry stakeholders were used to collect in‐depth and rich empirical data. In pursuit of the SDG agenda, the indigenous oil companies appear to be sensitive to both internal and external stakeholder pressure. However, the coercive pressures from regulators did not always result in the companies implementing actual change. Instead, coercive pressures from non‐governmental actors have taken on the role of ‘regulator’ of organisational practices. Also, internal forces of change were mainly the foreign partner's audit pressure and management commitment to enhance company reputation. Beyond the institutional pressures to incorporate SDGs into business practices, the finding adds fresh perspectives to the three logical steps of SDG accountability processes used by the companies to track their contribution to SDG implementation and reporting, namely: data collection, SDG performance measurement, and communication of SDG outcomes. Finally, the study discovers that the companies are making little progress towards the achievement of the SDGs because of financial limitations, rigid organisational environments that prevent change, and a lack of a standardised institutional framework. The findings suggest that in order for an organisation to gain legitimacy, its SDG agenda must incorporate the concerns of non‐governmental actors and local communities into its corporate decision‐making. Failure to meet the needs of these essential stakeholders may jeopardise the legitimacy of organisation which will threaten its survival.