Corporate Commitment to Decent Work and Sustainable Development: A Quantitative Analysis of Corporate Reports of DAX 40 MNCs

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ascribes specific roles to business organisations and has reinvigorated the discussions on the link between multinational corporations and international development. SDG 8 aims to promote economic growth and decent work, and thus establishes an explicit connection to the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO. Despite its current relevance, international business research on the links between MNCs and sustainable development has largely ignored the topic of decent work. This chapter analyses the incidence and extent of corporate commitment to decent work and sustainable development, as measured through word frequency analysis and text-mining methods, drawing on annual reports and sustainability reports published in 2010 and 2020 of MNCs listed on the DAX-40 stock market index. The chapter seeks to explore the incidence and variation in decent work- and sustainability-related corporate reporting across companies, and the changes in decent work and sustainability reporting over time.