LEGITIMIDADE E “SALIÊNCIA” DOS STAKEHOLDERS PRESENTES NO DISCLOSURE SOCIOAMBIENTAL DE FRIGORÍFICOS DE CARNE BOVINA BRASILEIROS

Abstract

This research analyzed organizational responses to salient stakeholders for the legitimacy of Brazilian slaughterhouses. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to establish the research problem: what were the organizational responses, via socio-environmental disclosure, for stakeholders of Brazilian slaughterhouses? In order to meet the general objective of the research, it was necessary: a) to present an overview of the socio-environmental disclosure of Brazilian slaughterhouses; b) classify the stakeholders of Brazilian slaughterhouses; c) analyze the legitimacy strategies of Brazilian slaughterhouses; and d) to analyze the relationship between the legitimacy strategies and the “salience” of the stakeholders of Brazilian slaughterhouses. Legitimacy and stakeholder theories were used, in the case of stakeholder theory, more specifically the stakeholder “salience” approach. Theories were used to obtain variables and collect data. The GRI framework was used to collect socio-environmental disclosure information, present in the meatpackers' sustainability reports, and thus present an overview of socio-environmental disclosure. To classify the stakeholders of Brazilian slaughterhouses, the stakeholder “salience” approach, proposed by Mitchell et al. (1997). To identify the slaughterhouses' legitimacy strategies, Suchman's approach (1995) was used. After these stages, the relationship between the legitimacy strategies and the “salience” of the stakeholders was analyzed. This analysis aims to understand how organizations present their socio-environmental disclosure, in search of legitimacy. In this sense, it was understood that the “salient” stakeholders are the focus of disclosures that legitimize organizations. Legitimacy strategies and stakeholder “salience” were analyzed to understand industry responses to external factors significant to its organizational legitimacy. The method used was the document analysis of the sustainability reports of the three largest Brazilian slaughterhouses (B3), and the technique used was the content analysis of the social responsibility and/or sustainability reports from the period 2011 to 2021, from the company JBS S.A.; and from 2019 to 2021, by Marfrig and Minerva. Thus, it was possible to confirm, in this research, that slaughterhouses: (1) use pragmatic, moral and cognitive legitimacy strategies directed at salient stakeholders, as these are the main conferring legitimacy; and (2) the slaughterhouse segment pays more attention to moral legitimacy strategies.