Can sustainability report assurance be a collaborative process and practice beyond the ritual of verification?
通过访谈英国可持续报告鉴证从业者，研究鉴证服务如何超越验证机制，促进企业可持续行动，并挑战其作为验证仪式的传统框架。
Abstract This study examines the role of assurance for sustainability reporting whether it has the role beyond a verification mechanism for corporate sustainability reporting. This paper looks beyond the discourse about managerial and professional capture in sustainability report assurance practice. Drawing on the in‐depth interviews with assurance practitioners for sustainability reporting in the United Kingdom from different professional backgrounds, it provides an evidence‐based illustration on how sustainability report assurance service can contribute to more corporate sustainable actions. The findings also highlight the potential influences of the assurance providers on the assurance process and corporate decision‐making. The conceptualization of the assurance from the service perspective and of the assurance providers as transformational leaders enables this paper to challenge the current framing of the assurance services as a verification ritual that constraint its impacts and contributions to sustainable development.