A MAXQDA-Based Content Analysis of Sustainability Reporting: Cross-Company Keyword Frequency and Visualization in Annual Reports of Five European Corporations

Abstract

This article introduces a novel methodological strategy for quantitative content analysis of corporate sustainability reports using MAXQDA software. We selected randomly 2024 annual reports of five European companies from the steel, packaging, flooring, banking, and textile sectors to represent sectoral diversity using random sampling (N = 5). Reports were filtered for relevance, transferred to MAXQDA, and keyword-in-context and frequency analyses conducted to extract the 50 most important sustainability-related keywords for each firm. Cross-case comparison then yielded a single list of 100 unique keywords. Word-frequency weights were computed and mapped via MAXMaps and Word Tree visuals and are displayed in a single figure showing relative keyword importance. Environmental lexicons such as "carbon emissions," "circular economy," and "biodiversity" dominated, with codes of social dealing in terms of "safety," "diversity," and "community," and the codes of governance being "ESG transparency" and "stakeholder engagement." This technique provides a copyable, open, and efficacious means for analyzing big qualitative disclosures and also for visualizing sustainability priorities both at the corporate and sectoral levels.

Keywords

• Sustainability Reporting
• ESG Analysis
• MAXQDA
• Content Analysis
• Corporate Responsibility
• SDGs
• Visual Data Analytics

MAXQDA Tabanlı Bir İçerik Analizi: Beş Avrupa Şirketinin Yıllık Sürdürülebilirlik Raporlarında Anahtar Kelime Sıklığı ve Görselleştirme Karşılaştırması

Abstract

Bu makale, kurumsal sürdürülebilirlik raporlarının nicel içerik analizine yönelik olarak MAXQDA yazılımı kullanılarak geliştirilen yenilikçi bir metodolojik stratejiyi tanıtmaktadır. Çelik, ambalaj, zemin kaplama, bankacılık ve tekstil sektörlerinde faaliyet gösteren beş Avrupa şirketinin 2024 yılına ait yıllık raporları, sektörel çeşitliliği temsil edecek şekilde rastgele örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilmiştir (N = 5). Raporlar uygunluk açısından filtrelenmiş, MAXQDA’ya aktarılmış ve her firma için sürdürülebilirlikle ilgili en önemli 50 anahtar kelimeyi belirlemek amacıyla bağlam içinde anahtar kelime ve sıklık analizleri yapılmıştır. Vaka karşılaştırması sonucunda, 100 benzersiz anahtar kelimeden oluşan ortak bir liste elde edilmiştir. Kelime sıklığına dayalı ağırlıklar hesaplanmış ve MAXMaps ile Word Tree görselleştirmeleri aracılığıyla haritalandırılmış; anahtar kelimelerin görece önemini gösteren tek bir görselde sunulmuştur. “Karbon emisyonları”, “döngüsel ekonomi” ve “biyolojik çeşitlilik” gibi çevresel terimler öne çıkarken, sosyal temsiliyet açısından “güvenlik”, “çeşitlilik” ve “topluluk”; yönetişim açısından ise “ESG şeffaflığı” ve “paydaş katılımı” kodları baskın çıkmıştır. Bu teknik, büyük ölçekli nitel açıklamaların analizinde uygulanabilir, şeffaf ve etkili bir yöntem sunmakta; aynı zamanda kurumsal ve sektörel düzeyde sürdürülebilirlik önceliklerinin görselleştirilmesine de olanak sağlamaktadır.

Keywords

• Sürdürülebilirlik Raporlaması
• ESG Analizi
• MAXQDA
• İçerik Analizi
• Kurumsal Sorumluluk
• Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Amaçları (SKA
• Görsel Veri Analitiği

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