Purpose This paper aims to analyse the role of communication in shaping the mechanisms of accountability routines. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual elements of the theory of communicative action and the literature on routines were used to conduct a field study in two hospital districts in Finland, from 2009 to 2015. Data were based on interviews, document analysis, observed meetings and repeated contact with key informants. Findings The findings explain how accountability routines take different forms - weak or strong - in different organisations and at different hierarchical levels. Differences depend on the generative structures and mechanisms of the communicative process - relational and normative - used to give and ask information to and from organisation members involved in accountability relationships. An explorative finding is that discourse-based communication plays an important role in bridging the gap between weak and strong accountability routines. The main theoretical contribution is to conceptualise and show the role of communicative rationalities in shaping the mechanisms of accountability routines. Practical implications - The implication for practitioners and policymakers is to show to what extent the organisation policies and communicative rationalities used in accountability have potential to improve or not to improve the practices of accountability routines. Mutual understanding, motivation and capacity of organisation members to do as expected and agreed upon without pressure improve accountability routines. Originality/value The value of this study is to explain how accountability routines take different forms in practice (weak or strong) in different organisations and at different hierarchical levels, depending on the generative structures of the communicative process used in practicing accountability routines.

Research Question/Issue: The paper examines private engagements related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) incidents as a corporate governance mechanism used by Nordic institutional investors to influence MSCI World companies. The questions addressed are how an agent‐led collaborative engagement is carried out, what are the characteristics of the target companies selected, and if the successful engagements can improve ESG performance compared to pre‐engagement and incomplete cases.

Research Findings/Insights: A unique data set of 355 private engagements of a professional agent on behalf of its Nordic clients is studied on environment, human and labor rights, and corruption risks between 2005 and 2013. An engagement process of the agent is described with focus on sequence and duration of actions of private engagement dialogues before filing a resolution. Successful private engagements, when target companies adopt the proposed ESG changes, are 27.6 percent. The incident‐driven private engagements target companies rated with high market values and ESG performance. ESG performance and transparency increase for succeeded engagements in the post‐engagement period and relative to incomplete engagements.

Theoretical/Academic Implications: The paper provides empirical support for a social movement‐based influence of private engagements on target companies and adds to the broad‐scale empirical literature on investor activism. In the Nordic governance setting, an agent‐coordinated private engagement is seen as a social movement that supports targeting companies with a potential for change.

Practical/Policy Implications: Insights are offered to actors in the value chain in financial markets by demonstrating that successful ESG engagements have the potential to change portfolio company ESG practices.

Institutional investors incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment strategies in order to become more active in exercising their ownership rights in investee companies. As a corporate governance mechanism, active ownership can be used to improve companies’ ESG performance and transparency and to hold management accountable for its long-term financial performance and impact on society. Successful active ownership can reduce the external risks of ESG factors, unlock hidden company market value, and enhance long-term financial returns.