IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v26y2019i2p468-480.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Obfuscation versus enhancement as corporate social responsibility disclosure strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero
  • Oscar Suárez‐Fernández
  • Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez

Abstract

Building upon impression management, the objective of this paper is to analyse the enhancement or obfuscation strategies of reporting corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. Concretely, this paper aims to examine the association between the CSR performance of the firm and the socially responsible disclosure strategy adopted by managers to obtain insights into the factors associated with balance, accuracy, clarity, comparability, and reliability of information. A sample of 273 international companies from the year 2007 to 2014 was used to develop our models of analysis. The results show that, according to an obfuscation disclosure strategy, firms with the worst CSR performance disclose information that is less balanced, accurate, and clear; moreover, these reports incorporate more optimistic, longer, and less readable information. Within the realm of impression‐management strategy, firms use thematic content and verbal tone manipulation as well as quantity and syntactical reading as impression‐management tools.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & Oscar Suárez‐Fernández & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2019. "Obfuscation versus enhancement as corporate social responsibility disclosure strategies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 468-480, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:26:y:2019:i:2:p:468-480
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1697
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1697?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aishah Sheikh Abu Bakar & Rashid Ameer, 2011. "Readability of Corporate Social Responsibility communication in Malaysia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 50-60, January.
    2. Hansen, Lars Peter, 1982. "Large Sample Properties of Generalized Method of Moments Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 1029-1054, July.
    3. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    4. Moon Seop Kim & Dong Tae Kim & Jae Il Kim, 2014. "CSR for Sustainable Development: CSR Beneficiary Positioning and Impression Management Motivation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 14-27, January.
    5. Michael John Jones, 2011. "The nature, use and impression management of graphs in social and environmental accounting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 75-89, June.
    6. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero, 2018. "How do Independent Directors Behave with Respect to Sustainability Disclosure?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 609-627, July.
    7. Gus De Franco & Ole†Kristian Hope & Dushyantkumar Vyas & Yibin Zhou, 2015. "Analyst Report Readability," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 76-104, March.
    8. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    9. Elizabeth Demers & Clara Vega, 2008. "Soft information in earnings announcements: news or noise?," International Finance Discussion Papers 951, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. Alessandro Lai & Gaia Melloni & Riccardo Stacchezzini, 2016. "Corporate Sustainable Development: is ‘Integrated Reporting’ a Legitimation Strategy?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 165-177, March.
    11. Doris M. Merkl‐Davies & Niamh M. Brennan & Stuart J. McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense‐making in corporate narratives," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 315-344, March.
    12. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    13. Cho, Charles H. & Patten, Dennis M., 2007. "The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 639-647.
    14. Ans Kolk & Paolo Perego, 2010. "Determinants of the adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 182-198, March.
    15. Cho, Charles H. & Roberts, Robin W. & Patten, Dennis M., 2010. "The language of US corporate environmental disclosure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 431-443, May.
    16. Jones, Michael John, 2011. "The nature, use and impression management of graphs in social and environmental accounting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 75-89.
    17. Gray, Rob, 2010. "Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability...and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-62, January.
    18. Doris M. Merkl-Davies & Niamh Brennan & Stuart McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense-making in corporate narratives : a social psychology perspective," Open Access publications 10197/2900, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    19. Judith L. Walls & Pascual Berrone & Phillip H. Phan, 2012. "Corporate governance and environmental performance: is there really a link?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 885-913, August.
    20. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    21. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    22. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    23. Emmanuelle Negre & Marie-Anne Verdier & Charles H. Cho & Dennis Patten, 2017. "Disclosure strategies and investor reactions to downsizing announcements: A legitimacy perspective," Post-Print halshs-01698634, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mitzi Isabel Cubilla‐Montilla & Purificación Galindo‐Villardón & Ana Belén Nieto‐Librero & María Purificación Vicente Galindo & Isabel María García‐Sánchez, 2020. "What companies do not disclose about their environmental policy and what institutional pressures may do to respect," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1181-1197, May.
    2. Karaman, Abdullah S. & Orazalin, Nurlan & Uyar, Ali & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "CSR achievement, reporting, and assurance in the energy sector: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Camélia Radu & Nadia Smaili, 2022. "Alignment Versus Monitoring: An Examination of the Effect of the CSR Committee and CSR-Linked Executive Compensation on CSR Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 145-163, September.
    4. María‐Florencia Amorelli & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2020. "Critical mass of female directors, human capital, and stakeholder engagement by corporate social reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 204-221, January.
    5. Ibrahem Alshbili & Ahmed A. Elamer & Maha W. Moustafa, 2021. "Social and environmental reporting, sustainable development and institutional voids: Evidence from a developing country," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 881-895, March.
    6. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Marcelle Colares Oliveira & Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero, 2020. "Female directors and gender issues reporting: The impact of stakeholder engagement at country level," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 369-382, January.
    7. David Talbot & Guillaume Barbat, 2020. "Water disclosure in the mining sector: An assessment of the credibility of sustainability reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1241-1251, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. García-Sánchez, Isabel-María & Suárez-Fernández, Oscar & Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer, 2019. "Female directors and impression management in sustainability reporting," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 359-374.
    2. Renato Camodeca & Alex Almici & Umberto Sagliaschi, 2018. "Sustainability Disclosure in Integrated Reporting: Does It Matter to Investors? A Cheap Talk Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-34, November.
    3. Yuriko Nakao & Katsuhiko Kokubu & Kimitaka Nishitani, 2019. "Do Sustainability Reports Strategically Employ Rhetorical Tone? : An evidence from Japan," Discussion Papers 2019-01, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    4. Claudia Arena & Saverio Bozzolan & Giovanna Michelon, 2015. "Environmental Reporting: Transparency to Stakeholders or Stakeholder Manipulation? An Analysis of Disclosure Tone and the Role of the Board of Directors," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 346-361, November.
    5. Lu Zhang & Yuan George Shan & Millicent Chang, 2021. "Can CSR Disclosure Protect Firm Reputation During Financial Restatements?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 157-184, September.
    6. Charles H. Cho & Matias Laine & Robin W. Roberts & Michelle Rodrigue, 2018. "The Frontstage and Backstage of Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Evidence from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Bill," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 865-886, October.
    7. Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy & Abeer Hassan & Suman Lodh & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2022. "Corporate Accountability Towards Species Extinction Protection: Insights from Ecologically Forward-Thinking Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 571-595, July.
    8. Karaman, Abdullah S. & Orazalin, Nurlan & Uyar, Ali & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2021. "CSR achievement, reporting, and assurance in the energy sector: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Alessandro Lai & Gaia Melloni & Riccardo Stacchezzini, 2016. "Corporate Sustainable Development: is ‘Integrated Reporting’ a Legitimation Strategy?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 165-177, March.
    10. Jieun Chung & Charles H. Cho, 2018. "Current Trends within Social and Environmental Accounting Research: A Literature Review," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 207-239, June.
    11. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    12. Katrin Hummel & Peter Rötzel, 2019. "Mandating the Sustainability Disclosure in Annual Reports—Evidence from the United Kingdom," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 71(2), pages 205-247, May.
    13. Aureliana-Geta Roman & Mihaela Mocanu & Răzvan Hoinaru, 2019. "Disclosure Style and Its Determinants in Integrated Reports," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, April.
    14. Jing Jia & Zhongtian Li, 2022. "Corporate sustainability, earnings persistence and the association between earnings and future cash flows," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 299-336, March.
    15. de Villiers, Charl & Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2022. "Are boards' risk management committees associated with firms’ environmental performance?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    16. Nazari, Jamal A. & Hrazdil, Karel & Mahmoudian, Fereshteh, 2017. "Assessing social and environmental performance through narrative complexity in CSR reports," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 166-178.
    17. Hao Yang & Laura Le Luo & Asit Bhattacharyya, 2021. "Mandatory Environmental Reporting in Australia: An In‐depth Analysis of Quantity and Quality," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(4), pages 737-779, December.
    18. Eliwa, Yasser & Aboud, Ahmed & Saleh, Ahmed, 2021. "ESG practices and the cost of debt: Evidence from EU countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, 2017. "Coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism as determinants of the voluntary assurance of sustainability reports," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 102-118.
    20. Tuvana Cüre & Emel Esen & Arzu Özsözgün Çalışkan, 2020. "Impression Management in Graphical Representation of Economic, Social, and Environmental Issues: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:26:y:2019:i:2:p:468-480. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.