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Infographics in corporate sustainability reports: Providing useful information or used for impression management?

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  • Kanbaty, Majid
  • Hellmann, Andreas
  • He, Liyu

Abstract

This paper examines the use of infographics in sustainability reports, particularly focusing on whether infographics are used for impression management purposes by creating a more favourable view of a firm’s sustainability performance. A content analysis is used to examine the frequencies, types, components, and themes of infographics included in sustainability reports of 147 US companies. Results suggest that infographics are widely used for selecting, comparing and emphasising sustainability performance trends towards favourable disclosures. Further, the findings of a regression analysis show that the level of impression management is significantly associated with both environmental and social disclosures. The paper provides the first evidence of how sustainability performance is visually communicated via infographics, a new kind of graphical representation that is increasingly used in sustainability reports. Additionally, the paper contributes to the debate on the reliability of information included in sustainability reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanbaty, Majid & Hellmann, Andreas & He, Liyu, 2020. "Infographics in corporate sustainability reports: Providing useful information or used for impression management?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:26:y:2020:i:c:s2214635019302229
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100309
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ang, Lawrence & Hellmann, Andreas & Kanbaty, Majid & Sood, Suresh, 2020. "Emotional and attentional influences of photographs on impression management and financial decision making," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    3. Sri Ningsih & Iman Harymawan & Nurul Fitriani & Brian Lam, 2021. "Pessimistic Tone in Earnings Announcement and CSR Disclosure: Exploring the Interacting Role of CEO Busyness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    4. Laura Corazza & Junru Zhang & Dilhani Kapu Arachchilage & Simone Domenico Scagnelli, 2022. "Blockchain and Sustainability Disclosure: A Scenario-Based Application for Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Carolin Baier & Max Göttsche & Andreas Hellmann & Frank Schiemann, 2022. "Too Good To Be True: Influencing Credibility Perceptions with Signaling Reference Explicitness and Assurance Depth," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 695-714, July.

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