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Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa

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  • Teerooven Soobaroyen
  • Collins G. Ntim

Abstract

We develop an interpretive framework which combines Suchman's (1995) work on the dynamics of organisational legitimacy and Ashforth and Gibbs’ (1990) concepts of symbolic and substantive management to investigate how and why public corporations rely on symbolic and substantive social disclosures. We apply this framework to the case of the HIV/AIDS health crisis in South Africa (SA) and examine the corporate disclosure behaviour of a sample of 75 SA-listed corporations from 2003 to 2009. We use content analysis procedures to codify the disclosures and devise a disclosure index based on the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines on HIV/AIDS to assess whether corporations have adopted a substantive management strategy. Our findings suggest that public corporations use a combination of substantive and symbolic disclosures in a bid to seek specific forms of moral legitimacy (structural, procedural, and consequential) and pragmatic legitimacy (dispositional, influence, and exchange). Our analysis reveals that the mix of substantive and symbolic disclosures is altered as a result of changes in stakeholder salience, societal attitudes and the corporation's current ‘state’ of legitimacy. Overall, the findings demonstrate that our analytical framework is useful in understanding how substantive and/or symbolic disclosures could be relied upon to achieve specific types of organisational legitimacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Teerooven Soobaroyen & Collins G. Ntim, 2013. "Social and environmental accounting as symbolic and substantive means of legitimation: The case of HIV/AIDS reporting in South Africa," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 92-109, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accfor:v:37:y:2013:i:2:p:92-109
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2013.04.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Yasir Shahab & Collins G. Ntim & Ye Chengang & Farid Ullah & Samuel Fosu, 2018. "Environmental policy, environmental performance, and financial distress in China: Do top management team characteristics matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1635-1652, December.
    2. Richard M. Crossley & Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim, 2021. "Sustainability and legitimacy theory: The case of sustainable social and environmental practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3740-3762, December.
    3. Davide Fiaschi & Elisa Giuliani & Federica Nieri, 2014. "Bric Companies Seeking Legitimacy Through Corporate Social Responsibility," Discussion Papers 2014/183, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Shoaib Aslam & Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Collins G. Ntim, 2021. "Environmental management practices and financial performance using data envelopment analysis in Japan: The mediating role of environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1655-1673, May.
    5. Hopper, Trevor & Lassou, Philippe & Soobaroyen, Teerooven, 2017. "Globalisation, accounting and developing countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-148.
    6. Yasir Shahab & Collins G. Ntim & Yugang Chen & Farid Ullah & Hai‐Xia Li & Zhiwei Ye, 2020. "Chief executive officer attributes, sustainable performance, environmental performance, and environmental reporting: New insights from upper echelons perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, January.
    7. 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.
    8. Collins Ntim & Teerooven Soobaroyen, 2013. "Black Economic Empowerment Disclosures by South African Listed Corporations: The Influence of Ownership and Board Characteristics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 121-138, August.
    9. Ghio, Alessandro & Verona, Roberto, 2022. "Unfolding institutional plurality in hybrid organizations through practices: The case of a cooperative bank," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).
    10. Belal, Ataur Rahman & Cooper, Stuart M. & Roberts, Robin W., 2013. "Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 81-91.
    11. Ntim, Collins G., 2016. "Corporate governance, corporate health accounting, and firm value: The case of HIV/AIDS disclosures in Sub-Saharan Africa," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 155-216.
    12. de Aguiar, Thereza Raquel Sales & Bebbington, Jan, 2014. "Disclosure on climate change: Analysing the UK ETS effects," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 227-240.
    13. Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim & Ahmed A. Elamer & Qingjing Zhang, 2019. "A study of environmental policies and regulations, governance structures, and environmental performance: The role of female directors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 206-220, January.
    14. repec:jaf:journl:v:14:y:2023:i:1:n:503 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Antonio Corvino & Federica Doni & Silvio Bianchi Martini, 2020. "Corporate Governance, Integrated Reporting and Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from the South African Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, June.
    16. K. Vithana & T. Soobaroyen & C. G. Ntim, 2021. "Human Resource Disclosures in UK Corporate Annual Reports: To What Extent Do These Reflect Organisational Priorities Towards Labour?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 475-497, March.
    17. Thi H.H. Nguyen & Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim & Yue Wu, 2021. "Environmental performance, sustainability, governance and financial performance: Evidence from heavily polluting industries in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2313-2331, July.
    18. Martins, Adelaide & Gomes, Delfina & Oliveira, Lídia & Caria, Ana & Parker, Lee, 2020. "Resistance strategies through the CEO communications in the media," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo, 2019. "Sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement in Spain: Different instruments, different quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 221-232, January.
    20. Silvia Ruiz & Silvia Romero & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo, 2021. "Stakeholder engagement is evolving: Do investors play a main role?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1105-1120, February.

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