A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image

Perkiss, Stephanie; Bernardi, Cristiana; Dumay, John; Haslam, Jim

doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2020.102229

Cited by 53 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Therefore, we have to be deliberate on companies’ disclosure practices as a potential “greenwashing” or “window dressing” concerning corporate behavior within IC. Several prior studies witness that companies, performing poorly in some fields, often construct a strong external face and produce the most impressive-looking disclosure (Perkiss et al , 2020). Therefore, the interpretation of the ICD in social media should not be uncritical.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers mainly analyze companies' CSR disclosure strategies and shareholders' engagement jointly (Castell o et al, 2016;G omez-Carrasco et al, 2020;Lodhia et al, 2020;Saxton et al, 2019Saxton et al, , 2020She and Michelon, 2019). In most cases, quantitative analysis of content is applied; however, the range of other research methods is also present in the literature that embraces in-depth case studies (Perkiss et al, 2020), longitudinal case studies (Castell o et al, 2016) and multiple experiments (Cade, 2018;Elliott et al, 2018). Most empirical findings indicate the limited role of social media in CSR communication.…”

Section: Empirical Studies Using Social Media In Intellectual Capital...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The idea that disclosures help to legitimize company behavior is widely supported (Rodrigue, et al , 2015; Diouf and Boiral, 2017). However, one should be aware that companies may manage their legitimacy by communicating “frontstage performance” while hiding “backstage realities” (Goffman, 1959; Perkiss, et al , 2020; Goretzki and Messner, 2019; Solomon et al , 2013).…”

Section: Literature Review and Research Questions Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

Bryl

Fijałkowska

Hadro

2021

MEDAR

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Purpose This study aims to examine intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) on Twitter by 60 of the world’s largest companies and explains the main themes communicated to stakeholders. The second objective is to determine which topics provoke most stakeholders’ reactions. Design/methodology/approach The authors perform content analysis on more than 42,000 tweets to examine ICD practices along with the reactions of stakeholders in the form of retweets and “favorites” toward the information disclosed. Findings Intellectual capital (IC) is an important theme in corporate disclosure practices, as more than one-third of the published tweets refer to IC. The world’s largest companies focus on relational capital information, followed by human and structural capital. The main IC themes disclosed were management philosophy, corporate reputation and business partnering. Tweets related to IC are of greater interest to stakeholders than other tweets and provoke more reactions. There is no complete consistency between the topics most intensively disclosed by companies and those that elicit the most vivid responses from the addressees. Practical implications This study offers an understanding of the world’s largest companies’ practices that refer to ICD via social media and has implications for organizations in the creation and use of communication channels when developing a dialogue with stakeholders on topics regarding IC that may lead to better management of IC performance. Originality/value This paper is a response to the call for studies on ICD via social media, which is strongly highlighted in the recent literature concerning future research on IC and until now was almost absent in the field of business units. This research provides in-depth insights into the use of Twitter to disclose IC elements and indicates which fields and topics of this disclosure provoke stakeholders’ reactions, which is a novelty in ICD studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Empirical Studies Using Social Media In Intellectual Capital...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Review and Research Questions Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

Bryl

Fijałkowska

Hadro

2021

MEDAR

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“…Impression management always occurs in a social and cultural context; therefore, the means and strategies of impression management must take the socially constructed systems of norms and values of society into consideration (Perkiss et al 2020). Hence, impression management is not only guided by organizations' self-interests but can be understood as an attempt to deal with responses and pressure posed by different stakeholders-such as customers-or to balance organizational image with the norms of society (Brennan and Merkl-Davies 2013;Perkiss et al 2020). Therefore, impression management can be understood as a reciprocal process-or a negotiation-between the organization, its diverse stakeholders, and the social and cultural context (Ginzel et al 2004;Perkiss et al 2020).…”

Section: Corporate Impression Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cover Images of Inflight Magazines as Airlines’ Methods of Impression Management: Alitalia’s Ulisse Magazine and Finnair’s Blue Wings Magazine

Martikainen

Adriani

2022

Corp Reputation Rev

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This research examines the cover images of two inflight magazines—Ulisse (Alitalia) and Blue Wings (Finnair)—as a method for airlines to manage their impression. Drawing on concept of impression management, the study focuses on the visual strategies the cover images employ in order to shape the audience’s perception of the airlines. The data consists of 90 cover images published between January 2016 and February 2020. A visual rhetorical analysis was applied to examine the visual construction of the cover images and their functions. The findings show that the cover images of Ulisse and Blue Wings employed different strategies of visual rhetoric as part of their impression management. Whereas Alitalia seemed to strive for the image of a luxury airline, Finnair endeavored to create an image of an airline for ordinary people. Theoretically, this study contributes to the current knowledge of rhetorical approach to visual impression management in corporate communications. Methodologically, the study advances the research on corporate impression management by applying an analysis of visual rhetoric.

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“…its symbolic nature, divorced from organizational sustainability and mostly intended to improve legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders (Boiral and Henri, 2017; Gibassier et al , 2018; Heggen et al , 2018; Roberts, 2018) – and the reasons behind the logic of appropriateness and the social construction of reality (Higgins and Larrinaga, 2014; Larrinaga González, 2017). Impression management theories are employed in SAR to shed more light on how companies disclose information they have manipulated, which reflects their opportunistic behaviors in the quest for social legitimacy, image improvement and the desire to conceal poor performance (Cho et al , 2012b; Diouf and Boiral, 2017; Perkiss et al , 2020; Solomon et al , 2013; Talbot and Boiral, 2015, 2018).…”

Section: The Institutionalization Of Sustainability Rating Agenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability rating and moral fictionalism: opening the black box of nonfinancial agencies

Boiral

Talbot

Brotherton

et al. 2021

AAAJ

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the practices, challenges and ethical issues underlying the fabric and dissemination of corporate sustainability ratings.Design/methodology/approachBased on 36 semi-structured interviews with sustainability rating practitioners, the study shows the trade-offs, ethical judgments and customizable aspects involved in rating practices, which cannot rely only on formal and predefined methods.FindingsIn contrast with the official optimistic rhetoric about the rationality and rigor of sustainability rating methods, agencies face serious challenges in the measurement and comparison of performance in this area, particularly in terms of the aggregation of scattered and fuzzy indicators, commercial pressures and the availability, materiality and reliability of the information collected. Despite these concerns, sustainability ratings do appear to be useful in improving corporate responsiveness and increasing investor awareness of the complex and difficult-to-measure aspects of nonfinancial reports.Practical implicationsRating agencies should collaborate to set up common indicators that would be easier for firms to produce and should better separate their sustainability rating production activities from other services they offer to companies (e.g. consultancy).Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on the measurement and promotion of corporate sustainability by analyzing rating practices through the lens of moral fictionalism, which here refers to the human tendency to build ethical judgments on fictional but convenient and useful representations.

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A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image

Cited by 53 publications

References 81 publications

Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

Intellectual capital disclosure on Twitter – empirical evidence from the world’s largest companies

Cover Images of Inflight Magazines as Airlines’ Methods of Impression Management: Alitalia’s Ulisse Magazine and Finnair’s Blue Wings Magazine

Sustainability rating and moral fictionalism: opening the black box of nonfinancial agencies

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