Impression Management in Graphical Representation of Economic, Social, and Environmental Issues: An Empirical Study

Abstract

<jats:p>Due to the increasing sustainability concerns among society and investors, companies share information demonstrating their social and environmental impacts to make an impression in corporate reports. Thus, impression management is used to influence company stakeholders’ perception of their performance through graphs. Graphs presented in corporate reports are powerful impression management tools which communicate performance-related messages to the stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of graphs to apply various impression management tactics in economic, social, and environmental disclosures of corporate reports. In this research, the use of graphs as an impression management tool has been determined through the corporate reports of 49 companies selected in the BIST (Borsa Istanbul) Sustainability Index of 2018 and 2019, Turkey. In total, 502 graphs in the reports of the selected companies were examined by descriptive analysis and the findings were statistically tested. According to the results, it was found that companies use both presentational enhancement and obfuscation as impression management tactics in corporate reports. This study helps to fill the research gap in the absence of an empirical study conducted in an emerging economy, Turkey. Additionally, it is the first study that focuses on graphs with impression management tactics that has ever been conducted in Turkey.</jats:p>

Pendidikan Islam dan Konservasi Lingkungan

“…Isu lingkungan hidup telah menyadarkan manusia tentang pentingnya keberlanjutan lingkungan untuk kesejahteraan manusia [1][2]. Isu-isu tersebut ialah pencemaran lingkungan, pemanasan global, perubahan iklim, kemerosotan keanekaragaman hayati dan sumber daya alam [3][4].…”

Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework

“…It is recognized that IM behaviors are part of the process of social influence [2]. The concept of IM concerns how individuals present themselves to others in order to be perceived favorably, and has been used to explain organizational behaviors [3,4]. Thus, in the context of organizational communication, IM is considered an attempt to control and manipulate the impressions of relevant audiences [1,5].…”

“…The literature suggests that an organization can be perceived as legitimate because it acts in accordance with social expectations, or because it successfully manipulates public expectations and perceptions about the organization [6][7][8]. Organizations use IM to maintain an appearance of compliance with social values and expectations [3,9,10]. Like most cultural processes, the management of legitimacy relies heavily on communicationin this case, communication between the organization and its stakeholders [7].…”

Choice of y-axis can mislead readers

“…2018), sustainability research (Cüre et al 2020) and accounting (Burgess et al 2008), how frequently used types of graphical representation may mislead readers. However, this aspect has gained little attention in current guidelines related to reproducibility (Vollert et al 2020).…”

“…The importance of adequate graphical depiction of data in biomedicine has been emphasized before (Franzblau and Chung 2012 ) but not linked to reproducibility. It was highlighted outside of biomedicine, for instance in chemistry (Szafir 2018 ), sustainability research (Cüre et al 2020 ) and accounting (Burgess et al 2008 ), how frequently used types of graphical representation may mislead readers. However, this aspect has gained little attention in current guidelines related to reproducibility (Vollert et al 2020 ).…”