Obfuscation versus enhancement as corporate social responsibility disclosure strategies

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.

What colour is the corporate social responsibility report? Structural visual rhetoric, impression management strategies, and stakeholder engagement

“…Specifically, we know that less sustainable companies show a tendency to disseminate non-comparable qualitative information (Cho & Patten, 2007;Patten, 2002), accompanied by impression management using narrative and visual techniques that allow manipulation of the perceptions that stakeholders have of the social and environmental performance of companies (Boiral, 2013;Cho et al, 2012;Martínez-Ferrero et al, 2018).…”

“…In contrast, according to the political theory of legitimacy, the companies with the worst performance will configure their sustainability reports towards the projection of an idyllic image of the company for third parties, reporting superficial information of a nonnumerical nature (Martínez-Ferrero, Suárez-Fernández, & García-Sánchez, 2018) and using the logic of marketing as impression management aimed at seducing and persuading instead of presenting the real situation of the firm (Boiral, Heras-Saizarbitoria, & Brotherton, 2017;Boiral, Heras-Saizarbitoria, Brotherton, & Bernard, 2018;Cho, Michelon, & Patten, 2012). Many authors thus question the reliability of this information and confirm that companies often use sustainability reports as marketing tools aimed at legitimising the company before society, improving its image and reputation by offering an idealised image, partially disconnected from the reality of business performance (Cho & Patten, 2007;Deegan, Cooper, & Shelly, 2006;Duchon & Drake, 2009;Laufer, 2003).…”

What companies do not disclose about their environmental policy and what institutional pressures may do to respect

“…The CSR strategy allows companies, in collaboration with their stakeholders (Martínez‐Ferrero, Suárez‐Fernández, & García‐Sánchez, ; Tolmie, Lehnert, & Zhao, ), to reconcile economic, social, and environmental aspects (Comisión Europea, ) thus allowing sustainable business behaviour (Cinquini, Passetti, Tenucci, & Frey, ; Engle, ; Girella, Zambon, & Rossi, ). Additionally, the adoption of informative practices enhances the reputation and image of companies (Bear, Rahman, & Post, ; Heikkurinen & Ketola, ; Hur, Kim, & Woo, ; Lii & Lee, ; Minor, ), allows access to new financial markets (Cheng, Ioannou, & Serafeim, ; García‐Sánchez, Hussain, Martínez‐Ferrero, & Ruiz‐Barbadillo, ; Jiraporn, Jiraporn, Boeprasert, & Chang, ), and creates a scenario of value and leadership for society (Cuadrado‐Ballesteros, García‐Sánchez, & Martínez Ferrero, ; Dhaliwal, Li, Tsang, & Yang, ; I. M. García‐Sánchez & Noguera‐Gámez, , ; Martínez‐Ferrero, Ruiz‐Cano, & García‐Sánchez, ; Stanaland, Lwin, & Murphy, ; Tata & Prasad, ).…”

Are cultural values sufficient to improve stakeholder engagement human and labour rights issues?

“…Consideration of the GRI indicators is a consequence of the relevance that these guides have worldwide (Naeem & Welford, ) and the role they play in the issuance of useful and internationally comparable information (García‐Sánchez & Martínez‐Ferrero, ; Manetti, ; Martínez‐Ferrero, Suárez‐Fernández, & García‐Sánchez, ). In relation to information on social issues, the reporting of information focuses on analysis of the following dimensions: labour practices and decent work, human rights, society, and product responsibility.…”