Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework
1
Department of Economics and Management, University Portucalence, REMIT, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
2
School of Economics and Management, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
3
Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, CEF.UP and OBEGEF, 4200-464 Porto, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010296
Received: 26 November 2020 / Revised: 20 December 2020 / Accepted: 27 December 2020 / Published: 30 December 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
Institutional environment demands from organizations to be accountable for their social and environmental actions and to provide information allowing the assessment of their long-term prospects for profitability may lead organizations to adopt Impression Management (IM) tactics to manage perceptions. Consequently, organizations may provide accounts demonstrating that they are good corporate citizens and possess the intangible assets required for future good financial performance. Although organizations have increased their corporate social reporting, the quality and reliability of those reports have been questioned. The literature suggests that these disclosures tend to be selective and biased, and do not enhance corporate accountability. This study proposes a formal conceptual framework linking IM, social and environmental accountability, financial performance, and organizational legitimacy. The arguments in this study are of economic, societal, and ethical concern, as IM behaviors may undermine the transparency of social and environmental reporting, and the decoupling between the economic and social image offered by companies through reporting and the reality. These insights also point at the complexities for organizations in dealing with accountability to all stakeholders. The conceptual framework proposed is useful for future studies aiming at understanding how organizations use IM in their corporate social reporting in the accountability process.
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Keywords:
accountability; corporate social responsibility; financial performance; impression management; intangible assets; legitimacy; social and environmental disclosure; sustainability
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MDPI and ACS Style
Martins, A.; Gomes, D.; Branco, M.C. Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework. Sustainability 2021, 13, 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010296
AMA Style
Martins A, Gomes D, Branco MC. Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework. Sustainability. 2021; 13(1):296. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010296
Chicago/Turabian StyleMartins, Adelaide, Delfina Gomes, and Manuel C. Branco 2021. "Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework" Sustainability 13, no. 1: 296. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010296
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