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Accountability disclosure of SOEs: comparing hybrid and private European news agencies

Ana Yetano (Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain)
Daniela Sorrentino (Department of Economics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy)

Meditari Accountancy Research

ISSN: 2049-372X

Article publication date: 28 October 2021

Issue publication date: 21 March 2023

468

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the financial and non-financial accountability disclosure patterns of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as hybrid organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting the hybridity concept and resorting to stakeholder theory, this paper works on a comparison between the accountability disclosure patterns of hybrid and private organizations operating in the same industry. European national news agencies are selected as units of analysis and an extensive web content analysis is performed on three categories of information.

Findings

SOEs are found to disclose a broader spectrum of information than private organizations, and differences between them have been found. Nevertheless, both financial and non-financial disclosures are underdeveloped in the two organizational types.

Research limitations/implications

This paper illustrates how hybridity explains SOEs’ accountability disclosure patterns. Results could not be complemented through information on disclosure through alternative channels. Future studies are encouraged to perform simultaneous comparisons among hybrid, public and private organizations, as well as considering industry specifics.

Practical implications

As web accountability disclosure helps to address the demands of distant stakeholders, efforts are needed to enhance SOEs’ web accountability disclosures and not to undermine democratic accountability relationships.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the accountability mechanisms and style of SOEs. Using a framework for hybrid organizations provides an understanding of how SOEs, as hybrid organizations, disclose information for accountability. In turn, this allows, and then promotes, the investigation of social phenomena by conceiving hybridity as a standalone institutional space.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful and constructive comments and discussion of Prof Giuseppe Grossi (Kristianstad University, School of Business, Kristianstad, Sweden and University of Siena, Department of Business and Law, Siena, Italy), which had a great impact on the paper. This study has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2020-113905GB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033) and the Regional Government of Aragón, Spain (project S56-20R).

Citation

Yetano, A. and Sorrentino, D. (2023), "Accountability disclosure of SOEs: comparing hybrid and private European news agencies", Meditari Accountancy Research, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 294-319. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-04-2020-0873

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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