Telling a success story through the president’s letter
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 19 July 2019
Issue publication date: 5 August 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the role of storytelling and impression management (IM) through the president’s letter in legitimizing the practices of an electricity company with regard to controversial issues during a period of change.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a qualitative case study, this paper examines annual report letters from 1995 to 2013 using a methodological interpretative approach.
Findings
By promoting a success story using IM, the presidents give sense to particular actions related with controversial issues and attempt to influence expectations on strategic changes. The findings demonstrate that organizational actors use the flexibility of the president’s letter to tell the story and emphasize its self-laudatory nature. The study highlights that storytelling in these documents can be used to alleviate the tensions created by the inherent contradictions of social structures.
Practical implications
This research is useful for regulatory authorities, users of annual reports and academic researchers, making them attentive of the narratives companies may adopt to protect their legitimacy. The findings shed light on the need to evaluate the credibility of accountability mechanisms and can help stakeholders to develop a more critical view of the president’s letter.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution to research on communication issues by expanding literature on accounting and organizational storytelling. By demonstrating how presidents use sensegiving as a means of legitimacy-claiming, this study adds to the literature on legitimating accounts. In doing so, this paper bridges the gap between theories about organizational legitimacy, storytelling and IM. To sum up, the findings serve as an incremental step toward understanding the nature of accountability reporting.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would also like to thank the editor Professor Deryl Northcott and the two anonymous reviewers of the journal for their perceptive comments, who have helped to improve the paper. Study conducted, by the second author, at Research Center in Political Science (UID/CPO/00758/2013), University of Minho and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds.
Citation
Martins, A., Gomes, D., Oliveira, L. and Ribeiro, J.L. (2019), "Telling a success story through the president’s letter", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 403-433. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-03-2018-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited