Impression management tactics in sustainability reporting
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to analyzes how companies present their actions to give the impression that they are sustainable actors. It identifies the organizational impression management tactics that companies use in sustainability reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative template analysis of two sustainability reports was conducted to inductively identify the organizational impression management tactics that companies use in sustainability reporting.
Findings
The study identified eight organizational impression management tactics used in sustainability reporting, four of which relate to how companies present their actions while the remaining four are characteristic of the writing styles that companies use.
Research limitations/implications
The study is exploratory in nature and does not claim to identify all existing impression management tactics. Therefore, future research is needed to confirm the results and identify possible additional tactics.
Practical implications
Companies can use impression management tactics that more strongly aim to shape the impressions that stakeholders hold or tactics that more neutrally inform stakeholders of their actions. Companies need to make a choice between the two, considering that stakeholders’ expectations of sustainability reporting would be useful.
Originality/value
The study shows the different ways that companies use impression management in sustainability reporting, thus lending insight into a perspective on sustainability reporting that has rarely been explored in previous research.
Keywords
Citation
Sandberg, M. and Holmlund, M. (2015), "Impression management tactics in sustainability reporting", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 677-689. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-12-2013-0152
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited