IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v33y2024i2p692-706.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

First things first: Unselfconscious corporate virtuosity and corporate performance

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony M. Gould
  • Jean‐Etienne Joullié
  • Kate Gould

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between unselfconscious corporate virtuosity and corporate performance using a novel methodology. It contends that honesty in presenting CSR activities is a proxy for corporate virtuosity and that syntheticity of language indexes unselfconscious honesty in corporate reporting. The study's research question is: Is there evidence that being more corporately ethical in the absence of concern about being so perceived enhances hardcore measures of organisational performance? To answer this question, a linguistic analysis of sustainability reports of firms operating in the Mining, Crude Oil Production Industry is undertaken to reveal that firms' financial performance varies as a function of a particular kind of straightforward language use in corporate reporting. This exercise provides evidence that unselfconscious corporate virtuosity is associated with better corporate financial performance. Implications for practice of this finding are explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony M. Gould & Jean‐Etienne Joullié & Kate Gould, 2024. "First things first: Unselfconscious corporate virtuosity and corporate performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 692-706, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:2:p:692-706
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3510
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3510
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3510?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert M. Bushman & Joseph D. Piotroski & Abbie J. Smith, 2004. "What Determines Corporate Transparency?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 207-252, May.
    2. Michael Pirson & Deepak Malhotra, 2011. "Foundations of Organizational Trust: What Matters to Different Stakeholders?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 1087-1104, August.
    3. Andrew Crane & Sarah Glozer, 2016. "Researching Corporate Social Responsibility Communication: Themes, Opportunities and Challenges," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(7), pages 1223-1252, November.
    4. Enrico C. Perotti, 2005. "Dominant Investors and Strategic Transparency," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 76-102, April.
    5. Francesco Capalbo & Alex Frino & Ming Ying Lim & Vito Mollica & Riccardo Palumbo, 2018. "The Impact of CEO Narcissism on Earnings Management," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 54(2), pages 210-226, June.
    6. Aerts, Walter & Cormier, Denis, 2009. "Media legitimacy and corporate environmental communication," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-27, January.
    7. Akkermans, Henk & Bogerd, Paul & van Doremalen, Jan, 2004. "Travail, transparency and trust: A case study of computer-supported collaborative supply chain planning in high-tech electronics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(2), pages 445-456, March.
    8. Leuz, Christian & Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, 2006. "Political relationships, global financing, and corporate transparency: Evidence from Indonesia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 411-439, August.
    9. Rikard Larsson & Lars Bengtsson & Kristina Henriksson & Judith Sparks, 1998. "The Interorganizational Learning Dilemma: Collective Knowledge Development in Strategic Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 285-305, June.
    10. Mara Olekalns & Philip Smith, 2007. "Loose with the Truth: Predicting Deception in Negotiation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(2), pages 225-238, December.
    11. Christopher J. Robertson & William F. Crittenden, 2003. "Mapping moral philosophies: strategic implications for multinational firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 385-392, April.
    12. Douglas A. Bosse & Robert A. Phillips & Jeffrey S. Harrison, 2009. "Stakeholders, reciprocity, and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 447-456, April.
    13. Rosa Chun, 2019. "How Virtuous Global Firms Say They Are: A Content Analysis of Ethical Values," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 57-73, March.
    14. Nataša Verk & Urša Golob & Klement Podnar, 2021. "A Dynamic Review of the Emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 491-515, January.
    15. Pratima Bansal & Geoffrey Kistruck, 2006. "Seeing Is (Not) Believing: Managing the Impressions of the Firm’s Commitment to the Natural Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 165-180, August.
    16. Reza Hesarzadeh & Javad Rajabalizadeh, 2019. "The impact of corporate reporting readability on informational efficiency," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(4), pages 489-507, October.
    17. Gauri Bhat & Ole‐Kristian Hope & Tony Kang, 2006. "Does corporate governance transparency affect the accuracy of analyst forecasts?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(5), pages 715-732, December.
    18. Kam-hon Lee & Guang Yang & John L Graham, 2006. "Tension and trust in international business negotiations: American executives negotiating with Chinese executives," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(5), pages 623-641, September.
    19. Dubbink, G.W. & Graafland, J.J. & Liederkerke, L., 2008. "CSR: Transparency and the role of intermediate organisations," MPRA Paper 17892, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Khurana, Inder K. & Pereira, Raynolde & Martin, Xiumin, 2006. "Firm Growth and Disclosure: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 357-380, June.
    21. Belen Fernandez-Feijoo & Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz, 2014. "Effect of Stakeholders’ Pressure on Transparency of Sustainability Reports within the GRI Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 53-63, June.
    22. Jere R. Francis & Shawn Huang & Inder K. Khurana & Raynolde Pereira, 2009. "Does Corporate Transparency Contribute to Efficient Resource Allocation?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 943-989, September.
    23. Joullié, Jean-Etienne & Gould, Anthony M., 2023. "One truth and one standard for its telling: Reporting on and about scientific business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    24. Jasmine Tata & Sameer Prasad, 2015. "CSR Communication: An Impression Management Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 765-778, December.
    25. Michelle Amazeen, 2011. "Gap (RED): Social Responsibility Campaign or Window Dressing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 167-182, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Belen Fernandez-Feijoo & Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz, 2014. "Effect of Stakeholders’ Pressure on Transparency of Sustainability Reports within the GRI Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 53-63, June.
    2. Jordan Famularo, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility communication in the ICT sector: digital issues, greenwashing, and materiality," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Vivek Soundararajan & Jill A. Brown, 2016. "Voluntary Governance Mechanisms in Global Supply Chains: Beyond CSR to a Stakeholder Utility Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 83-102, March.
    4. Mo Chen & Kristina Bogner & Joana Becheva & Jens Grossklags, 2023. "On the transparency of the credit reporting system in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Sendlhofer, Tina & Tolstoy, Daniel, 2022. "How employees shape CSR transparency: A sensemaking perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 268-278.
    6. Higgins, Colin & Tang, Samuel & Stubbs, Wendy, 2020. "On managing hypocrisy: The transparency of sustainability reports," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 395-407.
    7. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    8. Lu Zhang & Yuan George Shan & Millicent Chang, 2021. "Can CSR Disclosure Protect Firm Reputation During Financial Restatements?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(1), pages 157-184, September.
    9. Riccardo Torelli & Federica Balluchi & Katia Furlotti, 2020. "The materiality assessment and stakeholder engagement: A content analysis of sustainability reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 470-484, March.
    10. Nurul Nazlia Jamil, 2020. "The Power of Political Connections: Review on the Impacts of Audit Committee and Corporate Governance," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(1), pages 333347-3333, December.
    11. Andrea Pérez & Carlos López & María del Mar García-De los Salmones, 2017. "An empirical exploration of the link between reporting to stakeholders and corporate social responsibility reputation in the Spanish context," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 668-698, March.
    12. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    13. Nor Farizal Mohammed & Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi & Fahdah Sultan Alsudairi, 2017. "Corporate Governance and Malaysian Politics: Theoretical Framework for Accounting Quality," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(2), pages 188-195.
    14. Liu, Xiang & Saidi, Reza & Bazaz, Mohammad, 2014. "Institutional incentives and earnings quality: The influence of government ownership in China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 248-261.
    15. Philipp Borgstedt & Ann-Marie Nienaber & Bernd Liesenkötter & Gerhard Schewe, 2019. "Legitimacy Strategies in Corporate Environmental Reporting: A Longitudinal Analysis of German DAX Companies’ Disclosed Objectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 177-200, August.
    16. Frederick Lindahl & Hannu Schadéwitz, 2013. "Are Legal Families Related to Financial Reporting Quality?," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 49(2), pages 242-267, June.
    17. Charles H. Cho & Matias Laine & Robin W. Roberts & Michelle Rodrigue, 2018. "The Frontstage and Backstage of Corporate Sustainability Reporting: Evidence from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Bill," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 865-886, October.
    18. Boubakri, Narjess & El Ghoul, Sadok & Saffar, Walid, 2015. "Firm growth and political institutions," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 104-125.
    19. Bidhan L. Parmar & Adrian Keevil & Andrew C. Wicks, 2019. "People and Profits: The Impact of Corporate Objectives on Employees’ Need Satisfaction at Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(1), pages 13-33, January.
    20. Abdul Wahab, Effiezal Aswadi & How, Janice & Park, Jason & Verhoeven, Peter, 2018. "Political patronage and analysts’ forecast precision," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 307-320.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:33:y:2024:i:2:p:692-706. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.