IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v26y2020ics2214635019302229.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Infographics in corporate sustainability reports: Providing useful information or used for impression management?

Author

Listed:
  • Kanbaty, Majid
  • Hellmann, Andreas
  • He, Liyu

Abstract

This paper examines the use of infographics in sustainability reports, particularly focusing on whether infographics are used for impression management purposes by creating a more favourable view of a firm’s sustainability performance. A content analysis is used to examine the frequencies, types, components, and themes of infographics included in sustainability reports of 147 US companies. Results suggest that infographics are widely used for selecting, comparing and emphasising sustainability performance trends towards favourable disclosures. Further, the findings of a regression analysis show that the level of impression management is significantly associated with both environmental and social disclosures. The paper provides the first evidence of how sustainability performance is visually communicated via infographics, a new kind of graphical representation that is increasingly used in sustainability reports. Additionally, the paper contributes to the debate on the reliability of information included in sustainability reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Kanbaty, Majid & Hellmann, Andreas & He, Liyu, 2020. "Infographics in corporate sustainability reports: Providing useful information or used for impression management?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:26:y:2020:i:c:s2214635019302229
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635019302229
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100309?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. Blake E. Ashforth & Barrie W. Gibbs, 1990. "The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 177-194, May.
    2. Jones, Michael John, 2011. "The nature, use and impression management of graphs in social and environmental accounting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 75-89.
    3. Andreas Hellmann & Chiing Yeow & Lurion De Mello, 2017. "The influence of textual presentation order and graphical presentation on the judgements of non-professional investors," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(4), pages 455-470, June.
    4. Hopwood, Anthony G., 2009. "Accounting and the environment," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 433-439, April.
    5. Michael John Jones, 2011. "The nature, use and impression management of graphs in social and environmental accounting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 75-89, June.
    6. W. Brooke Elliott & Stephanie M. Grant & Kristina M. Rennekamp, 2017. "How Disclosure Features of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports Interact with Investor Numeracy to Influence Investor Judgments," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(3), pages 1596-1621, September.
    7. Bouten, Lies & Everaert, Patricia & Van Liedekerke, Luc & De Moor, Lieven & Christiaens, Johan, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility reporting: A comprehensive picture?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 187-204.
    8. Giacomo Boesso & Kamalesh Kumar, 2007. "Drivers of corporate voluntary disclosure," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(2), pages 269-296, April.
    9. Isabelle Ducassy, 2013. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Pay Off in Times of Crisis? An Alternate Perspective on the Relationship between Financial and Corporate Social Performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(3), pages 157-167, May.
    10. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    11. John K. Courtis, 2004. "Colour as visual rhetoric in financial reporting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 265-281, September.
    12. Encarna Guillamon-Saorin & Beatriz García Osma & Michael John Jones, 2012. "Opportunistic disclosure in press release headlines," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 143-168, June.
    13. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    14. Sue Hrasky, 2012. "Visual disclosure strategies adopted by more and less sustainability-driven companies," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 154-165, September.
    15. Hrasky, Sue, 2012. "Visual disclosure strategies adopted by more and less sustainability-driven companies," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 154-165.
    16. Short, Jeremy C. & Palmer, Timothy B., 2003. "Organizational performance referents: An empirical examination of their content and influences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 209-224, March.
    17. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    18. Doris M. Merkl-Davies & Niamh M. Brennan, 2011. "A conceptual framework of impression management: new insights from psychology, sociology and critical perspectives," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 415-437, December.
    19. Rachel N. Birkey & Giovanna Michelon & Dennis M. Patten & Jomo Sankara, 2016. "Does assurance on CSR reporting enhance environmental reputation? An examination in the U.S. context," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 143-152, September.
    20. Joseph, George, 2012. "Ambiguous but tethered: An accounting basis for sustainability reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 93-106.
    21. Hellmann, Andreas & Ang, Lawrence & Sood, Suresh, 2020. "Towards a conceptual framework for analysing impression management during face-to-face communication," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    22. Gaétan Breton & Richard Taffler, 2001. "Accounting information and analyst stock recommendation decisions: a content analysis approach," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 91-101.
    23. Dominique Diouf & Olivier Boiral, 2017. "The quality of sustainability reports and impression management," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 643-667, March.
    24. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    25. Mark Clatworthy & Michael Jones, 2003. "Financial reporting of good news and bad news: evidence from accounting narratives," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 171-185.
    26. Patten, Dennis M., 1992. "Intra-industry environmental disclosures in response to the Alaskan oil spill: A note on legitimacy theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 471-475, July.
    27. Ding, Yike & Hellmann, Andreas & De Mello, Lurion, 2017. "Factors driving memory fallibility: A conceptual framework for accounting and finance studies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 14-22.
    28. Doris M. Merkl-Davies & Niamh Brennan, 2007. "Discretionary disclosure strategies in corporate narratives : incremental information or impression management?," Open Access publications 10197/2907, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    29. Graves, O. Finley & Flesher, Dale L. & Jordan, Robert E., 1996. "Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-88, January.
    30. Michelle Rodrigue & Charles H. Cho & Matias Laine, 2015. "Volume and Tone of Environmental Disclosure: A Comparative Analysis of a Corporation and its Stakeholders," Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 1-16, April.
    31. Hellmann, Andreas, 2016. "The role of accounting in behavioral finance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 39-42.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Xiaomeng Charlene & Hellmann, Andreas & Sood, Suresh, 2022. "A framework for analyst economic incentives and cognitive biases: Origination of the walk-down in earnings forecasts," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    2. Ang, Lawrence & Hellmann, Andreas & Kanbaty, Majid & Sood, Suresh, 2020. "Emotional and attentional influences of photographs on impression management and financial decision making," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    3. Carolin Baier & Max Göttsche & Andreas Hellmann & Frank Schiemann, 2022. "Too Good To Be True: Influencing Credibility Perceptions with Signaling Reference Explicitness and Assurance Depth," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 695-714, July.
    4. Khayria Amarna & Raquel Garde Sánchez & Maria Victoria López‐Pérez & Mahmoud Marzouk, 2024. "The effect of environmental, social, and governance disclosure and real earning management on the cost of financing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3181-3193, July.
    5. Blanco-Zaitegi, Goizeder & Álvarez Etxeberria, Igor & Moneva, José M., 2024. "Impression management of biodiversity reporting in the energy and utilities sectors: An assessment of transparency in the disclosure of negative events," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    6. Sri Ningsih & Iman Harymawan & Nurul Fitriani & Brian Lam, 2021. "Pessimistic Tone in Earnings Announcement and CSR Disclosure: Exploring the Interacting Role of CEO Busyness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Laura Corazza & Junru Zhang & Dilhani Kapu Arachchilage & Simone Domenico Scagnelli, 2022. "Blockchain and Sustainability Disclosure: A Scenario-Based Application for Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    2. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Cristina‐Andrea Araújo‐Bernardo, 2020. "What colour is the corporate social responsibility report? Structural visual rhetoric, impression management strategies, and stakeholder engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 1117-1142, March.
    3. Perkiss, Stephanie & Bernardi, Cristiana & Dumay, John & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Armando Calabrese & Roberta Costa & Nathan Levialdi & Tamara Menichini & Roberth Andres Villazon Montalvan, 2020. "Does More Mean Better? Exploring the Relationship between Report Completeness and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Hellmann, Andreas & Ang, Lawrence & Sood, Suresh, 2020. "Towards a conceptual framework for analysing impression management during face-to-face communication," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    6. García-Sánchez, Isabel-María & Suárez-Fernández, Oscar & Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer, 2019. "Female directors and impression management in sustainability reporting," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 359-374.
    7. Hazianti Abdul Halim, 2016. "Visual Representations Strategies in Chairperson’s Statement in Malaysia: An Analysis of Impression Management," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(12), pages 245-255, December.
    8. Bigoni, Michele & Mohammed, Sideeq, 2023. "Critique is unsustainable: A polemic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    9. Rüdiger Hahn & Regina Lülfs, 2014. "Legitimizing Negative Aspects in GRI-Oriented Sustainability Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Corporate Disclosure Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 401-420, September.
    10. Tuvana Cüre & Emel Esen & Arzu Özsözgün Çalışkan, 2020. "Impression Management in Graphical Representation of Economic, Social, and Environmental Issues: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Renato Camodeca & Alex Almici & Umberto Sagliaschi, 2018. "Sustainability Disclosure in Integrated Reporting: Does It Matter to Investors? A Cheap Talk Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-34, November.
    12. 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.
    13. Adelaide Martins & Delfina Gomes & Manuel Castelo Branco, 2020. "Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Perera, Luckmika & Jubb, Christine & Gopalan, Sandeep, 2019. "A comparison of voluntary and mandated climate change-related disclosure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 243-266.
    15. Francesco Badia & Enrico Bracci & Mouhcine Tallaki, 2020. "Quality and Diffusion of Social and Sustainability Reporting in Italian Public Utility Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, June.
    16. Kshitij Khanna & Helen Irvine, 2018. "Communicating the Impact of the Global Financial Crisis in Annual Reports: A Study of Australian NGOs," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(1), pages 109-126, March.
    17. Chen, Xiaomeng Charlene & Hellmann, Andreas & Sood, Suresh, 2022. "A framework for analyst economic incentives and cognitive biases: Origination of the walk-down in earnings forecasts," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    18. Cho, Charles H. & Roberts, Robin W. & Patten, Dennis M., 2010. "The language of US corporate environmental disclosure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 431-443, May.
    19. Hrasky, Sue, 2012. "Visual disclosure strategies adopted by more and less sustainability-driven companies," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 154-165.
    20. María del Mar Miras‐Rodríguez & Francisco Bravo‐Urquiza & Bernabé Escobar‐Pérez, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility reporting actually destroy firm reputation?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1947-1957, July.

    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:eee:beexfi:v:26:y:2020:i:c:s2214635019302229. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    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.