IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/accfor/v35y2011i4p217-231.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A CEO with many messages: Comparing the ideological representations provided by different corporate reports

Author

Listed:
  • Hannele Mäkelä
  • Matias Laine

Abstract

This study analyzes how corporate reporting can be used to reinforce particular worldviews in the ongoing discursive debate over sustainability. The use of language is compared in CEO letters from two types of disclosures: the annual and sustainability reports of two Finnish companies during 2000–2009. The analysis is based on Thompson’s (1990) schema regarding the modes of ideology. Significant differences are noted; the CEO letters in the annual reports prominently use the economic discourse of growth and profitability, but they rely on the ‘well-being’ discourse in the sustainability reports. Despite the difference in discourse, by using different forms of ideological strategies, both types of disclosure serve the dominant social paradigm. The findings presented in this study highlight the need to further develop corporate sustainability reporting practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Hannele Mäkelä & Matias Laine, 2011. "A CEO with many messages: Comparing the ideological representations provided by different corporate reports," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 217-231, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accfor:v:35:y:2011:i:4:p:217-231
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2011.06.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1016/j.accfor.2011.06.008
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.accfor.2011.06.008?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Hyung Jong Na & Kun Chang Lee & Seung Uk Choi & Seong Tae Kim, 2020. "Exploring CEO Messages in Sustainability Management Reports: Applying Sentiment Mining and Sustainability Balanced Scorecard Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Mohammed Hossain & Md. Tarikul Islam & Mahmood Ahmed Momin & Shamsun Nahar & Md. Samsul Alam, 2019. "Understanding Communication of Sustainability Reporting: Application of Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 563-586, December.
    3. Tregidga, Helen & Milne, Markus & Lehman, Glen, 2012. "Analyzing the quality, meaning and accountability of organizational reporting and communication: Directions for future research," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 223-230.
    4. Laura Bini & Marco Bellucci & Francesco Giunta, 2016. "Put Your Money where Your Mouth is: The Difference between Real Commitment to Sustainability and Mere Rhetoric," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 5-31.
    5. Beattie, Vivien, 2014. "Accounting narratives and the narrative turn in accounting research: Issues, theory, methodology, methods and a research framework," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 111-134.
    6. Mäkelä, Hannele, 2013. "On the ideological role of employee reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 360-378.
    7. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Comyns, Breeda & Figge, Frank & Napolitano, Giulio, 2014. "CEO statements in sustainability reports: Substantive information or background noise?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 241-257.
    8. Hyung Jong Na & So Ra Kim & Hyun Jin Jo, 2022. "Integrating Text-Mining and Sustainability Balanced Scorecard Methods to Examine the Relationship between CEO Messages of Homepages and Firm Value: Emphasis on Fashion Companies in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-25, November.
    9. Russell J. Craig & Niamh M. Brennan, 2012. "An exploration of the relationship between language choice in CEO letters to shareholders and corporate reputation," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 166-177, September.
    10. Martínez-Martínez, Domingo & Rodríguez Castro, Paula Isabel & Andrades Peña, Francisco Javier & Sierra Blanco, Jesús, 2024. "The Sustainable Development Goals and Large Spanish Companies: An analysis of their commitment based on their Non-Financial Reporting," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    11. Sorola, Matthew, 2022. "Q methodology to conduct a critical study in accounting: A Q study on accountants’ perspectives of social and environmental reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Anne‐Kathrin Weber, 2020. "Corporate Role Conceptions in Global Forest Governance," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(5), pages 611-627, November.
    13. George Ferns & Kenneth Amaeshi & Aliette Lambert, 2019. "Drilling their Own Graves: How the European Oil and Gas Supermajors Avoid Sustainability Tensions Through Mythmaking," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 201-231, August.
    14. Young Yoo & Keuntae Cho, 2024. "Key Traits of Leading Sustainable Firms in the Semiconductor Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-21, May.
    15. M. Dolores Guerrero‐Baena & Francisca Castilla‐Polo & Pablo Rodríguez‐Gutiérrez, 2024. "Motivations for social and environmental reporting in Spanish SMEs: An inductive content analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4130-4144, July.
    16. Yongkyu Choi & Keun Tae Cho, 2021. "Analysis of Environmental Management Characteristics Using Network Analysis of CEO Communication in the Automotive Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.
    17. Arslan-Ayaydin, Özgür & Bishara, Norman & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2020. "Managerial career concerns and the content of corporate disclosures: An analysis of the tone of earnings press releases," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    18. Martins, Adelaide & Gomes, Delfina & Oliveira, Lídia & Caria, Ana & Parker, Lee, 2020. "Resistance strategies through the CEO communications in the media," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Saverio Bozzolan & Giovanna Michelon & Marco Mattei & Andrea Giornetti, 2019. "Signing the letter to shareholders: Does the Signatory?s role relate to impression management?," FINANCIAL REPORTING, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(1), pages 37-82.

    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:taf:accfor:v:35:y:2011:i:4:p:217-231. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/racc .

    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.