IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v47y2017i6p673-694.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accounting narratives and impression management on social media

Author

Listed:
  • Jessica H. Yang
  • Siwen Liu

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the defensive and assertive impression management strategies and the impact of firm performance on accounting narratives by investigating the earnings disclosures of FTSE 100 companies on Twitter. Social media has become the prevailing venue for organisational self-presentation because it provides firms with more control over the image they intend to establish and maintain through the communication and content they deliver online. Our findings show that firms minimise the disclosures of negative information but employ various patterns and dissemination techniques to emphasise positive information. Specifically, improving performers are more willing to post and disseminate earnings-related tweets to achieve a higher degree of stakeholder engagement than declining performers. Based on these findings, we conclude that firms present themselves on social media opportunistically to construct a positive public image.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica H. Yang & Siwen Liu, 2017. "Accounting narratives and impression management on social media," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 673-694, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:47:y:2017:i:6:p:673-694
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2017.1322936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2017.1322936
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2017.1322936?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Skinner, Dj, 1994. "Why Firms Voluntarily Disclose Bad-News," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 38-60.
    2. Brennan, Niamh M. & Daly, Caroline A. & Harrington, Claire S., 2010. "Rhetoric, argument and impression management in hostile takeover defence documents," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 253-268.
    3. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    4. Aerts, Walter, 2005. "Picking up the pieces: impression management in the retrospective attributional framing of accounting outcomes," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 493-517, August.
    5. Loughran, Tim & McDonald, Bill, 2013. "IPO first-day returns, offer price revisions, volatility, and form S-1 language," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 307-326.
    6. Parhankangas, Annaleena & Ehrlich, Michael, 2014. "How entrepreneurs seduce business angels: An impression management approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 543-564.
    7. Hun‐Tong Tan & Elaine Ying Wang & Bo Zhou, 2014. "When the Use of Positive Language Backfires: The Joint Effect of Tone, Readability, and Investor Sophistication on Earnings Judgments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 273-302, March.
    8. Verrecchia, Robert E., 2001. "Essays on disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 97-180, December.
    9. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    10. Michael Lounsbury & Mary Ann Glynn, 2001. "Cultural entrepreneurship: stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 545-564, June.
    11. Benson, David F. & Brau, James C. & Cicon, James & Ferris, Stephen P., 2015. "Strategically camouflaged corporate governance in IPOs: Entrepreneurial masking and impression management," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 839-864.
    12. 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.
    13. Jane Davison, 2015. "Visualising accounting: an interdisciplinary review and synthesis," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 121-165, February.
    14. Vivien Beattie & Bill McInnes & Stella Fearnley, 2004. "A methodology for analysing and evaluating narratives in annual reports: a comprehensive descriptive profile and metrics for disclosure quality attributes," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 205-236, September.
    15. Gregory S. Miller & Douglas J. Skinner, 2015. "The Evolving Disclosure Landscape: How Changes in Technology, the Media, and Capital Markets Are Affecting Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 221-239, May.
    16. Yen†Jung Lee, 2012. "The Effect of Quarterly Report Readability on Information Efficiency of Stock Prices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 1137-1170, December.
    17. Kiljae Lee & Won-Yong Oh & Namhyeok Kim, 2013. "Social Media for Socially Responsible Firms: Analysis of Fortune 500’s Twitter Profiles and their CSR/CSIR Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 791-806, December.
    18. John K. Courtis, 2004. "Colour as visual rhetoric in financial reporting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 265-281, September.
    19. 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.
    20. Lian Fen Lee & Amy P. Hutton & Susan Shu, 2015. "The Role of Social Media in the Capital Market: Evidence from Consumer Product Recalls," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 367-404, May.
    21. 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.
    22. Mark A. Clatworthy & Michael John Jones, 2006. "Differential patterns of textual characteristics and company performance in the chairman's statement," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(4), pages 493-511, July.
    23. Leung, Sidney & Parker, Lee & Courtis, John, 2015. "Impression management through minimal narrative disclosure in annual reports," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 275-289.
    24. García Osma, Beatriz & Guillamón-Saorín, Encarna, 2011. "Corporate governance and impression management in annual results press releases," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 187-208.
    25. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    26. 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.
    27. Stuart Cooper & Richard Slack, 2015. "Reporting practice, impression management and company performance: a longitudinal and comparative analysis of water leakage disclosure," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(6-7), pages 801-840, December.
    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. Nerantzidis, Michail & Tampakoudis, Ioannis & She, Chaoyuan, 2024. "Social media in accounting research: A review and future research agenda," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    2. Xin Xu & Feng Xiong & Zhe An, 2023. "Using Machine Learning to Predict Corporate Fraud: Evidence Based on the GONE Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 137-158, August.
    3. Chaoyuan She & Giovanna Michelon, 2023. "A governance approach to stakeholder engagement in sustainable enterprises—Evidence from B Corps," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5487-5505, December.
    4. Erietta Beka & Odysseas Pavlatos, 2022. "The Impacts of Social Media on Accounting and Auditing: Evidence from Greek Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Schniederjans, Dara G. & Khalajhedayati, Mehrnaz, 2023. "Corporate Responsibility Communication and Score Trends: A Buyer and Supplier Perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    6. Niamh M. Brennan & Doris M. Merkl-Davies, 2018. "Do firms effectively communicate with financial stakeholders? A conceptual model of corporate communication in a capital market context," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 553-577, July.
    7. Knudsen, Dan-Richard, 2020. "Elusive boundaries, power relations, and knowledge production: A systematic review of the literature on digitalization in accounting," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    8. Gutiérrez‐Ponce Herenia & Chamizo González Julián & Manar Moffadi Awad Al‐mohareb, 2024. "Does corporate governance influence readability of the report by the chairman of the board of directors? The case of Jordanian listed companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3535-3550, July.
    9. Ani Wilujeng Suryani & Fiki Fernando, 2024. "“Don’t Be a Bragger!”: Social Media Impression and Firm’s Financial Performance," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(3), pages 157-171, August.
    10. Alnoor Bhimani, 2020. "Digital data and management accounting: why we need to rethink research methods," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 9-23, April.
    11. Bassyouny, Hesham & Abdelfattah, Tarek & Tao, Lei, 2022. "Narrative disclosure tone: A review and areas for future research," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    12. Jie Yang & Jie Wang & Xiaofeng Zhang & Chunqi Shen & Zhijuan Shao, 2022. "How Social Impressions Affect Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy: A Case Study in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-23, September.
    13. Liu, Zhenyuan & Geng, Ruoqi & Tse, Ying Kei (Mike) & Han, Shuihua, 2023. "Mapping the relationship between social media usage and organizational performance: A meta-analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    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. 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.
    2. Maria-Silvia Sandulescu, 2017. "Impression management – an international perspective," The Audit Financiar journal, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, vol. 15(148), pages 605-605.
    3. Walid Ben‐Amar & Merridee Bujaki & Bruce McConomy & Philip McIlkenny, 2022. "Disclosure transparency and impression management: A textual analysis of board gender diversity disclosures in Canada," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1247-1265, September.
    4. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    5. Nazari, Jamal A. & Hrazdil, Karel & Mahmoudian, Fereshteh, 2017. "Assessing social and environmental performance through narrative complexity in CSR reports," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 166-178.
    6. Kim, Jongkyum & Lim, Jee-Hae & Yoon, Kyunghee, 2022. "How do the content, format, and tone of Twitter-based corporate disclosure vary depending on earnings performance?," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    7. AERTS, Walter & TARCA, Ann, 2008. "The effect of institutional setting on attributional content in management commentary reports," Working Papers 2008010, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    8. Leung, Sidney & Parker, Lee & Courtis, John, 2015. "Impression management through minimal narrative disclosure in annual reports," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 275-289.
    9. Chen, Chen & Hanlon, Dean & Khedmati, Mehdi & Wake, James, 2023. "Annual report readability and equity mispricing," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    10. Berkin, Anil & Aerts, Walter & Van Caneghem, Tom, 2023. "Feasibility analysis of machine learning for performance-related attributional statements," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    11. Rezaee, Zabihollah & Tuo, Ling, 2017. "Voluntary disclosure of non-financial information and its association with sustainability performance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 47-59.
    12. Chung, Dennis Y. & Hrazdil, Karel & Novak, Jiri & Suwanyangyuan, Nattavut, 2019. "Does the large amount of information in corporate disclosures hinder or enhance price discovery in the capital market?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 36-52.
    13. Ingrid E. Fisher & Margaret R. Garnsey & Mark E. Hughes, 2016. "Natural Language Processing in Accounting, Auditing and Finance: A Synthesis of the Literature with a Roadmap for Future Research," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 157-214, July.
    14. Niamh Brennan & Encarna Guillamon-Saorin & Aileen Pierce, 2009. "Impression management : developing and illustrating a scheme of analysis for narrative disclosures – a methodological note," Open Access publications 10197/2905, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    15. 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.
    16. Jaeschke, Reemda & Lopatta, Kerstin & Yi, Cheong, 2018. "Managers’ use of language in corrupt firms’ financial disclosures: Evidence from FCPA violators," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 170-192.
    17. Dominika Hadro & Karol Marek Klimczak & Marek Pauka, 2017. "Impression Management in Letters to Shareholders: Evidence from Poland," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 305-330, September.
    18. Grant, Stephanie M. & Hodge, Frank D. & Sinha, Roshan K., 2018. "How disclosure medium affects investor reactions to CEO bragging, modesty, and humblebragging," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 68, pages 118-134.
    19. YAN, Beibei & AERTS, Walter, 2014. "Rhetorical impression management in corporate narratives and institutional environment," Working Papers 2014014, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    20. Kuo Zhou & Xianghui Jin & Xinru Li & Yunqing Tao, 2024. "Enhancing sustainable development through effective disclosure: Corporate environmental performance and readability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 274-291, January.

    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:acctbr:v:47:y:2017:i:6:p:673-694. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    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.