Accounting for Strike Action: An Illustration of Organised Hypocrisy

This study examines how social disclosures by the world's three largest producers of platinum group metals (all located in South Africa) are used to address stakeholders’ divergent expectations after significant labour unrest at their mining operations during 2012. Organised hypocrisy is used as a theoretical framework to demonstrate how companies counter-couple a rational economic position on the strike action from a progressive stance on social reform. Talk and decision are used to suggest a potential for positive change while material revisions to business practice are deferred to safeguard financial interests. Contrary to earlier findings, this type of reporting strategy is used even when dealing with powerful constituents. This may be because organised hypocrisy is able to placate stakeholders who do not have direct access to an organisation's internal decision making. It is also possible that, when stakeholders are also engaged in a type of organised hypocrisy, they are unable to criticise organisations for maintaining multiple and competing facades. Consequently, organised hypocrisy can severely undermine the change potential of sustainability reporting.