The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and environmental reporting and financial performance of airlines operating in the UK
Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting
ISSN: 1985-2517
Article publication date: 23 June 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on almost all sectors, but the airline industry has been globally most affected. Although recent years have witnessed an increase in attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, the disclosure within the airline sector has been historically limited. This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and environmental reporting and financial performance of airlines operating in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies content, textual and financial analysis to 16 company-year observations covering two fiscal years, 2018 and 2020, of eight airlines operating in the UK. A coding structure is based on the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. NVivo is used for textual comparative analysis.
Findings
The research reveals that social disclosures exceeded environmental disclosures in the period before and during COVID-19. However, the pandemic has shown a significant increase in environmental rather than social disclosures. The study evidences the dominating themes of social and environmental disclosure, showing changes between 2018 and 2020. The study finds the extent of negative impact of COVID-19 on airlines’ financial performance. A period of crisis prompts companies to release more information, with a positive correlation between higher debt levels and increased disclosure.
Originality/value
The findings complement the emerging empirical evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on CSR reporting and demonstrate how challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis affect the disclosure practices in the airline industry.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the helpful suggestions we received from Ferda Halicioglu and Nicola Wood at different stages of this research project. The authors would like to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions to improve the paper.
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding: No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this paper.
Citation
Mintah, E.O. and Gulko, N. (2023), "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and environmental reporting and financial performance of airlines operating in the UK", Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-01-2023-0032
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited