Mahmood Momin and Sabrina Chong
The purpose of this study is to examine how visual elements along with textual narratives are used to disclose workplace diversity-related information in corporate social and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how visual elements along with textual narratives are used to disclose workplace diversity-related information in corporate social and environmental reports.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative content analysis is used to examine the workplace diversity-related information in the 2016 standalone sustainability/corporate responsibility reports of 47 Fortune companies. A total of 539 tables, figures and photographs and their related textual narratives are analysed through an impression management lens.
Findings
The study finds that multiple types of visual elements are used to supplement textual narratives to communicate workplace diversity-related messages. The positive and often non-verifiable workplace diversity-related information is symbolically suggestive of the companies’ workplace diversity commitment and success. While tables and figures are typically presented using numbers, percentages and words to enhance and promote the positive information, the “feel-good” photographs are used to arouse positive feelings in the readers. These visual elements are presented in either a single-visual or mixed-visual presentation form.
Practical implications
This study has the potential to inform and assist preparers in the use of multiple visual elements and textual narratives to promote an impartial and substantive reporting of workplace diversity-related information. Understanding the motivation behind the usage and presentation of visual elements can be useful for the promulgation of guidelines for workplace diversity disclosure, and make readers aware that the visual elements can be exploited for impression management and symbolic legitimacy.
Originality/value
This study provides empirical evidence on the use of multiple types of visual elements in the reporting of workplace diversity-related information. It demonstrates how these visual elements are strategically used and presented to deliver an impression of workplace diversity to the readers.
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Mahmood Ahmed Momin, Sabrina Chong, Chris van Staden and Lin Ma
This study aims to investigate how New Zealand companies use Twitter to communicate and engage effectively with stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how New Zealand companies use Twitter to communicate and engage effectively with stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a conceptual framework for effective stakeholder engagement by using social media to analyse the themes and emotion of company tweets during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The engagement of stakeholders with these tweets is also examined. This study argues that companies use selected themes and emotive language to connect with their stakeholders.
Findings
The findings show that selective themes and emotions are useful in company COVID-19 tweets to engage with the stakeholders. COVID-19 tweets contained significantly more emotion than non-COVID tweets, with emotions that can convey empathy being the most common. By presenting themselves as real, personable and empathetic towards others through emotive language, companies can engage in more meaningful and ethical way with their stakeholders.
Practical implications
The paper has implications for managing company communications by providing empirical evidence that both the themes and emotion expressed in the messages are important for effective stakeholder engagement in social media.
Originality/value
The conceptual framework for effective stakeholder engagement using social media is novel and can be used to evaluate and investigate stakeholder engagement during a global crisis.
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Sabrina Chong and Mahmood Momin
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how New Zealand listed companies communicate COVID-19 related concerns on Twitter during the pandemic through various coping…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how New Zealand listed companies communicate COVID-19 related concerns on Twitter during the pandemic through various coping expressions and strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
A thematic content analysis was conducted to analyse COVID tweets based on Gaspar et al.’s (2016) coping strategy framework.
Findings
Six major COVID-19-related concerns communicated by New Zealand companies were found, with product/service being the most tweeted concern. Various coping expressions and strategies were demonstrated by the companies to address these concerns. Information sharing strategy was found to be the most common coping strategy implied in all six of these concerns.
Research limitations/implications
The paper contributes to the scant literature in crisis communication by providing empirical evidence on how COVID-19-related concerns, coping expressions and strategies were communicated by New Zealand companies.
Originality/value
While extant coping research generally examined coping expressions and strategies in Western countries and at an individual level, this paper examines coping communication at organisational level in an Asia-Pacific country. As per the researchers’ knowledge, this is a novel attempt that provides empirical evidence on corporate coping communication in an Asia-Pacific country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Sabrina Chong, Mahmood Momin and Anil Narayan
This paper aims to propose a theoretically informed and analytically rigorous research framework that sustainability researchers could use or further develop to examine visually…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a theoretically informed and analytically rigorous research framework that sustainability researchers could use or further develop to examine visually persuasive messages in photographs.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the theoretical constructs of Peirce’s (1991) visual semiotic system of icon, index and symbol and Aristotle’s (1984) persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, the authors propose a research methodology that provides an explicit step-by-step guidance to examine visually persuasive messages in sustainability-related photographs. The sustainability-related photographs in The Coca-Cola Company’s 2018 Business and Sustainability Report are examined to illustrate the application of the framework.
Findings
This paper develops a research framework and provides empirical evidence of the use of the framework to enhance the understanding of visually persuasive messages depicted in photographs.
Practical implications
The proposed framework serves as a springboard for further research into visually persuasive messages.
Originality/value
The research framework of visual persuasion is novel and can be used by sustainability researchers to analyse photographs in corporate reports. It can be extended/modified to capture visual representations in different contexts and other disciplines as well.
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Sabrina Chong and Asheq Rahman
The purpose of this paper is to identify the web-based features of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure that play a role in making CSR information prominent to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the web-based features of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure that play a role in making CSR information prominent to investors and give the information better recognition for investment decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors posit a positive association between the company’s capital market performance and the web-based features used for CSR disclosure by the company. The authors argue that the more effective the feature is in enhancing the prominence of CSR information, the higher is the share turnover and market value of shares of a company, and the lower is its share prices’ bid-ask spread. Five specific web-based features, namely, the location, accessibility, medium, variety and extent of disclosure are identified as features used for web-based CSR disclosure. The research framework is drawn from Brennan and Merkl–Davies’ (2013) impression management strategies and Merton’s (1987) “investor recognition hypothesis”.
Findings
The findings show that visual and structural emphases of CSR information via specific web-based features enhance information prominence and could favourably influence investors’ impression towards the company. Investors are likely to make investment decisions in favour of the company, resulting in a higher share turnover along with increased market value of the shares of the company and lower bid-ask spread of its share prices.
Research limitations/implications
The paper highlights the significance of utilisation of web-based features in enhancing CSR information prominence for impression management purposes.
Practical implications
The findings have the potential to benefit preparers, users and policymakers by enhancing their knowledge and understanding of the utilisation of web-based CSR disclosure features. Specifically, preparers will be more aware of web-based feature(s) that could be useful in projecting CSR-related information to their stakeholders.
Social implications
The study will help enhance the dissemination of web-based CSR information.
Originality/value
The study adds to the literature on web-based CSR disclosure, by developing a structured approach to examine the effectiveness of web-based features for investors’ impression management.
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Sabrina Chong, Irshad Ali and Sumit K. Lodhia
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model to assess web-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure prominence and use this model to explore the prominence of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model to assess web-based corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure prominence and use this model to explore the prominence of CSR disclosures of listed New Zealand (NZ) companies.
Design/methodology/approach
A CSR Disclosure Prominence Indicator Model was constructed using five key elements that include the dissemination medium, accessibility, location, content variety and extent of CSR disclosures. The websites of 65 of the largest listed NZ companies from 11 industry groupings were explored through this model.
Findings
A significant proportion (81.5 per cent) of listed NZ companies in the sample were utilising their websites for communicating CSR information to stakeholders. The CSR Disclosure Prominence Indicator Model revealed that companies that have CSR-related disclosures on their websites used multiple dissemination media and locations to enhance prominence of such disclosures. CSR commentary on the webpage was the most prominent dissemination medium due to its ease of accessibility, with a separate CSR webpage being the most prominent location. Environmental performance and society-related issues received the most prominent emphasis. Although companies from “sensitive” industry sectors appeared to disclose their CSR information more prominently, those from “less sensitive” industries also attempted to make their CSR disclosure more prominent and noticeable through strategic placement and through the extent of disclosure.
Research limitations/implications
The paper highlights the importance of managing web-based CSR disclosure prominence, thereby highlighting its significance in communication of CSR information.
Practical implications
Prominently placed CSR disclosures could be a significant platform for companies to strategically manage their image and identity. The CSR Disclosure Prominence Indicator Model could be utilised by companies to effectively assess and manage the prominence of CSR disclosures on their websites for more effective communication with stakeholders.
Originality/value
The paper complements earlier studies on CSR disclosures by constructing and applying a model to assess the prominence of web-based CSR disclosures.
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Sabrina Chong, Anil K. Narayan and Irshad Ali
The purpose of this study is to uncover the extent of utilisation of photographs depicting corporte social responsibility (CSR) information in corporate annual reports and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to uncover the extent of utilisation of photographs depicting corporte social responsibility (CSR) information in corporate annual reports and the possible motives for their use.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used visual content analysis, based on Banks’ (2001) strategy of “looking through”, “looking at” and “looking behind” photographic images, to examine and analyse 4,933 photographs contained in the 2005, 2010 and 2015 annual reports of 70 companies listed on New Zealand Stock Exchange. The findings were interpreted using the impression management theoretical construct.
Findings
The findings show a marked increase in the utilisation of photographs for CSR-associated disclosures by the sample companies. Surprisingly, the quantity of photographs depicting environmental performance has declined, whereas those featuring product responsibility have increased significantly. The “messages” encoded in the photographs create idealistic images of the companies being caring and responsible corporate citizens. This suggests that companies are systematically using symbolic presentations such as photographs of children and families for rhetorical impression management.
Practical implications
The study contributes to a greater understanding of the power of photographs in representing and constructing “reality” of CSR performance. The findings have the potential to inform and assist the promulgation of guidelines for CSR reporting, as well as make users aware that photographs could be exploited as a rhetoric and impression management tool in pursuit of symbolic legitimacy.
Originality/value
The study develops a structured approach for categorising and analysing CSR-related photographs and adds to the scant literature on the utilisation of photographs as a medium for CSR information dissemination.
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June Cao, Zijie Huang, Ari Budi Kristanto and Tom Scott
This literature review aims to portray the thematic landscape of the Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) from 2013 to 2023. This paper also synthesises the special issues in PAR and…
Abstract
Purpose
This literature review aims to portray the thematic landscape of the Pacific Accounting Review (PAR) from 2013 to 2023. This paper also synthesises the special issues in PAR and identifies the main research streams that facilitate contemplating the dialogic interactions between PAR and real-world challenges. Furthermore, this paper aligns these streams with the emerging concerns in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and technological disruptions to propose impactful future directions for publications in PAR.
Design/methodology/approach
This review adopts bibliometric analysis to establish the main research streams and objective measures for directing future publications. This paper acquires the data of 310 PAR articles from the Web of Science and ensure the data integrity before the analysis. Based on this technique, this paper also analyses PAR’s productivity, authorship and local and global impacts.
Findings
Our bibliometric analysis reveals three key research streams: (1) ESG practices and disclosures, (2) informal institutions in accounting and (3) accounting in transition. This finding affirms PAR’s relevance to real-world accounting challenges. Using a thematic map, this paper portrays the current state of PAR’s topics to identify potential directions for future publications. Further, this paper proposes three future paths for PAR: (1) the research agenda for non-financial reporting, (2) research relating to and from diverse countries considering both formal and informal contemporary contextual factors and (3) the future of the evolving accounting profession.
Originality/value
This study adds value to the existing PAR reviews by extending our knowledge with the latest publications, demonstrating an objective and replicable approach, and offering future directions for PAR publications.
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Mahmood Ahmed Momin, Deryl Northcott and Mohammed Hossain
This paper aims to investigate the greenhouse gas (GHG)-related disclosure trends, content and strategies of the eight most high GHG-emitting Chinese power companies, over a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the greenhouse gas (GHG)-related disclosure trends, content and strategies of the eight most high GHG-emitting Chinese power companies, over a period when government pressure to manage GHG emissions increased.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the 2000-2009 annual reports, corporate social and environmental responsibility reports and websites of eight Chinese power companies. Content analysis results were supplemented with excerpts from documents written in English or Chinese. Legitimacy theory informed the interpretation of the findings.
Findings
GHG-related disclosures increased from 2002 when the Chinese Government ratified the Kyoto Protocol and promulgated stringent environmental regulations. However, some expected types of GHG-related disclosure were absent or rare. Disclosure practices were found to be underpinned by reputation management objectives and reflected a symbolic rather than substantive legitimation strategy.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the literature on GHG-related disclosures by carbon-intensive firms and points to the need for future research to examine such disclosures in different countries to appreciate the variety in practice.
Practical implications
While the Chinese Government appears to have driven the emergence of GHG-related disclosure practices, companies can effect improvement by expanding the scope and content of what they disclose. Also, the growing emphasis on website disclosures may present challenges in ensuring the reliability and assurance of GHG disclosures.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine GHG-related disclosure practices by Chinese power-generating companies, a sector crucial to managing the GHG effects of China’s significant economic growth.