Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Impression management

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    Renewable energy disclosure in South African listed companies’ corporate reports: An impression management analysis
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Schaller, Jessica; Varachia, Zakiyyah; Cerbone, Dannielle
    The emphasis on renewable energy is especially relevant in a South African context. The poor electricity stability has resulted in many businesses incorporating renewable energy into their business model and subsequent disclosures. The disclosures provided by companies are intended to address stakeholders’ information needs regarding the sustainability of a company. The disclosure may, however, contain elements of impression management to reduce agency costs. The report investigates the informativeness of renewable energy disclosures, questioning whether companies adopt impression management strategies by manipulating the disclosures provided in their reports. A content analysis was performed on the disclosures by 60 listed companies. Analysis was performed using descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis to assess the extent of impression management depending on the type of industry, market capitalisation and corporate report used. It was found that companies engage in impression management when disclosing the transition. The findings support that there were mainly similarities noted across industries and market capitalisation in terms of the techniques used, with some differences in terms of the impression management methods used. There were, however, significant differences noted in the overall level of impression management within different industries, market capitalisations and corporate reports. This evidence has relevant implications for both accounting scholars and practitioners since it questions the role of voluntary disclosures and the intended purpose of the disclosures in different reporting media
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    Impression management analysis of South African State-Owned Enterprises: six capitals disclosure in the chairman, CEO, CFO and Performance Report
    (2022) Shaikh, Sumaiyabanu
    Orientation: State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in developing economies, such as South Africa, have a critical economic, social, and environmental influence. However, South African SOEs are currently dealing with increased public scrutiny, putting their organisational legitimacy in jeopardy as they continue to drain public funds. As a result, SOEs may find it difficult to defend their value relevance and may resort to impression management strategies to maintain their legitimacy. Research Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse if certain impression management techniques, namely attribution, neutralisation, and thematic manipulation, are employed by Schedule 2 South African SOEs in specific sections of their integrated reports. The study also aims to understand the use of the six capitals in SOEs’ integrated reports and the application of impression management techniques to the six capitals. Significance of study: This study could benefit society at large, as users could factor impression management into their decisions. There is currently limited research regarding impression management in the public sector. This study contributes to the body of literature on impression management within the public sector in an emerging economy. Overview of Research Method: The SOEs analysed are those included in Schedule 2 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Within the integrated report, the focus is on the Chairman, CEO, CFO Statements, and the Performance Report. A qualitative approach, using content analysis with the data being analysed using quantitative methods, was adopted. Main Findings: The findings of this study highlight that SOEs engage in some form of impression management (either through thematic manipulation, attribution, or neutralisation) when presenting the six capitals. SOEs employ assertive impression management through the technique of thematic manipulation to gain legitimacy and employ defensive impression management through the techniques of attribution and neutralisation to repair legitimacy. Despite the challenges that SOEs have faced over the two years, the narratives disclosed create a notion of optimism to achieve legitimacy, and this is accomplished by managing the impression of the words in the Chairman, CEO, CFO and Performance Reports.
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    The tone of business model disclosure: an analysis of integrated reports of public sector entities
    (2021) Mahomed, Suhail
    Orientation: State owned entities have recently come under scrutiny because of constant failure to ensure profitability and for corruption scandals. Examples of this can be seen through state capture corruption scandals which have been brought forward through to the Zondo Commission. Such corruption scandals have placed doubt in the minds of the public regarding the validity of integrated reports. This has called for increased accountability within the public sector. One solution to bringing about this accountability is through integrated reporting. Within the integrated report, the business model disclosure is qualitative disclosure describing how entities create value by utilising resources which is a useful component within the integrated report. However, the use of impression management strategies in business model disclosure in order to promote an entity’s corporate image has been raised as a concern by prior researchers. More specifically, the use of thematic manipulation has been extensively researched. Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to establish whether entities within the public sector adopt impression management strategies by manipulating the tone of the business model disclosure provided in their integrated reports. Significance of study: Integrated reports contain narrative disclosures. These disclosures are subject to possible hidden manipulation and may influence users’ decisions. In assessing whether impression management techniques are used, narrative disclosure analysis have given an indication whether these business models and more so the integrated reports themselves convey true information. The study contributes to the effective disclosure of business models within a South African context. Public regulatory bodies may find this study useful in assessing whether public entities concisely disclose business models. Overview of research method: The study made use of a quantitative approach in terms of research methodology even though the data was qualitative in nature. Each sentence within the business model disclosure of public sector entities was analysed. More specifically, only schedule 2 and 3A public sector entities were observed in this study. The research design consisted of three phases. These being a content analysis, a univariate analysis and a multi-variate analysis. Main findings: This study found that majority of disclosure in terms of business models were found to be using a non-positive tone which indicates that is no manipulation of tone through the adoption of impression management techniques. This was in line with a study performed in the private sector in a South African context (Moloto, 2019). Furthermore, the results found that there is an association between tone and other categories of disclosure (i.e. type, time and topic). Finally, when testing tone in relation to a set of disclosure variables relating to corporate governance (number of board of directors), performance (declining return on equity) and disclosure verifiability (positive tone being associated with qualitative and forward looking disclosure), it was found that there were significant statistical relationships between a more positive tone and all such disclosure variables
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    Impression management through minimal narrative disclosures in integrated reports: an analysis of the top 100 JSE listed firms
    (2021) Chothia, Aadil
    Orientation: Two crucial aspects to corporate reporting is transparency and accountability within the Integrated Report (Leung, Parker, & Courtis, 2015). Transparency within the Integrated Report allows for the users of the report to understand the financial position and underlying economics of the firm. Narrative disclosures in the Integrated Report forms a part of the annual corporate financial report and serves as a means of communication between management and investors. Narrative disclosers can also serve as a medium for impression management strategies utilised to distract investors’ attention from a firm’s weaknesses. This can be achieved through “selectivity” which involves including or omitting certain items of information within the Integrated Report (Merkl-Davies & Brennan, 2007).Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if the top 100 JSE listed companies utilise impression management strategies, specifically through minimal narrative disclosures in their Integrated Reports. This will allow the researcher to “explore the phenomenon of concealment strategy through minimal narrative disclosures. In this study, the researcher focuses on selectivity in neglecting narrative information in the Integrated Report and extends the body of knowledge relating to impression management using concealment strategy, specifically discretionary narrative disclosures. Overview of research method: This was an adaptation of a study conducted by Leung et al. (2015) and was of a quantitative nature which involved the systematic investigation of the research questions through statistical methods on the data gathered. The research involved two phases. Phase 1 involved the identification of minimal narrative disclosure firms using a disclosure corpus. Phase 2 allowed the researcher to explore the sub-research questions which involved the use of a multivariate regression model. Main Findings: The study illustrated that from the sample firms selected, 49% were classified as minimal narrative disclosure firms based on their disclosure score obtained from the disclosure checklist. The study also showed that there is no association between a firm’s current performance and their minimal narrative disclosure firm score and revealed that there is an association between a firm’s financial distress levels and the minimal narrative disclosure firm score obtained by the firm. No evidence was obtained to support that minimal narrative disclosures in Integrated Reports are associated with future performance of a minimal narrative disclosure firm (whether future performance improves or deteriorates) within the context of this research