Impression management, myth creation and fabrication in private social and environmental reporting: Insights from Erving Goffman

Accounting, Organizations and Society

Volumn 38, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 195-213

  Solomon, Jill F ^a   Solomon, Aris ^b   Joseph, Nathan L ^c   Norton, Simon D ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF READING   (United Kingdom)

^b ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^c ASTON UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^d CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84877148337     PISSN: 03613682     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2013.01.001     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Abrahamson E., Park C. Concealment of Negative Organizational Outcomes: An agency theory perspective. Academy of Management Journal 1994, 37(5):1302-1334.
2. Abrahamson E., Rosenkopf L. Institutional and competitive bandwagons: Using mathematical modelling as a tool to explore innovation diffusion. Academy of Management Review 1993, 18:487-517.
3. Adelberg A.H. Narrative disclosures contained in financial reports: Means of communication or manipulation. Accounting and Business Research 1979, 9(35):179-189.
4. Aerts W. Picking up the pieces: Impression management in the retrospective attributional framing of accounting outcomes. Accounting, Organizations and Society 2005, 30(5):493-517.
5. Alvesson M. Beyond neopositivists, romantics and localists: A reflexive approach to interviews in organizational research. Academy of Management Review 2003, 28(1):13-33.
6. Archel P., Husillos J., Spence C. The institutionalisation of unaccountability: Loading the dice of corporate social responsibility discourse. Accounting, Organizations and Society 2011, 36:327-343.
7. Argenti J. Corporate collapse: The causes and symptoms 1986, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, UK.
8. Arnold J., Mozier P. A survey of the methods used by UK investment analysts to appraise investments in ordinary shares. Accounting and Business Research 1984, (Summer):195-207.
9. Barker R.G. The market for information: Evidence from finance directors, analysts and fund managers. Accounting and Business Research 1998, 29(1):3-20.
10. Baumeister R.F. A self-presentational view of social phenomena. Psychological Bulletin 1982, 91:3-26.
11. Baumeister R.F. Public self and private self 1986, Springer, New York.
12. Beattie V., Dhanani A., Jones M.J. Investigating Presentational change in UK Annual Reports: A longitudinal perspective. Journal of Business Communication 2008, 45(2):181-222.
13. Beattie, V., McInnes, W., & Fearnley, S. (2004). Through the eyes of management: Narrative reporting across three sectors, research report. London, UK: Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
14. Beattie V., Jones M.J. The use and abuse of graphs in annual reports: A theoretical framework and an empirical study. Accounting and Business Research 1992, 22(88):291-303.
15. Beattie V., Jones M.J. Measurement distortion of graphs in corporate reports: An experimental study. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 2002, 15(4):546-564.
16. Bettman J., Weitz B. Attribution in the board room: Causal reasoning in corporate annual reports. Administrative Science Quarterly 1983, 28:165-183.
17. Berger P., Luckmann T. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge 1966, Penguin Books, London, UK.
18. Burns T. Erving Goffman 1992, Routledge, London.
19. Cadbury Report Report of the committee on the financial aspects of corporate governance: The code of best practice 1992, Gee Professional Publishing, London, (December).
20. Chugh L.And., Meador J. The stock valuation process: The analyst's view. Financial Analysts Journal 1984, 40:41-48.
21. Clatworthy M., Jones M.J. The effect of thematic structure on the variability of annual report readability. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 2001, 14(3):311-326.
22. Collins R. The passing of intellectual generations: Reflections on the death of Erving Goffman. Sociological Theory 1986, 4(Spring):106-113.
23. Courtis J.K. Annual report readability variability: Tests of the obfuscation hypothesis. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 1998, 11(4):459-471.
24. Erving Goffman: Exploring the interaction order 1988, Polity Press, Cambridge. P. Drew, A. Wootton (Eds.).
25. Entman R.M. Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication 1993, 43(4):51-58.
26. Erving Goffman 2000, Sage, Newbury Park. G. Fine, G. Smith (Eds.).
27. Frank A.W. Reality construction in sociology. Annual Review of Sociology 1979, 5:167-191.
28. Freire P. Pedagogy of the oppressed, 30th anniversary edition 2004, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, New York, USA.
29. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (2005). A legal framework for the integration of environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment, UNEP Finance Initiative, produced for the Asset Management Working Group of the UNEP Finance Initiative (October).
30. Friedman A.L., Miles S. Socially responsible investment and corporate social and environmental reporting in the UK: An exploratory study. British Accounting Review 2001, 33:523-548.
31. Graves S.B. Institutional ownership and corporate R&D in the computer industry. Academy of Management Journal 1988, 31:417-428.
32. Gaved M. Closing the communications gap: Disclosure and institutional shareholders 1997, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, London.
33. Giddens A. Social theory and modern sociology 1987, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
34. Goffman E. Symbols of class status. British Journal of Sociology 1951, 2:294-304.
35. Goffman, E. (1959, reprinted 1990). The presentation of self in everyday life. London, UK: Penguin Books.
36. Goffman, E. (1967, reprinted 2005). Interaction ritual: Essays in face to face behaviour.
37. Goffman E. Relations in public: Microstudies of the public order 1971, Allen Lane, London.
38. Goffman E. Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience 1974, Northeastern University Press, New England.
39. Graves O.F., Flesher D.L., Jordan R.E. Pictures and the bottom line: The television epistemology of U.S. annual reports. Accounting, Organizations and Society 1996, 21(1):57-58.
40. Guillamon-Saorin, E. (2006). Impression management in financial reporting: Evidence from Spanish and UK companies. Unpublished PhD thesis. Dublin: University College Dublin, National University of Ireland.
41. Hacking I. Between Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman: Between discourse in the abstract and face-to-face interaction. Economy and Society 2004, 33(3):277-302.
42. Hansen G.S., Hill C.W.L. Are institutional investors myopic? A time-series study of four technology-driven industries. Strategic Management Journal 1991, 12:1-16.
43. Hampel Report The final report 1998, The Committee on Corporate Governance and Gee Professional Publishing, London.
44. Hildyard, N., & Mansley, M. (2001). The campaigners' Guide to the financial markets: Effective lobbying of companies and financial institutions. London, UK: The Corner House Londan, May.
45. Holland J.B. Private disclosure and financial reporting. Accounting and Business Research 1998, 28(4):255-269.
46. Holland J.B. Private voluntary disclosure, financial intermediation and market efficiency. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting 1998, 25(1&2):29-68.
47. Holland J.B., Doran P. Financial institutions, private acquisition of corporate information, and fund management. The European Journal of Finance 1998, 4:129-155.
48. Holland J., Stoner G. Dissemination of price sensitive information and management of voluntary corporate disclosure. Accounting and Business Research 1996, 26(4):295-313.
49. Jameson F. On Goffman's frame analysis. Theory and Society 1976, 3(1):119-133.
50. Jones, E. E., & Pittman, T. S. (1982). Toward a theory of strategic self-presentation. In J. Suls (Ed.), Psychological perspective on the self. Hillsdale, NS: Erbaum.
51. Jones M.J. Creative accounting, fraud and international accounting scandals 2011, John Wiley & Sons Inc., Chichester, UK.
52. Lofland, J. (1980). Early Goffman: Style, structure, substance, soul. In Ditton (Ed.) (1980), The view from Goffman. London and Basingstoke, UK: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
53. Kohut G.F., Sears A.H. The president's letter to stockholders: An examination of corporate communication strategy. The Journal of Business Communication 1992, 29(1):7-21.
54. Macintosh N.B. Accounting and the truth of earnings reports: Philosophical considerations. European Accounting Review 2009, 18(1):141-175.
55. Manning, P. K. (1980). Goffman's framing order: Style as structure. In Ditton (Ed.) (1980) The view from Goffman. London and Basingstoke, UK: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
56. Mansley M. Socially responsible investment: A guide for pension funds and institutional investors 2000, Monitor Press, Sudbury, UK.
57. Marston, C. (1999). Investor relations meetings: Views of companies, institutional investors and analysts. Edinburgh: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
58. Marston, C. (2009). Investor relations. In S. Young (Ed.), Contemporary issues in international corporate governance (pp. 141-163). Prahran, Australia: The Tilde Group.
59. Mather D., Mather P., Ramsay A. An investigation into the measurement of graph distortion in financial reports. Accounting and Business Research 2005, 35(2):147-159.
60. McCann L., Solomon A., Solomon J.F. Explaining the recent growth in UK socially responsible investment. Journal of General Management 2003, 28(3):32-53.
61. McKinstry S. Designing the annual reports of Burton's plc from 1930 to 1994. Accounting, Organizations and Society 1996, 21(1):89-111.
62. Mero N.P., Guidice R.M., Brownlee A.L. Accountability in a performance appraisal context: The effect of audience and form of accounting on rater response and behaviour. Journal of Management 2007, 33(2):233-252.
63. Messner M. The limits of accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society 2009, 34:918-938.
64. Miller T.G. Goffman, social acting, and moral behaviour. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 1984, 14(2):141-163.
65. Monks R.A.G. The new global investors: How shareholders can unlock sustainable prosperity worldwide 2001, Capstone Publishing, Oxford.
66. Myners Report Developing a winning partnership 1995, Department of Trade and Industry, London.
67. O'Neill J. Sociology as a skin trade: Essays towards a reflexive sociology 1972, Harper & Row, New York.
68. Preston A.M., Wright C., Young J.J. Imag[in]ing annual reports. Accounting, Organizations and Society 1996, 21(1):113-137.
69. Rawls A.W. Language, self and social order: A reformulation of Goffman and Sacks. Human Studies 1989, 12:147-172.
70. Roberts J. The possibilities of accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society 1991, 16:355-368.
71. Roberts J. Trust and control in Anglo-American systems of corporate governance: The individualizing and socialising effects of processes of accountability. Human Relations 2001, 54(12):1547-1572.
72. Roberts J. Corporate governance and the ethics of Narcissus. Business Ethics Quarterly 2001, 11(1):109-127.
73. Roberts J. No one is perfect: The limits of transparency and an ethic for 'intelligent' accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society 2009, 34:957-970.
74. Roberts J., Sanderson P., Barker R., Hendry J. In the mirror of the market: The disciplinary effects of company/fund manager meetings. Accounting, Organizations and Society 2006, 31:277-294.
75. Scheff T.J. The structure of context: Deciphering frame analysis. Sociological Theory 2005, 23(4):368-385.
76. Scheff T.J. Goffman unbound! A new paradigm for social science 2006, Paradigm Publishers, Colorado, USA.
77. Schlenker, B. R. (1980). Impression management. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
78. The self and social life 1985, McGraw-Hill, New York. B.R. Schlenker (Ed.).
79. Schlenker B.R., Leary M.R. Social anxiety and self-presentation: A conceptualization and model. Psychological Bulletin 1982, 92:641-669.
80. Smith G.W.H. Snapshots 'sub specie aternitatis': Simmel, Goffman and formal sociology. Human Studies 1989, 12:19-57.
81. Smith G. Erving Goffman 2006, Routledge, Oxon, UK.
82. Solomon, J. F. (2009). The transformation of socially responsible investment. In Contemporary issues in international corporate governance. Australia: Tilde University Press.
83. Solomon J. Corporate governance and accountability 2010, John Wiley & Sons Inc, Chichester, UK. 3rd ed.
84. Solomon J.F., Darby L. Is private social, ethical and environmental disclosure mythicizing or demythologizing reality?. Accounting Forum 2005, 29:27-47.
85. Solomon J.F., Solomon A. Private social, ethical and environmental disclosure. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 2006, 19(4):564-591.
86. Solomon J.F., Solomon A., Joseph N.L., Norton S.D. Private climate change reporting: A discourse of risk and opportunity?. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 2011, 24(8):1119-1148.
87. Solomon J.F., Solomon A., Norton S.D. Socially responsible investment in the UK: Drivers and current issues. Journal of General Management 2002, 27(3):1-13.
88. Staw B.M., Mckechnie P.I., Puffer S. The justification of organizational performance. Administrative Science Quarterly 1983, 28:582-600.
89. Subramanian R., Insley R.G., Blackwell R.D. Performance and readability: A comparison of annual reports of profitable and unprofitable corporations. The Journal of Business Communication 1993, 30(1):49-61.
90. Sutton R., Callaghan A. The stigma of bankruptcy. Academy of Management Journal 1987, 30:405-436.
91. Impression management theory and social psychological research 1981, Academic Press, New York. J.T. Tedeschi (Ed.).
92. The Stewardship Code (2010). Financial Reporting Council, London, UK.
93. Trevino, J. (2003). Goffman's legacy. Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield.
94. Tseëlon E. Is the presented self sincere? Goffman, impression management and the postmodern self. Theory, Culture & Society 1992, 9:115-128.
95. Walker Review (2009). A review of corporate governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities. London: The Walker Review Secretariat (26 Novenber).
96. Whetten D.A. Organisational decline: A neglected topic in organisational science. Academy of Management Review 1980, 5:577-588.
97. Zaskind S.And., Costello T.W. Perception: Implications for administration. Administrative Science Quarterly 1962, 7:218-235.