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Transparency and Impression Management Strategies in Sustainability- and Annual Reports

Johansen, Vilde Aas; Thorup, Nanna Lynes
Master thesis
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URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2799826
Date
2021
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  • Master of Science [1116]
Abstract
This study applies methods to detect impression management strategies from the

studies of Hahn and Lülfs (2013), Sandberg and Holmlund (2014) and Talbot and

Boiral (2015) in order to critically assess transparency, and greenwashing, on

environmental matters, in Norwegian organisations’ Sustainability Reports (SRs)

and Annual Reports (ARs) throughout the period 2010-2020. The study uses

longitudinal within-case and cross-case analyses, on a sample consisting of 15

organisations, from 6 industries. To determine transparency in the reports, we

conceptualize a measure called ‘level of neutrality’. The level of neutrality

variated significantly within and across organisations and industries. In particular,

the findings revealed that, despite a gradual improvement between 2010-2020,

there is a lack of transparency in most Norwegian organisations’ SRs and ARs.

Additionally, the development of transparency from 2010-2020 seems to be

unrelated to the comprehensiveness of reporting, such as compliance with GRI, as

measured by an Organisational Sustainability Maturity Model. Hence, our

analysis suggests that Norwegian organisations’ reporting practices have had, and

have, greenwashing tendencies. The findings of the thesis align with the critique

of the usefulness of sustainability reporting (Boiral, 2013; Burritt & Schaltegger,

2010; Mähonen, 2020), and substantiate the prevalence of impression

management strategies in sustainability reports (Kanbaty et al., as cited in Hamza

and Jarboui, 2021).
Description
Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Leadership and Organizational Psychology - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2021
Publisher
Handelshøyskolen BI

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