Corporate sustainability disclosure and media visibility: Mixed method evidence from the tourism sector

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to analyse the relationship between corporate sustainability disclosure and media visibility, as well as the relative impact of each of these investments on perceived quality and electronic popularity in the tourism sector. Therefore, we have identified organizations in the Sustainability Disclosure Database from the Global Reporting Initiative, active in the tourism sector, as well as organizations with hotel properties rated as 2019 Star Award Winners by Forbes Travel Guide, located in one of the twenty most visited cities in the world in 2018. The results show that organizations choose to invest in sustainability disclosure on the expectation of securing an improvement in their media visibility. When they choose to invest in media visibility, organizations do not feel the strategic need to invest in sustainability disclosure. For companies with a higher perceived quality level, investing in sustainability disclosure is not a causal condition. For companies with a higher perceived electronic popularity, the majority continue to invest in media visibility, except public companies that invest in sustainability disclosure instead.