Environmental disclosures in the non-financial reporting of energy companies. Creating a reliable business image or impression management?

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to determine whether and what impression management techniques are used by Polish listed energy-sector companies in their non-financial reporting to possibly create not a true but an embellished image of their oper-ations. Methodology/approach: The research entailed examining the non-financial annual reports published (in Polish) by eight large, listed companies. Both quantitative content analysis, to determine the scope of environmental disclosures, and qualitative content analysis, which focused on the visual and narrative style, were applied. The word count method was also applied concerning the positive (good) and negative (bad) wording used in the reports. Our linguistic analysis took into account both the semantic and inflexion aspects of Polish idiomatic expressions. Findings: We found that the companies exploited various manipulation techniques, both in the visualisation and the narrative used in their non-financial reports. Perfect graphics, blameless narrative style, or dynamic text organisation are among the top positive aspects. At the other end of the scale are aspects such as excessive wording, unnecessary repetitions of various keywords, or the intentional omission of adverse vocabulary. While both sets of techniques are more likely to be applied by bigger enti-ties, smaller companies do not seem to care as much for such details. Research implications/limitations: This research provides a valuable contribution to a better understanding of how companies employ modern narrative-oriented infor-mation management techniques relating to readers’ perceptions of non-financial state-ments. This may lead to enhancing formal requirements concerning the quality of non-financial disclosure in corporate reporting. The research was limited to only eight (all) energy companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange for the financial years 2017–2020. Thus, there is a need to investigate whether other listed companies use impres-sion management techniques in non-financial reporting. Originality/value: This article is the first publication to show how Polish large energy-sector joint-stock companies manage their environmental impression in non-financial reporting. The analysis extends the knowledge on creating a business operations image that is favourable to stakeholders by companies with a high environmental impact. This is of particular importance considering the non-financial reporting obligation that such entities have to meet as per Directive 2014/95/EU.