Intra-industry imitation in corporate environmental reporting: An international perspective

Abstract

Relying on an institutional theory framework, we assert that the cognitive uncertainty surrounding the means and ends of corporate environmental reporting (CER) implies that its appropriateness is likely to be derived through social comparison processes. Since for CER purposes, a firm’s own industry is likely to constitute an organizational field from which emanate strong conformity pressures, we expect firms to engage in mimetic behavior that is driven by their industry counterparts’ own imitation patterns. We explore such intra-industry imitation in CER over a six-year period in a sample of large firms from three different countries: Canada, France and Germany. Results suggest that, in a given year, a firm’s imitation of other firms’ CER within its industry is determined by the tendency of other firms within the industry to imitate one another. This mimetic process is enhanced in highly concentrated industries and is weakened when a firm is subject to public media exposure. Some economic variables that may represent coercive forces and a firm’s dependence upon financial resources providers also contribute to a firm’s imitation profile. Moreover, it appears that high quality reporting is more likely to generate these mimetic behaviors than low quality reporting. In addition, through routine, a firm’s own practice in a prior year determines its tendency to imitate its reference group in the current year. Forces that underlie imitation differ to some extent between countries. Overall, results are consistent with an institutional mimetism interpretation of intra-industry imitation.