Sustainability disclosures and impression management on social media

Abstract

Purpose- The main purpose of this study is to understand companies’ sustainability disclosures on social media from the perspectives of impression management tactics at organizational level. Methodology- This study is theoretical to meet the requriements about call for studies of the corporate use of social media by looking at sustainability mechanism and organizational impression management. Also, it has a desire to make a preposition about further qualitative and quantitative studies in Turkish organizations by analyzing corporate social media accounts Findings- Companies want to give the impression of being a sustainable actor by balancing the favorable and unfavorable information they give to their stakeholders. For this reason, organizations can use sustainability narratives as a way to formalize their stakeholders’ expectations or manipulate their perceptions on social media. Social media are among the best ways to communicate with the stakeholders of companies. They allow organizations to engage in timely and direct contact at low cost and with higher levels of efficiency than traditional communication tools. Bu using impression management tactics as assertive and defensive, they can project a positive impression of their social and environmental performance on social media platform. Conclusion- Our theoretical suggestions demonstrate that social media provides a favorable communication environment to the sustainable firms. Also by this way, this study makes a better understanding of corporate self-presentational behaviours on social media and the effecf of stakeholder perception among social media users.