The World Wide Web and its potential for corporate environmental communication : a study into present practices in the Australian minerals industry

This study considers the use of the web for corporate environmental communication, which involves engagement with stakeholders in addition to environmental disclosure. It is highlighted that the web provides numerous benefits for communication of environmental information. These benefits have been conceptualised through Media Richness Theory and operationalised through a study into the web based environmental communication practice of companies in an environmentally sensitive industry, the Australian Minerals Industry. The findings of this research indicate that currently, the potential of the web is not extensively utilised by companies for environmental communication.

[1]  Gary O'Donovan,et al.  Managing legitimacy through increased corporate environmental reporting: an exploratory study , 1999 .

[2]  R. Burritt,et al.  Accountability for environmental performance of the Australian Commonwealth public sector , 1997 .

[3]  William Crampton,et al.  LEGITIMACY AND THE INTERNET: AN EXAMINATION OF CORPORATE WEB PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES , 2003 .

[4]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , 1986 .

[5]  Nola Buhr.  Corporate silence: environmental disclosure and the North American free trade agreement , 2001 .

[6]  A. Lymer.  Internet and the future of reporting in Europe , 1999 .

[7]  Hussein A. Warsame,et al.  Managing Public Impressions: Environmental Disclosures in Annual Reports , 1998 .

[8]  Sadrudin A. Ahmed,et al.  Comparison of Social Responsibility Information Disclosure Media Used by Canadian Firms , 1990 .

[9]  C. Deegan,et al.  An examination of the corporate social and environmental disclosures of BHP from 1983‐1997: A test of legitimacy theory , 2002 .

[10]  Philip Peck,et al.  Environmental and social disclosure and data richness in the mining industry , 2003 .

[11]  L. Cullen,et al.  Australian mining companies environmental disclosure , 1998 .

[12]  C. Deegan,et al.  The public disclosure of environmental performance information—a dual test of media agenda setting theory and legitimacy theory , 1998 .

[13]  Jay F. Nunamaker,et al.  Communication Concurrency and the New Media , 1993 .

[14]  Tony Alabaster,et al.  Virtual Environments for Environmental Reporting , 1998 .

[15]  S. Williams,et al.  Corporate social disclosures by listed companies on their web sites: an international comparison , 1999 .

[16]  Terry D. Warfield,et al.  Corporate Reporting on the Internet , 1999 .

[17]  Denis Cormier,et al.  The impact of the web on information and communication modes: the case of corporate environmental disclosure , 2004, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[18]  Maureen S. Battistella,et al.  Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization , 1991 .

[19]  岡崎 英一.  ウェブベースの経営・財務報告に関する一考察--IAS,"BUSINESS REPORTING ON THE INTERNET--A report prepared for the International Accounting Standards Committee" , 2000 .

[20]  R. Daft,et al.  Information Richness. A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organization Design , 1983 .

[21]  Andrew Lymer,et al.  Corporate Reporting on the Internet in Australia: An Exploratory Study , 2004 .

[22]  G. O'Donovan,et al.  Environmental disclosures in the annual report: Extending the applicability and predictive power of legitimacy theory , 2002 .

[23]  Sumit Lodhia,et al.  Corporate Environmental Reporting Media: A Case for the World Wide Web , 2004 .

[24]  R. Gray,et al.  Corporate social and environmental reporting , 1995 .

[25]  Jeffrey Unerman,et al.  Increased stakeholder dialogue and the internet: towards greater corporate accountability or reinforcing capitalist hegemony? , 2004 .

[26]  Jane Andrew.  Corporate Governance, the Environment, and the Internet , 2003 .

[27]  C. Tilt.  ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE BY AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES: WHAT IS HAPPENING OUTSIDE THE ANNUAL REPORT? , 2001 .

[28]  Vernon J. Richardson,et al.  The presentation of financial information at corporate Web sites , 2001, Int. J. Account. Inf. Syst..

[29]  Dennis M. Patten.  Give or Take on the Internet: An Examinationof the Disclosure Practices of Insurance Firm Web Innovators , 2002 .

[30]  R. Roberts,et al.  Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: An application of stakeholder theory , 1992 .

[31]  S. Waddock,et al.  Unfolding stakeholder thinking , 2003 .

[32]  J. Walton,et al.  Internet-Based Environmental Reporting: Key Components , 1999 .

[33]  C. Deegan.  Introduction: The legitimising effect of social and environmental disclosures – a theoretical foundation , 2002 .