Seeing Is (Not) Believing: Managing the Impressions of the Firm’s Commitment to the Natural Environment

This paper examines stakeholder responses to impression management tactics used by firms that express environmental commitment. We inductively analyzed data from 98 open-ended questionnaires and identified two impression management tactics that led respondents to believe that a firm was credible in its commitment to the natural environment. Approximately, half of the respondents responded to illustrative impression management tactics that provide images of, and/or broad-brush comments about, the firm’s commitment to the natural environment. The other half responded to demonstrative impression management tactics, which provide specific facts and details about the firm’s operations. The research results provide important insights into the effects of organizational transparency. In this paper, we explore these findings and provide directions for future research.

[1]  James D. Westphal,et al.  Accounting for the Explanations of CEO Compensation: Substance and Symbolism , 1995 .

[2]  William L. Benoit,et al.  Accounts, excuses, and apologies : a theory of image restoration strategies , 1994 .

[3]  W. Powell,et al.  The iron cage revisited institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields , 1983 .

[4]  James D. Westphal,et al.  Customization or Conformity? An Institutional and Network Perspective on the Content and Consequences of TQM Adoption , 1997 .

[5]  Diane M. Martin,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century: A View from the World's Most Successful Firms , 2003 .

[6]  M. Russo,et al.  A Resource-Based Perspective On Corporate Environmental Performance And Profitability , 1997 .

[7]  Kimberly D. Elsbach,et al.  Acquiring Organizational Legitimacy Through Illegitimate Actions: A Marriage of Institutional and Impression Management Theories , 1992 .

[8]  Majken Schultz,et al.  The Expressive Organization: Linking Identity, Reputation, and the Corporate Brand , 2000 .

[9]  D. Paulhus.  Two-component models of socially desirable responding. , 1984 .

[10]  Andrew D. Brown,et al.  Constructing Organizational Identities on the Web: A Case Study of Royal Dutch/Shell* , 2004 .

[11]  Joel J. Davis,et al.  Strategies for environmental advertising , 1993 .

[12]  C. Oliver.  STRATEGIC RESPONSES TO INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES , 1991 .

[13]  David L. Levy.  Environmental Management as Political Sustainability , 1997 .

[14]  Robert A. Giacalone,et al.  Impression management in the organization. , 1989 .

[15]  Joseph G. P. Paolillo,et al.  A Taxonomy of Organizational Impression Management Tactics , 1999 .

[16]  T. Kostova,et al.  Social Capital in Multinational Corporations and a Micro-Macro Model of its Formation , 2003 .

[17]  Sharon F. Matusik,et al.  Legal Readings: Employee Interpretation and Mobilization of Law , 2000 .

[18]  Bruce J. Avolio,et al.  The Charismatic Relationship: A Dramaturgical Perspective , 1998 .

[19]  Don Tapscott,et al.  The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business , 2003 .

[20]  Pratima Bansal,et al.  Seeing the need for ISO 14001 , 2003 .

[21]  B. R. Schlenker,et al.  Social anxiety and self-presentation: a conceptualization and model. , 1982, Psychological bulletin.

[22]  K. Weick.  FROM SENSEMAKING IN ORGANIZATIONS , 2021, The New Economic Sociology.

[23]  R. Klassen,et al.  The impact of environmental management on firm performance , 1996 .

[24]  Stuart L. Hart,et al.  DOES IT PAY TO BE GREEN? AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMISSION REDUCTION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE , 1996 .

[25]  Geoffrey Frost,et al.  Corporate environmental reporting: A test of legitimacy theory , 2000 .

[26]  Kimberly D. Elsbach.  MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL LEGITIMACY IN THE CALIFORNIA CATTLE INDUSTRY - THE CONSTRUCTION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF VERBAL ACCOUNTS , 1994 .

[27]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[28]  Iain J. Clelland,et al.  Talking Trash: Legitimacy, Impression Management, and Unsystematic Risk in the Context of the Natural Environment , 2004 .

[29]  Stuart L. Esrock,et al.  Social responsibility and corporate web pages: Self-presentation or agenda-setting? , 1998 .

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

[31]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[32]  Dennis J. Moberg,et al.  The Ethics of Organizational Politics , 1981 .

[33]  Jennifer A. Chatman,et al.  PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: A PROFILE COMPARISON APPROACH TO ASSESSING PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT , 1991 .

[34]  Markus J. Milne,et al.  Securing organizational legitimacy , 2002 .

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

[36]  Lynne M. Sallot.  What the Public Thinks about Public Relations: An Impression Management Experiment , 2002 .

[37]  Blake E. Ashforth,et al.  The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation , 1990 .

[38]  W. Scott,et al.  Institutions and Organizations. , 1995 .

[39]  Su-Yol Lee,et al.  Dynamic change of corporate environmental strategy: Rhetoric and reality , 2003 .

[40]  A. Marcus,et al.  Victims and Shareholders: The Dilemmas of Presenting Corporate Policy During A Crisis , 1991 .

[41]  S. Hart.  A Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1995 .

[42]  Reginald Hooghiemstra.  Corporate Communication and Impression Management – New Perspectives Why Companies Engage in Corporate Social Reporting , 2000 .

[43]  Johan P. Olsen,et al.  Rediscovering institutions: The organizational basis of politics , 1989 .

[44]  E. E. Jones,et al.  When Self-Presentation is Constrained by the Target's Knowledge: Consistency and Compensation. , 1978 .

[45]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[46]  Terry L. Childers,et al.  Processing of Numerical and Verbal Product Information , 1996 .

[47]  John W. Meyer,et al.  Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[48]  Robert N. Stern,et al.  The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. , 1979 .

[49]  S. Livesey,et al.  Transparent and Caring Corporations? , 2002 .