Impression Management: Developing and Illustrating a Scheme of Analysis for Narrative Disclosures - A Methodological Note

Abstract

Publication informationAccounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 22 (5) disclosures. An impression management bias score is devised to capture the extent to which impression management introduces bias into corporate narratives. An example of the application of the composite impression management score and impression management bias score methodology is provided.Findings -While not amounting to systematic evidence, the 21 illustrative examples suggest that impression management is pervasive in corporate financial communications using multiple impression management methods, such that positive information is exaggerated, while negative information is either ignored or is underplayed.Originality/value -Four impression management methods are described in detail, illustrated by 21 examples. These four methods are examined together. New impression management methods are studied in this paper for the first time. This paper extends prior impression management measures in two ways. First, a composite impression management score based on four impression management techniques is articulated. Second, the composite impression management score methodology is extended to capture a measure for bias, in the form of an impression management bias score. This is the first time outside the US that narrative disclosures in press releases have been studied.

A typology for exploring the quality of explanations for non-compliance with UK corporate governance regulations

“…Perceptions of firm performance and prospects can be manipulated by the way information is presented in corporate documents. Ordering or physical location of information can be used to direct readers' attention to or away from specific items of information (Staw, McKechnie, & Puffer, 1983;Baird & Zelin, 2000;Bowen, Davis, & Matsumoto, 2005;Elliott, 2006;Brennan, Guillamon-Saorin, & Pierce, 2009). Companies may take advantage of the lack of rules on location, placing the explanations where they are less visible.…”

Decision-making Related to Business Growth: Malay Small Businesses in Selangor

“…There are several very up-to-date strategies that provide holistic measures for analyzing impression management (Brennan et al 2009); however, it was determined that the use of 'thematic analysis' would be appropriate for analyzing and interpreting the data in a 'constructivist' way. At the same time, attention was given to the caution from Brennan et al (2009) that positive information is exaggerated while negative information is either ignored or underplayed.…”

“…At the same time, attention was given to the caution from Brennan et al (2009) that positive information is exaggerated while negative information is either ignored or underplayed. Thus, a procedure for the use of thematic analysis was adapted from Aronson's (1994) pragmatic approach to focusing on identifiable themes and patterns of experience; the primary tasks being to identify (tag), combine (link) and catalogue (code) related word patterns into sub-themes, gather sub-themes into a comprehensive view of the information and build a valid argument for choosing the themes.…”

Accounting narratives and impression management

“…In examining the readability of sections of chairman's statements, Clatworthy and Jones (2003) coded the text into eleven major themes, as shown in Illustration 5. (iv) Visual emphasis and structural manipulation may be used to overemphasise good news, including positioning good news first in documents (Bowen et al 2005), burying bad news in middle passages of text within documents (Courtis 1998), highlighting text (Brennan et al, 2009), use of colour (Courtis, 2004b) and repetition (Courtis 1996, Davison 2008). In Illustration 6, text in target company defence documents was categorized into three levels of visual emphasis -most-emphasized, next-most-emphasized and least-emphasized.…”