The Impact of Business Strategies on Online Sustainability Disclosures

Abstract

With increasing attention being paid to corporate sustainability, pressure from stakeholders, especially customers, is forcing companies to implement sustainability strategies and practices that express their commitment to sustainable development, and engage with stakeholders through voluntary sustainability disclosure. To better understand the sustainability disclosure mechanisms from a business strategy perspective, this study investigates the influence of business strategy, formulated by customer groups, on online sustainability disclosure. It provides empirical observation of Malaysian public-listed companies based on the combined lens of stakeholder and legitimacy theory. Despite the comparatively low level of corporate sustainability disclosure in Malaysia, this content analysis of online sustainability information disclosure reveals that the companies with more diversified product lines disclose more sustainability information, and that the corporate sustainability effort is significantly related to brand name. Hence, companies should be encouraged to proactively improve their sustainability performance and disclose more sustainability information in order to strengthen their brand names.

Corporate Sustainable Development and Marketing Communications on Social Media: Fortune 500 Enterprises

“…We also note the fact that enterprises may be aware of consumers’ concerns about sustainability but choose not to communicate this knowledge, as they may not see any value in doing so on social media, or may choose to communicate using other means (such as a press conference or SMC on their websites). As we have argued, social media provides strong channels for engaging in efficient communication (Schweidel and Moe, ; Sustainly, ), trust building, relationship maintenance (Yang and Lim, ), commitment demonstration (Amran et al , ) and enhancing customers’ engagement in sustainable development (Dobele et al , ; Dogl and Behanam, ). For these reasons, enterprises should consider using social media as SMC channels.…”

“…Social media may be one of the optimal channels for various issues, belief and actions of sustainability (Schweidel and Moe, ) and for relational trust building between enterprises and the public (Yang and Lim, ). In using them, business strategies for online sustainability disclosure by corporations demonstrating their commitment to sustainability may strengthen brand names (Amran et al , ; Dobele et al , ; Dogl and Behanam, ). In fact, market reports (e.g.…”

Measuring the Choice of Environmental Sustainability Strategies in Creating a Competitive Advantage

“…According to Cronin et al () and Amran et al (), businesses are increasingly expected to commit to environmental sustainability strategies because of rising public pressure. These businesses also claim that subscribing to the triple bottom line can increase consumer demand.…”

The effect of greenwashing on online consumer engagement: A comparative study in France, Germany, Turkey, and the United Kingdom

“…The pages including the corporate profiles of brands in social media are called brand pages (Richter & Riemer, ). Businesses have been obtaining many opportunities such as establishing long‐term relations with consumers, creating customer loyalty, enabling repurchase, making consumers advocates of the brand, and the viral spreading of marketing messages (Amran et al, ; Dobele et al, ; Lee, ) by using brand pages. Therefore, businesses want to know the most effective social media tactics and to get engaged with users in the best way.…”

“…Social media can be considered as the ideal channel for the belief and action on being environmentalist and sustainable (Schweidel & Moe, ). Businesses want to integrate with their stakeholders with an environmental and sustainable perspective to strengthen their brand name (Amran, Ooi, Mydin, & Devi, ) and use social media for this purpose. They share their opinions about environmentalism and sustainability with consumers, who are crucial stakeholders, from their unique points of view on platforms such as blog or Facebook (Lee, ).…”