A longitudinal interpretation of the environmental disclosures of an award winning company: From sustainable management to sustainable development

• Main Author: Abd Rahman, Noor Raida
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: GE Environmental Sciences; HD28 Management. Industrial Management
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/8741/; http://www.icois2013.uum.edu.my/

In recent years, public environmental concern has increased dramatically and societal expectations of corporate environmental performance have changed considerably.Thus, the companies begin to integrate information about their environmental performance in response to stakeholder demands of environmental responsibility and accountability. While there is extensive research on the determinants of corporate environmental disclosure in Malaysia, trend of environmental information disclosed in annual reports have received scant attention. This study presents the results of an interpretive textual analysis of the environmental reporting practices of an award-winning company from 1995 to 201 1 from issue life cycle theory perspective. By utilizing content analysis, quantity and quality of reporting is examined.The quantity of environmental reporting is measured based on number of sentences, while quality is measured by disclosure score index. In addition, the emergence and development of a sustainable development discourse are tracked and how corporate environmental disclosures are used to respond to institutional pressures stemming from the social context is examined. By exploring time-related effects, the finding reveals that the company has adjusted its disclosures to respond to the varying institutional pressures in order to maintain a legitimate position in society. All of the findings provide limited support on the applicability of the issue life cycle theory.