Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used as a symbolic strategy of greenwashing. Analyses focus on the relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management practice in sustainable reports derived from social impression management incentives.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a sample of French listed firms (SBF 120) over a seven-year period (2010–2016), i.e. 539 firm-year observations.

Findings

Multivariate analysis indicates a significant relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management. The obtained results show that firms that are less concerned with tone management in sustainable reporting process consider more socially responsible issues. Findings support the socially substantive initiatives and the transparency perspective of CSR.

Research limitations/implications

The negative association between CSR and tone management highlights the firm’s transparency. However, there could be other discretionary practices which may determine impression management strategies. Thus, future research may consider other discretionary behavior associated with CSR to mislead users.

Practical implications

All actors (government, green-association, investors, etc.) interested in CSR and greenwashing issues have to bring initiatives to reinforce the monitoring and reporting procedures.

Originality/value

This study investigates the association between CSR and disclosure tone management for the French context since the specificity of its regulatory framework of CSR disclosure. Thus, corporate narrative reporting users may be required to consider impression management practices (i.e. tone management) and read between the lines.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任还是社会印象管理？企业社会责任报告中的语气管理

目的

本文的目的是调查企业社会责任（CSR）在多大程度上被用作绿色清洗的象征性战略。分析集中在源自社会印象管理激励的可持续报告中企业社会责任与披露基调管理实践之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

本研究基于法国上市公司 (SBF 120) 七年期间（2010-2016 年）的样本，即 539 个公司年观察。

发现

多变量分析表明企业社会责任与披露基调管理之间存在显着关系。获得的结果表明，在可持续报告过程中不太关注语气管理的公司会考虑更多的社会责任问题。调查结果支持社会实质性举措和企业社会责任的透明度观点。

研究限制/影响

企业社会责任与基调管理之间的负相关凸显了公司的透明度。但是，可能存在其他可决定印象管理策略的自行决定的做法。因此，未来的研究可能会考虑与企业社会责任相关的其他自由裁量行为来误导用户。

实际影响

对企业社会责任和漂绿问题感兴趣的所有参与者（政府、绿色协会、投资者等）都必须采取措施加强监测和报告程序。

原创性/价值

本研究调查了法国企业社会责任与披露基调管理之间的关联，因为其企业社会责任披露监管框架的特殊性。因此，公司叙述报告用户可能需要考虑印象管理实践（即音调管理）并在字里行间进行阅读。