Understanding Communication of Sustainability Reporting: Application of Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT)

Mohammed Hossain (), Md. Tarikul Islam (), Mahmood Ahmed Momin (), Shamsun Nahar () and Md. Samsul Alam ()
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Mohammed Hossain: Griffith Business School
Md. Tarikul Islam: Sohar University
Mahmood Ahmed Momin: Auckland University of Technology
Shamsun Nahar: Griffith Business School
Md. Samsul Alam: Griffith Business School

Journal of Business Ethics, 2019, vol. 160, issue 2, No 14, 563-586

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of rhetoric and rhetorical strategies that are implicit in the standalone sustainability reporting of the top 24 companies of the Fortune 500 Global. We adopt Bormann’s (Q J Speech 58(4):396–407, 1972) SCT framework to study the rhetorical situation and how corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) messages can be communicated to the audience (public). The SCT concepts in the sustainability reporting’s communication are subject to different types of legitimacy strategies that are used by corporations as a validity and legitimacy claim in the reports. A content analysis has been conducted and structural coding schemes have been developed based on the literature. The schemes are applied to the SCT model which recognizes the symbolic convergent processes of fantasy among communicators in a Society. The study reveals that most of the sample companies communicate fantasy type and rhetorical vision in their corporate sustainability reporting. However, the disclosure or messages are different across locations and other taxonomies of the SCT framework. This study contributes to the current CSR literature about how symbolic or fantasy understandings can be interpreted by the users. It also discusses the persuasion styles that are adopted by the companies for communication purposes. This study is the theoretical extension of the SCT. Researchers may be interested in further investigating other online communication paths, such as human rights reports and director’s reports.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; Sustainability reporting; Symbolic convergence theory; Rhetoric (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-3874-6

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