Doing What They Say or Saying What They Do? Australian Organisations' Signals of Perfor Mance and Attitudes

Tim Devinney and Boris Kabanoff
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Tim Devinney: Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052
Boris Kabanoff: School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, PO Box 2434, Brisbane 4001

Australian Journal of Management, 1999, vol. 24, issue 1, 59-75

Abstract: This paper investigates the role of words, i.e. text content, in annual reports. Using word counts of references to different geographic regions over seven years as an indicator of the level of attention companies are giving to regions, we investigate three issues. (1) is level of attention related to firms' level of investment and profitability in a region; (2) is level of attention related to future investment and profitability in a region, and (3) what are some of the environmental drivers of the level of attention firms give to a regions? Although this research asks a very limited set of questions—how does a firm's attention to a region (reflected in the number of references to a region) relate to its investment decisions and perfor Mance in that region—it utilises a methodology—content analysis—that provides us with a straightforward way of quantifying qualitative strategic infor Mation Future research should help us understand the value of words as indicators of attitudes and intentions and ultimately, perfor Mance.

Keywords: TEXT ANALYSIS; ANNUAL REPORTS; REGIONAL FOCUS; INVESTMENT BEHAVIOUR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ausman:v:24:y:1999:i:1:p:59-75

DOI: 10.1177/031289629902400104

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