Big data analytics in sustainability reports: an analysis based on the perceived credibility of corporate published information

Jonas Wanner () and Christian Janiesch ()
Additional contact information
Jonas Wanner: Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg
Christian Janiesch: Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg

Business Research, 2019, vol. 12, issue 1, No 8, 143-173

Abstract: Abstract The credibility of sustainability reports has been the subject of scientific research for several years. The problem is often referred to as the so-called credibility gap, which is based on information asymmetries. The situation is further complicated by the limited rationality of human action as improvements to reports do not necessarily translate into credibility gains. Research has proposed and extracted several methods to overcome the issue. Hitherto, most approaches to solve the problem focused on marketing-oriented approaches. This work takes a new approach and explores the extent to which information technology can increase credibility using the potential of big data analytics. We base our research on the relationship of the quality of information and on the perception of objective truth as postulated in the Habermas Theory of Communicative Action. We use the forecast-oriented Partial Least Squares Methodology for the review of hypotheses extracted from literature and expert surveys. The result confirms potential of the criteria of volume and veracity while velocity and variety do not yield comparable potential concerning sustainability reporting.

Keywords: Big data analytics; Sustainability reporting; Credibility gap; Information quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40685-019-0088-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:busres:v:12:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40685-019-0088-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/40685

DOI: 10.1007/s40685-019-0088-4

Access Statistics for this article

Business Research is currently edited by Thomas Gehrig

More articles in Business Research from Springer, German Academic Association for Business Research Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().