Work

Identifying greenwashing in corporate‐social responsibility reports using natural‐language processing

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: A textual analysis of corporate‐social responsibility (CSR) reports reveals that companies engaged in environmental violations report differently from firms with a clean record. The violators issue longer, more positive and more frequent reports to relay environmental content that is more copious but less readable. The violator firms appear to modify their reporting practices right after committing a violation. The findings suggest that culpable firms exploit the current unregulated–unaudited state of CSR reporting as a means of greenwashing and call for institutional change. Our results are robust to a number of industry‐firm characteristics, including board composition, ownership dispersion and international presence.

Source: European Financial Management

DOI: 10.1111/eufm.12509

Authors: Nina Gorovaia, Michalis Makrominas

Institution: Frederick University

Language: English

Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Subfield: Strategy and Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,190