Social and environmental reporting and the corporate ego
基于对英国社会与环境报告管理者的访谈，发现投资者和员工是主要目标受众，并运用自我沟通理论质疑报告是否真正促进与利益相关者的对话，认为其更多服务于组织内部自我沟通和企业自我美化。
Abstract This paper reports on the results of a qualitative exploration into the target audiences for social and environmental reporting (SER). In spite of the wealth of literature on SER motivations, relatively few studies have sought to ascertain who the key target or actual audiences are for SER. The results of this study, based on interviews with UK SER managers, suggest that investors and employees are overwhelmingly the most important audiences targeted by SER managers. The paper draws on auto‐communication theory to question the extent to which SER serves as a means of engaging in dialogue with stakeholders. It is argued that, beyond sending risk management signals to the financial markets, SER primarily serves as a vehicle whereby organizations can communicate with themselves. Moreover, broader stakeholders might be targeted with SER only insofar as doing so serves as a perceived endorsement of organizational communications, thereby embellishing the corporate ego's fantasy of how it would like to be perceived. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.