Sustainability Reporting and Strategic Disclosure: A Review of Reference Point Effect and Impression Management
综述了参考点效应和印象管理理论在企业可持续发展披露中的应用，构建了一个概念模型，分析企业如何根据绩效与参考点的比较选择象征性或实质性披露策略。
ABSTRACT An increasing number of firms disclose sustainability information as part of their strategic disclosure decisions, reflecting incentives to influence stakeholders’ assessments of firm performance and legitimacy. Given the considerable discretion firms possess over the content and framing of such disclosure, economic research has increasingly adopted the reference point effect framework and impression management theory to analyze opportunistic behavior in sustainability reporting. This paper reviews the literature on reference point effect and impression management and applies these two frames to examine corporate sustainability disclosure strategies. Building on this, we integrate a conceptual model for analyzing corporate sustainability reporting behavior. In this model, decision makers compare sustainability performance with reference points and choose between symbolic disclosure and substantive disclosure depending on the outcomes. When sustainability performance falls below the reference point, firms tend to adopt symbolic disclosure strategies to influence stakeholders’ perceptions. In contrast, when performance exceeds the reference point, firms are more likely to engage in substantive disclosure to foster a favorable corporate image. We conclude by outlining directions for future research, highlighting the importance of reference point selection, the extension of impression management behaviors, and the development of explanatory frameworks to better understand the motivations underlying corporate sustainability reporting.