Environmental Disclosures On City Councils’ Social Media: A Legitimacy Exercise?

Abstract

The discretionary nature of environmental reporting practices of local councils in Malaysia has propelled the use of a myriad of reporting media to report organisations’ environmental initiatives and efforts. Of late, there has been an increasing trend in the mobilisation of social media to provide a host of environmental disclosures (EDs). As research focusing on this medium within developing countries appears to be sparse and limited, the intention for this shift of communication channel remains relatively less explored. The aim of this paper is to examine the level and types of EDs provided by Malaysian city councils on the organisational social media. Consistent with the extant studies, a descriptive content analysis was employed to numerically count the level of EDs. A disclosure instrument facilitated the measurement process. The EDs were classified in three distinct categories to identify the underlying motive of disclosures. The findings indicate that city councils are exploiting the benefits of social media to disseminate environmentally-related information to local constituents. Differences in the extent and type of disclosures are found signalling the use of an unstandardised format to report information. The EDs are generally aimed at conveying legitimacy messages in an attempt to bolster the organisational reputation and status.