Marika Annila
A DISCURSIVE PERSPECTIVE ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY COMMUNICATION
Voluntary Disclosure of Finnish Industrial Companies
Master’s Thesis Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences November 2020
Annila, Marika: A Discursive Perspective on Environmental Responsibility Communication:
Voluntary Disclosure of Finnish Industrial Companies Master’s Thesis
Tampere University
Master’s Programme in Languages November 2020
This thesis analyses and compares the environmental responsibility communication on the corporate websites of six Finnish industrial companies. The case companies are Stora Enso, Neste, Metsä Group, Ahlström-Munksjö, YIT and Konecranes, and they are all listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange as large-cap companies. Listed companies are required to disclose certain environmental information, for instance, in their annual reports, but the voluntary disclosure on environmental matters on other platforms is much less researched. The aim of this multidisciplinary thesis was to study the frequency of environmental communication, as well as the discursive choices, or frames, that are used to communicate environmental matters. The theory combines research on discourse analysis, language and identity, and communications studies with research on corporate social responsibility, corporate communications and corporate legitimacy.
Six separate corpora were created for the examination of data to allow a comparison between the six case companies. The corpora included most of the articles published by each company on their international corporate websites from a period of six months. In addition, the homepage of each company was examined.
A variety of methods, both quantitative and qualitative, was used to answer the research questions. First, the accessibility of environment-related information on the websites was briefly studied by answering to predetermined questions. Next, quantitative content analysis was used to find environment-related keywords on the homepages and to examine their frequency. The second part of the analysis focused on the articles. A corpus analytic method was applied to observe the frequency of predetermined environment-related keywords in all six corpora by using the software AntConc 3.4.4. The environment-related parts of text were then observed through a discourse analytic method to determine different frames that the companies use to communicate environmental matters and to legitimize actions.
The results showed an extreme contrast in the frequency of environment-related information presented on both the case companies’ homepages and in the published articles, with the frequency on homepages ranging from 1 to 36 instances, and in the articles from 69 to 914 instances. The results indicated that companies in stigmatized industries communicated frequently and repetitively on environmental matters. It was suggested, that scarce environmental communication could be due to a focus on other themes, such as efficiency and work safety. The discourse analysis resulted in five different environmental frames: natural resource frame, technical frame, regulatory frame, social frame, and endorsement frame. The different frames indicated that environmental matters were seen both as a threat and as an opportunity, and that companies acknowledge their active position in society. They also revealed the companies’ need to legitimize their operations when faced with stakeholder pressure, especially when in a stigmatized industry.
Keywords: environmental responsibility, corporate communications, discourse analysis, corpus analysis, voluntary disclosure, CSR, corporate legitimacy
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Annila, Marika: A Discursive Perspective on Environmental Responsibility Communication:
Voluntary Disclosure of Finnish Industrial Companies Pro gradu -tutkielma
Tampereen yliopisto Kielten maisteriohjelma Marraskuu 2020
Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoitus on analysoida ja verrata kuuden suomalaisen teollisuusyrityksen ympäristövastuuviestintää yritysten verkkosivuilla. Tutkittavat yritykset ovat Stora Enso, Neste, Metsä Group, Ahlström-Munksjö, YIT ja Konecranes. Yritykset on noteerattu Helsingin pörssissä ja luokitukseltaan suuria yhtiöitä. Pörssiyhtiöiltä vaaditaan tiettyjä ympäristötietoja esimerkiksi vuosiraporteissa, mutta ympäristöasioiden vapaaehtoista tiedotusta muilla alustoilla on tutkittu melko vähän. Tämän monialaisen tutkielman tavoitteena on tutkia ympäristöviestinnän määrää sekä kehyksiksi kutsuttuja diskursiivisia valintoja, joita yritykset käyttävät ympäristöasioiden viestinnässä. Teoriassa tarkastellaan diskurssianalyysiä, kieltä ja identiteettiä, ja viestintätutkimusta yleisesti, sekä yritysten yhteiskuntavastuuta, yritysviestintää ja yritysten legitiimiyttä.
Datan tutkimista varten luotiin kuusi erillistä korpusta, jotta kuutta tutkittavaa yritystä pystyttiin vertailemaan.
Korpukset sisälsivät suurimman osan kunkin yrityksen julkaisemista artikkeleista kansainvälisillä verkkosivuillaan kuuden kuukauden ajanjaksolta. Lisäksi tutkittiin kunkin yrityksen etusivu.
Tutkimuskysymyksiin pyrittiin vastaamaan erilaisia metodeja käyttäen, sekä määrällisiä että laadullisia. Ensin tutkittiin lyhyesti ympäristövastuuseen liittyvien tietojen saatavuutta verkkosivustoilla vastaamalla ennalta määrättyihin kysymyksiin. Seuraavaksi etsittiin ympäristöön liittyviä avainsanoja kotisivuilta sisältöanalyysin avulla ja niiden määrää tutkittiin. Analyysin toinen osa keskittyi artikkeleihin. Korpusanalyysimenetelmää sovellettiin ennalta määrättyjen ympäristöön liittyvien avainsanojen määrän tutkimiseen kaikissa kuudessa korpuksessa, käyttäen AntConc 3.4.4 -ohjelmistoa. Seuraavaksi, ympäristöavainsanoja sisältäviä tekstin osia tarkkailtiin diskurssianalyysimenetelmällä, jotta voitiin määrittää erilaisia kehyksiä, joita yritykset käyttävät ympäristöasioiden viestintään ja toimintojen legitimointiin.
Tulokset osoittivat äärimmäisen suuria eroja sekä yritysten etusivuilla että julkaistuissa artikkeleissa esitettyjen ympäristöön liittyvien avainsanojen määrissä. Etusivujen määrät vaihtelivat siten, että löydöksiä oli vähimmillään 1 ja enimmillään 36, ja artikkeleissa 69 ja 914. Tulokset osoittivat, että yritykset, jotka ovat stigmatisoidulla alalla kommunikoivat usein ja toistuvasti ympäristöasioista. Huomattiin, että vähäinen ympäristöviestintä voi johtua keskittymisestä muihin aiheisiin, kuten tehokkuuteen ja työturvallisuuteen.
Diskurssianalyysin avulla löydettiin viisi eri ympäristökehystä: luonnonvarakehys, tekninen kehys, säännöskehys, sosiaalinen kehys ja tunnustuskehys. Eri kehykset osoittivat, että ympäristöasiat nähtiin sekä uhkana että mahdollisuutena, ja että yritykset tunnistavat aktiivisen asemansa yhteiskunnassa. Kehysten käyttö osoitti myös yritysten tarpeen legitimoida toimintansa eri sidosryhmille, etenkin stigmatisoiduilla aloilla.
Avainsanat: ympäristövastuu, yritysviestintä, diskurssianalyysi, korpusanalyysi, vapaaehtoinen tiedottaminen, yrityksen yhteiskuntavastuu, yrityksen legitiimiys
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1.INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Motivation for the study ... 2
1.2 Objectives of the study ... 4
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6
2.1 Discourse analysis: language in its context ... 6
2.2 Corporate communications... 8
2.3 Corporate identity through discursive choices ... 11
2.4 Corporate websites as a communication medium ... 14
2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility and its communication ... 16
2.6 Voluntary sustainability disclosure: guidelines and impacts ... 17
2.7 Previous studies ... 20
2.7.1 Studies in corporate sustainability disclosure ... 20
2.7.2 Studies on discursive strategies in corporate communications .... 22
3.DATA AND METHODS ... 26
3.1 Company limitation ... 26
3.2 Data selection and delimitation ... 29
3.3 Methods ... 30
3.3.1 Questions to analyse environmental disclosure on a website ... 31
3.3.2 Quantitative content analysis ... 32
3.3.3 Corpus analysis ... 32
3.3.4 Discourse analysis and frames... 34
4.ANALYSIS ... 36
4.1 Overview analysis of environmental information on websites ... 36
4.1.1 Questions regarding environmental disclosure ... 36
4.1.2 Content analysis of homepages ... 38
4.2 Analysis of articles ... 41
4.2.1 Analysis of high-disclosure companies ... 44
4.2.2 Analysis of low-disclosure companies ... 51
4.2.3 Frames used in communicating environmental matters ... 58
5.DISCUSSION ... 59
5.1 Comparison of environmental discourse frequencies and use ... 59
5.2 Frames used in environmental communication ... 65
5.3 Relation to theoretical framework ... 68
6. CONCLUSIONS ... 70
WORKS CITED ... 73
APPENDICES ... 79
1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, many companies worldwide have started paying more attention to the effects that their actions have on the environment. Furthermore, the amount of environment- related discourse in corporate communications has increased as well. This is especially evident in countries, where environmental policies have become stricter and many companies have been required to make changes in their strategies and actions to comply with current regulations. Companies in Finland are no exception to this pressure, as they are expected to not only strive for more sustainable operations, but also to communicate on their responsibilities as a part of society. Communication has been key to sharing knowledge on climate change and environmental communication is one of the most effective ways companies can help mitigate climate change. The motivation to communicate on environmental matters and the ways of doing so differ, however.
Companies vary in what and how much they communicate on environmental matters.
Listed companies, for instance, are required by different national legislations, regulations and stock guidelines to disclose certain information. This legislation “obligates the companies to report on their policies concerning the environment, their employees, social issues, human rights and tackling corruption and bribery,” (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland 2020). Besides the required information, what are the environmental matters that listed companies voluntarily bring forward in their communications? In this thesis, I will study in which ways Finnish industrial companies that are listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange communicate their environmental responsibility and values in a voluntary medium. To understand what companies define as their environmental values and what they thematise as part of their corporate environmental responsibility, I will analyse discourse on the companies’ corporate websites. This thesis will explore and compare the environmental
discourse of six companies, which will give some insight to how and perhaps why companies communicate as they do.
1.1 Motivation for the study
The majority of organizations worldwide are affected by climate change, either directly or indirectly. The indirect effect in many sectors can be seen as a pressure from stakeholders that urge organizations to focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation (Pais Seles et al., 2018). This pressure to become “greener” has come not only from policies and authorities but also from consumers who are becoming increasingly aware of the effect that humans have on the acceleration of climate change. Ultimately, consumers determine the need and existence of a company and therefore they may have an important impact on company actions. Lee et al. (2015) state that the market punishes companies and organizations that are indifferent to the reduction of greenhouse effect gas emissions and that negative environmental performance can have a more powerful effect than positive environmental performance. Dyduch and Krasodomska (2017) also observed that successful companies are assumed to take into consideration environmental, social and ethical consequences of their actions, and that if companies fail to meet these expectations that are imposed to it, the market and society will react negatively to it. These sanctions might be seen in the form of boycott by consumers and even legal restrictions on the company’s activities. Studies have also shown that an increasing number of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services that are produced by companies that are committed to environmental and social responsibility (The Nielsen Company 2015). These various reasons certainly motivate companies to communicate on their environmental commitment.
Another motive to communicate on environmental matters may be an internal one, where the chance to help mitigate climate change is the source of motivation. According to
many studies and reports, the biggest and most populated countries, such as China, The US, India and Russia, also have the biggest effect on aggravating climate change (International Energy Agency 2020, European Parliament 2018, BP 2019). The reasons for this are manifold, including the huge amount of production and transportation, slow changes in forms of energy production and consumption as well as slow and perhaps ineffective communication on energy usage and sustainable options. It may thus seem meaningless for smaller countries to participate in the combat against climate change, at least directly with responsible environmental action, knowing it takes the effort of every country to make meaningful changes. What can smaller countries do then to help mitigate climate change?
In addition to developing sustainable solutions within their own country, companies can transfer their environmental knowledge and share practices through communication (Aldabaldetreku et al. 2016, Meacham et al. 2013), which may motivate action in other countries. It is of great importance for companies to develop their communication strategy that may, at its best, have an important positive global impact.
Almost all industries have been under pressure in the past years to renew their operations and to comply with latest and upcoming policies, and sectors are affected either directly or indirectly. In the eyes of the consumer, especially the food industry and textile industry (Vehmas et. al 2018) have faced a major transformation in the past few years as an increasing number of consumers have realized the extreme effects the production has on aggravating climate change. The increasing awareness of companies’ responsibility in the climate dilemma seems to be a daily discussion topic in media and public discourse (Barkemeyer et al. 2013 and 2018). In addition to the food, textile and other consumer- product industries, there are various industries that are not as frequently visible to the end- consumer, but which have a highly significant role in the global climate crisis. These industries that might be less visible to the mass consumer and that are often categorized as
part of the manufacturing or industrial sector in general, include large industries such as the metal industry, energy industry, forest industry, and mining (Pettinger 2019). For the purpose of this study, I will refer to this sector in general as the industrial sector. This globally growing sector and the industries within cause a massive burden on the environment. These are, however, industries that also have great potential in finding solutions to mitigate climate change.
1.2 Objectives of the study
Corporate communications vary from sector to sector and it would be of interest to study them all separately. For this study, however, I have chosen companies in the industrial sector as a point of focus, as they have not (at least stereotypically) dedicated as much effort into corporate communications in the past as companies in other sectors. A large majority of the employees in industrial companies have a background in engineering and several studies have observed that engineers tend to be less aware of the role of language than other professional groups, such as economists and social scientists (Gunnarsson 2009, Riemer 2007). The data that will be studied are material from the corporate websites of the chosen companies, e.g. the front page, some selected sub-pages as well as a limited number of articles from the website.
Barkemeyer et al. (2013) suggest that there is a gap in our understanding of sustainable development discourse between different countries and parts of the world, and this thesis will contribute to research done in a Finnish context. The aim of this multidisciplinary thesis is to gain an overview of the frequency and the types of environmental communication performed on the websites of Finnish companies that are not in an environmental industry primarily. This study offers a novel point of view, focusing on the linguistic aspect of corporate communications on company websites. I will not only study the amount of environment-related discourse in corporate communications, but also the
themes through which the companies bring forward their environmental values and responsibility. I have limited this thesis to six Finnish industrial companies to better analyse their corporate communications in a qualitative manner. These companies are: Stora Enso, Neste, Metsä Group, Ahlström-Munksjö, YIT and Konecranes. Later on, in the Data and Methods chapter, I shall present the companies in greater detail.
The research questions for my thesis are:
- Comparing the six case companies, what is the frequency of environmental discourse on corporate websites?
- What are the ways in which the case companies communicate their environmental responsibilities and activities on the corporate websites?
- How does the communication differ among companies within similar industrial sectors?
The structure of the thesis will be as follows: after this Introduction chapter, chapter 2 will explore the theoretical framework that is used as a base for the study, focusing on language research and sustainability research. In chapter 3, I will present the data that shall be studied as well as the methods to do so. Next, in chapter 4 I will analyse my findings and delve into the data, followed by chapter 5 where I will discuss my findings and answer the research questions. Finally, chapter 6 will conclude the study by viewing what has been learned and what were some limitations as well as suggest directions for future studies.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter I shall present the theoretical framework upon which I have built this thesis.
The background literature that will help position this thesis varies from a linguistic aspect to a sustainability in business aspect, as this thesis is a multidisciplinary study that aims to combine these fields. The linguistic part of my theoretical framework will observe ways of analysing discourse in a qualitative manner, focusing on the language of corporate communications which differs from other types of communication. In these sections, I will present literature on discourse analysis, corporate communications, and the creation of a corporate identity through language. The second part of the theoretical framework will explore literature on sustainability in business as well as examine the possible effects of voluntary disclosure on environmental issues. In these sections, I will present literature on corporate social responsibility, environmental disclosure and its reporting as well as possible impacts of disclosure. Finally, I will conclude my background reading by examining previous studies on similar topics that are of relevance for this thesis.
2.1 Discourse analysis: language in its context
A large part of my analysis will observe the environmental discourse in corporate communications and, more specifically, what environmental themes companies present on their corporate websites and in which types of context. To qualitatively study and to understand language in its context, I will use a discourse analytic approach. Discourse analysis is a way of analysing language to deeper understand language in its context. Simply put, discourse analysis does not seek to analyse what is said, but how it is said. Discourse analysis sees language as a form of ideological practice that can construct and influence our experiences, identities and how we view the world (Benwell and Stokoe, 2006). In other words, the way in which we use language can and will affect how other people will act, for example. By communicating the same matter in two different ways will have two different
outcomes. Language can be viewed in a representational way, where language is treated as a means to express feelings, thoughts, values, and experiences (Alvesson & Kärreman 2000a). Language may also, however, be viewed in a discursive way, where language is seen as actively constructing the above mentioned. This discursive perspective concentrates on what language use can actually accomplish (ibid.). In this way, the values of a company could be understood through language.
Interaction by text has many aims, one of them being the communication and expression of beliefs among language users (Van Dijk 2011). It is through text and communication that language users understand the intentions, goals, opinions and emotions of other users. The analysis of discourse as communication deals with the influences of messages on the minds of audiences and what effect these messages might have on them (ibid.). Analysing discourse is a multifaceted process, as various factors must be taken into consideration. While texts are seen as static in themselves, discourses should be studied in their context and they are “active processes through which actors employ strategies to give meaning to and to affect social phenomena, values, norms and rules,” (Géring 2015, 8). The analysis of discourse is not the study of texts or speech in themselves, but the focus is on how these texts are utilized in their context and what strategies are related to them, either consciously or unconsciously by the actor (ibid.). This is of interest for this study, as I will try to understand how successful environmental communication may influence the audience and even motivate action.
Discourse comprehension is a cognitive activity that happens at many levels. When reading a text, the reader must consider many factors: the distinction between old and new information, the understanding of what is shared knowledge among the discourse community, the category of the discourse, as well as the perspective and attitude of the writer and other language users (Graesser and Millis 2011). As an example from this thesis,
the reader must sometimes make a distinction between what is marketing or even “green washing” from a company and what is actual expert information. These factors will all affect how the reader will comprehend the discourse in its context and this is something that cannot be fully controlled by the writer (or speaker). Presenting discourse becomes challenging when it is intended for a very large audience, as is the case for the companies chosen for this study, and the writer is not able to estimate whether the text will be understood in the intended manner by all readers.
Discourse can be analysed with different foci, either with a descriptive approach or with what is called a critical approach. Critical discourse analysis aims to not only study how language works but it also aims to intervene in one or several issues, for example social or political problems in society. According to some researchers, such as Gee (2014), all discourse analysis is critical discourse analysis, since “all language is political and all language is part of the way we build and sustain our world, cultures and institutions,” (10).
Language on companies’ websites and other public communication that companies publish can be studied from a critical point of view also, since it is assumed that each text has a purpose or a goal it aims to achieve. Company texts may, for instance, aim to bring forward the company’s ideology and maintain the company brand in this way. When studying corporate communications, one must then view it from a critical point of view. What is said, why is this said and has something been left untold? Complete disclosure from a company is unlikely even in this shift towards transparent communication as companies sometimes struggle in finding a balance between sharing facts and simultaneously selling their products (Black 2008).
2.2 Corporate communications
There has been a constant increase in studies of specialized language and professional discourse (Gunnarsson 2009, Irimiea 2017) as the need for good communication skills in
the globalized working life is also increasing. Due to the ongoing changes in the business world, more and more companies are becoming aware of the importance of effective and valid communication between organizations and individuals. Goodman (1994) argues even that communication is critical to the very survival of the organization, especially during times of change. There has been a considerable revolution in how companies develop their business and marketing. Companies are shifting from product-based strategies to customer- based strategies (Homburg et al. 2000), meaning that the customer’s needs and values are the foci of the company’s activities. In this more modern strategy, the customer is taken into consideration throughout the whole business process and already in the development steps.
Customer-based strategies can be applied not only in businesses that operate in close contact with the end-customer (business-to-consumer sector), but also in businesses that sell products and services to other companies (business-to-business sector) who then operate with the end-customer. This shift to a customer-based business world has also been evident in the ways that companies communicate. Consumers are in closer contact with the companies than before and they want to have an influence on how companies operate.
Consumers are interested in where their products and services originate from (Young et al.
2009, Vehmas et al. 2018), and the information should be easily available through the company’s communications, either on their websites or otherwise public information.
Transparency and constant monitoring are required at many levels in the product supply chain (Rutter et al. 2017, Da Giau et al. 2016), as a consumer might, for example, be interested in not only where a paper cup in a café is bought from, but also what company manufactured the paper cup, where the manufacturer got the wood fibre for the cup and who is responsible for the forest that the wood fibre came from. Corporate communications is an effective way of not only sharing product and service information, but also to
communicate the company’s values and to legitimize the company’s existence in the eyes of clients and consumers.
What is regarded as being part of corporate communications depends on the company, as it may include information from marketing communications to public relations and crisis communications (Goodman 1994). Both internal and external communications of a company or any organization are important, as communication enables the employees and stakeholders to work towards common goals (Gunnarsson 2017). Goodman (1994) also underlines the importance of a central management structure for communications, since
“communication with various publics both local and global are more consistent and effective when the corporation delivers such messages with one clear voice,” (3). International accessibility has also changed the ways of communication and made it more complex, as companies compete in a global environment and communication can be used as a strategic tool to gain a competitive advantage in the market (Goodman 1994). Corporate communications is the forefront of an organization and it affects a variety of stakeholders.
Gunnarsson (2009) states that “good contacts with stakeholders are of great importance for the survival of any professional group,” (3). Not only should the role of the reader be considered when making corporate communication strategies, but also the level at which the text is interpreted. These levels include, according to Gunnarsson (2009): the workplace, the organization, the local sector, the national sector and the sector worldwide. These factors are of relevance in this thesis, since the chosen case companies all operate globally, thus they must consider how to deliver their message to many audiences from many cultures and they are also expected to consider possible differences in, for instance, environmental values.
In the past decades, the increased economic importance of language has been remarkable (Fairclough et al. 2011), which is why companies must consider their
communications at the management level to succeed in the modern society. Fairclough et al. (2011) claim that in order for companies in modern industries to be successful, they must understand the importance of the ‘face’ they present, including communication techniques they use in external communication. Although researchers have observed that communication is highly important in service industries especially, good communication techniques in manufacturing industries are also becoming crucial for success. In this globalized society, consumers require easily accessible information from all companies, preferably online (Peterson and Merino 2003). Because manufacturing industries are considered more technical than service industries and more rarely in direct contact with the consumer, they must put as much effort, if not more, in communicating their values, mission and reasons for existing as a company. Industrial companies often operate in environmental- sensitive fields, which is also why transparent communication is expected from them.
2.3 Corporate identity through discursive choices
Discourse in corporate communication plays an essential role in creating what the marketing field would call ‘company brand’, and what the linguistics field would call ‘identity’. Language is seen as central in creating and maintaining an identity, whether it be a personal identity or, for example, the identity of a company or organization. The concept of identity has changed over the centuries and the prevailing ideologies at these times (Benwell and Stokoe 2006). Identity can be studied as an internal “project of the self” (ibid.), however, also social and collective identities exist and are interesting when studying organizational identities. In a collective identity the “self” is defined usually as the result of identifying oneself with a particular group or with particular values of a group (ibid.). De Fina (2011) argues that language and discourse are fundamental to the construction of identities and that identity is not something that exists automatically, but rather something that is achieved through discourses and exchanges. Research on the relation of discourse and identity have often
focused on the identity of individuals and society (Benwell and Stokoe 2006, Barker and Galasinski 2001, Edwards 2009). Less research has been done on the identity of organizations and companies, although many similarities can be found in both identity constructions.
In her research, Hämäläinen (2007) notes that non-substantial aspects or “symbolic capital” (Fiol 2001), like corporate identity, have become as crucial for the success of organizations as substantial aspects, such as the actual products and equipment. An understanding of an identity and goals is also essential when encountered with competition and other threats (Chouliaraki and Fairclough 1999), but also when wanting to engage current and potential employees and in sustaining legitimacy in the eyes of a company’s different stakeholders (Hämäläinen 2007). Studies have also shown that language has an essential role in identity changes of a company (ibid.). Identity renewal is not uncommon in order to succeed in a competitive environment, which is why changes need to be communicated in an effective way.
Corporate identity (also called organizational identity or company identity) seeks to answer questions such as “who are we as an organization?”(Albert and Whetten 1985).
Corporate communication is an important part in the creation of a company’s identity.
Discourse used in corporate communications reflects the organization’s values, knowledge and culture (Gunnarsson 2009) and it may be used to create an identity for the company.
Various discursive choices in a company’s communications will have an important effect on the creation of the company image and what Gunnarsson (2009) calls the ‘organizational self’.
As Lischinsky (2011) notes, the actual linguistic devices used to construct organisational identity have been researched relatively little, which is a research gap that this thesis aims to partly fill. What is relevant for this study, is understanding how a company
can be identified as an environmentally responsible company, or more commonly a “green”
company, and how this corporate identity can be constructed through language. Some interesting findings have been made in this field, for instance Jacobs (1999) studied self- reference in press releases and observed that organisations may gain legitimacy for their goals by strategically shifting between reference to an institutional ‘we’, and reference to imagined communities where the reader feels included in. Lischinsky (2011) observed that an affiliative voice or ‘we-ness’ is often used, for example, to attribute a certain desire or goal within the organization to persons instead of their roles within the company. This personifying strategy invites the reader to identify with the company and its values.
Companies may also use strategies of detachment in their communications, where the person uttering or writing the statement seeks to communicate a detachment from what they are stating as the organization to what they might view as their private self (Lerman 1983).
One reason for choosing this detachment strategy and not using first person plural personal nouns (we, us, our, ours) is to avoid awkwardness when discussing matters connected to ethics or profit, for example (Rogers and Swales 1990). Lerman (1983) also noted that using the third person self-reference or institutional voice evokes a morality frame in which the speaker is able to attach less importance to the individual and emphasize the legitimate organization, which also grants the speaker objectivity.
Mumby and Mease (2011) as well as Alvesson and Kärreman (2000b) note that discourse may be studied at a macro-level and a micro-level. When studying discourse at the macro-level, researchers observe the social context at large within which everyday activities and matters occur (Mumby and Mease 2011). An organization may, for instance, operate via a discourse of ‘sustainability’, whereby environmental values direct organizational behaviour and operations. Mumby and Mease (2011) continue that this one discourse may exist together with other discourses that frame organizational behaviour
regarding efficiency, profitability, and accountability to stockholders, for example. These other discourses can have an effect on how ‘sustainability’ is interpreted by organization members. Much like several different discourses co-existing in a company, also several identities exist within a company because they are created through language, each of which is appropriate in a specific context or for a specific audience (Gioia 1998). This is particularly relevant for this study, as the case companies might struggle in choosing what identity to communicate on: does the company identify as a “green” company, or a company that is known for excellent working conditions, or an innovative company focused on technologies, or an economically leading company in its field? Or should the company communicate all of its identities?
2.4 Corporate websites as a communication medium
Technological advancements in recent years, namely the internet and social media, have led to an increased amount of information available and to new forms of communication, also demanding more communicative skills for individuals. Various studies have shown the importance of corporate websites as instruments for communication between a company and its various audiences (García García et al. 2017, Capriotti and Moreno 2007). Da Giau et al. (2016) identified that the web has become the most influential communication channel for sustainability initiatives, and it allows companies to choose what they are willing to voluntarily disclose. Da Giau et al. also note that, compared to traditional media, corporate websites allow companies to communicate a great amount of information in an efficient way and the information is updated regularly and it can also be customized for different stakeholders.
The corporate website, together with other forms of online communication platforms such as social media and newsletters for instance, are part of the online corporate communication strategy, which has to be planned carefully (García García 2017, Parker et
al. 2010). One of the most important parts that should be planned is what corporate content should be published and in which way. García García et al. (2017) note that merely the existence of a corporate website does not guarantee that the online communication towards stakeholders is effective, nor does a flawless technical usability, if the actual content is not strategically well-planned. The content of the website should be based on the corporate identity and towards the company’s stakeholders, which is why it is crucial for the company to know its audience (ibid.). The researchers (ibid.) also note that the content of the website should be planned with management and according to company strategies, and not only by an IT specialist that will concentrate on the technical usability aspect of the website. Capriotti and Moreno (2007), however, argue in their study that the way in which the information is presented and organized on the corporate website will determine the utility and accessibility of the information for users. The smaller part of my analysis will focus on where environmental responsibility information can be found on corporate websites to determine how easy it is to access this information.
A company’s website plays an important role in creating and maintaining the image of the company as well as in sharing sustainability information and values. Da Giau et al. (2016) argue that the internet has become the main communication channel for sustainability initiatives. The sustainability actions and values of a company can often be read “between the lines” in various texts, like articles on corporate websites, by observing what information companies want to bring forward and how (Pollach 2003, García García 2017, Da Giau et al. 2016), or they might even be presented in a completely own section on the website. The larger part of my analysis will focus on how environmental responsibility is communicated voluntarily in articles on corporate websites.
2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility and its communication
Communication is an effective tool in sharing knowledge and many companies have begun consciously communicating not only on their products and services as such, but also on their environmental values and responsibility. These environmental statements and “green marketing” seem to have become even the core selling point of some companies (Gupta and Benson 2011, Williams 2015). Many indicators show an increased awareness of the ethical dimension of businesses, such as the widespread use of the concept ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) among organizations in all sectors (Gunnarsson 2009).
Research in this area has sometimes focused on all three dimensions of CSR, the economic, social and environmental dimensions (González-Rodríguez et al. 2015), and many companies communicate on all three dimensions. Some researchers prefer to focus on one or two dimensions, creating more precise terms such as ‘Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility’ (ECSR) (Rashid et al. 2014). Research and companies also often use the term ‘sustainability’ and refer to these three dimensions; it can be seen as a company’s responsibility to strive for economic, social and environmental sustainability. As mentioned earlier, companies may want to communicate on all three aspects to create or maintain an identity, or they might focus on one aspect. The focus of this study is observing the environmental aspect.
The European Commission (2010) defines CSR as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impact on society.” Companies can be seen as socially responsible in diverse ways:
first of all, by following laws and regulations as well as taking into account social, environmental, ethical, consumer and human rights aspects in their operations and strategies (Dyduch and Krasodomska 2017). There have been a multitude of definitions for CSR and many other similar terms have also been used in research. Not only has the definition been debated, but it has also been questioned whether the letter ‘C’ should be left
out or replaced, as social and environmental issues are the responsibility of all organizations, such as NGOs and governments as well.
Socially responsible companies are expected to inform stakeholders about the company’s social and environmental performance, both positive and negative, in various communication channels such as annual and sustainability reports, as well as on their corporate website (Dyduch and Krasodomska 2017). García García et al. (2017) also observed that the presence of CSR content on a corporate website “transmits values that the firm has which go beyond what may simply be expected of it because of its nature or sector of activity,” (145). Listed companies’ sustainability practices are often communicated regularly through annual reports and sustainability reports, however, communication in annual reports and sustainability reports differs from communication on websites since they are often intended for different audiences, and because maintaining a corporate website is voluntary. The main purpose of annual reports and sustainability reports is to give compact information on companies’ activities and financial performance in the past year to shareholders and authorities. Corporate websites, however, serve to give information to a much larger audience, including laymen who might not have previous knowledge on the company or industry even. On the other hand, Lischinsky (2011) argues that annual reports are expressly produced to address the larger society and not only shareholders because of their content on sustainability and responsibility matters. In this study I will nonetheless presume that the English or international corporate websites are intended for the largest possible audience and that they are used to communicate a variety of company information and news, including corporate responsibility and values.
2.6 Voluntary sustainability disclosure: guidelines and impacts
According to Da Giau et al. (2016), companies have an increasing interest in communicating their sustainability practices. Companies may benefit from sustainability reporting, for
example, by meeting the needs of stakeholders, enhancing their image by showing environmental progress, and attracting potential employees, and corporate environmental communication may also be used to educate the audience (Hsieh 2012). According to Fischer et al. (2001), society attributes great importance to companies that engage in communicating their socially-responsible activities and performance. If the value of the company is created by non-financial performance, such as social and environmental performance, it will be more likely to disclose more and higher quality information about these issues to external stakeholders (Dyduch and Krasodomska 2017). In the past decade, Legitimacy Theory has been connected to studies of companies’ environmental disclosure and has been used to interpret disclosure practices of companies (Vitolla and Rubino 2017).
Legitimacy theory can be seen as a mutually beneficial contract between society and a company, where certain behaviours are expected from the company to gain social approval (ibid.) or so-called legitimacy. Michelon (2011) notes that, according to legitimacy theory, the disclosure of sustainability information is “part of the dialogue between a company and its stakeholders, and it provides information on a company’s activities that help legitimise its behaviour,” (79). In my analysis, I will observe how some of the case companies gain legitimacy through communication on environmental matters and how some may use a different approach to gain legitimacy.
Gavana et al. (2016) note that non-communication may threaten the company’s performance, resource availability and survival in the worst case. In spite of this, it has been observed that only a minority of companies manage to align what they implement within the organization and what they communicate to stakeholders (Adams and Frost 2006). Many companies face the fear of criticism by media and non-governmental organizations as well as having a lack of control of the sustainability practices within their whole supply chain. This may be a reason why companies sometimes struggle in finding a balance between
adequate, too little and even too much environmental disclosure. One matter to consider also, is the fact that many listed companies operate at an international level, which requires the company to consider the legislation of all its countries of operation. This may, in some cases, hinder the communication of sustainability practices.
Public authorities, such as the EU and the UN, promote CSR and its positive impacts, and they offer international guidelines and principles to help companies implement CSR strategies and communicate on them. Companies and organizations in many countries, such as Finland, are obliged to report on policies concerning the environment. Implementing CSR into the business strategy is, however, voluntary, although highly recommended. In 2014, The European Union presented the Directive 2014/95/EU regarding “disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups” (European Union. Directive 2014/95/EU 2014). The purpose of this Directive is to improve the quality, consistency and comparability of CSR reporting in companies and organizations in Europe.
The Directive requires certain information to be presented, but the companies may themselves decide the form of reporting (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland). The Directive recognizes the need for flexibility in providing CSR disclosures, which is why a multitude of recognized guidelines may be used by companies, such as the United Nations Global Compact, ISO 26000, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, or the Global Reporting Initiative Standards (Dyduch and Krasodomska 2017).
This flexibility, with an adequate level of comparability, allows companies to the meet the needs of different stakeholders as well as the need of consumers to obtain easily accessible information on the impact of businesses on society (European union. directive 2014/95/EU 2014). Interestingly, studies have found that companies’ increased motivation of environmental disclosure is “driven more by accountability than by compliance with laws and
regulations,” (Hsieh 2012, 102). This would suggest that positive environmental performance and communicating about it adds value to the company.
2.7 Previous studies
Environmental responsibility in the business world has been studied to a great extent in recent years, and it has been a subject of interest in many fields (Da Giau et.al. 2016, Hämäläinen 2007). Concepts such as sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, environmental responsibility and similar terms have often been researched for similar purposes, which is why it is difficult to gain a complete overview of the field of study. It seems a large majority of previous studies have observed environmental responsibility from a business, social or sustainability aspect and most research on this topic are found in journals of, for example, business ethics, management and sustainability.
Some, although much less, research could be found on the actual discursive choices that companies make when discussing their environmental responsibility or, for example, organizational identity change. In this section, I will first introduce studies on the disclosure of sustainability practices of companies and then present some research that highlight the discursive and linguistic strategies used in corporate communications.
2.7.1 Studies in corporate sustainability disclosure
Several studies focusing on the environmental disclosure of publicly listed companies have been done, often using company reports as the source of data (Lischinsky 2011, Pyrrö 2019). Pyrrö (2019) did a quantitative analysis on the amount of environmental responsibility disclosure of publicly listed companies in Finland, collecting data from all the companies that provided a GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) report in 2017. The study showed a huge difference in the amount of environmental disclosure between the companies. In this study, the 34 environmental indicators of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (Appendix A) were under observation and scores were given to companies according to how many
indicators they disclosed on. If a company disclosed on a certain environmental issue, they were given one point and zero if there was no information on this specific issue. Pyrrö’s study showed that the amount of environmental disclosure varied from a significantly low score of 1,5 points to an extremely high score of 31,5 points out of 34 points. In addition to the main study, Pyrrö found in his thesis that, contrary to the widely accepted “clean and environmentally-friendly” Finnish country brand, several studies have shown that Finnish companies actually communicate less on environmental issues than companies in other European countries. Several studies have also examined whether some company characteristics affected the amount of environmental disclosure. Many such studies reveal that certain company characteristics may have a positive influence on the extent of environmental disclosure. These characteristics include company size and industry membership for instance (Pyrrö 2019, Michelon 2011, Reilly and Hynan 2014).
A large amount of previous research has focused on studying annual reports and sustainability reports rather than corporate websites or other material, since annually produced reports are thought of as “the most publicized and visible document produced by publicly owned companies,” (Lischinsky 2011, 267). Akbas (2014), alongside other researchers, note several reasons for this. Firstly, comparison between reports is relatively easy because these reports are compulsory for listed companies, thus they are produced regularly. Secondly, reports are easily available and they are often used as a communication channel by companies to systematically communicate to all stakeholders. Finally, Tilt’s (1994) study revealed that annual reports are viewed as the most credible medium for environmental disclosure compared to other disclosure formats.
Some studies can be found, however, that observe sustainability communication with corporate websites in focus. Da Giau et al. (2016) studied how companies in the Italian fashion industry communicate their sustainability commitment through their corporate
websites, and they noted also that research that investigates web-based sustainability communication strategies in relation to actual sustainability practices are scarce, despite the increasing significance of the topic. Biloslavo and Trnavčevič (2009) used content analysis and discourse analysis to study certain sections of large Slovene companies’ websites related to sustainable development and how they may create a ‘green reputation’ through communication. In Capriotti and Moreno’s study (2007) the researchers concentrated on the amount and organization of sustainability information on corporate websites of Spanish listed companies and found communication at dispersed levels on websites. Moreover, Reilly and Hynan (2014) compared the sustainability and corporate social responsibility communication on social media platforms of ‘green’ and ‘not green’ global companies.
These formerly presented previous studies have focused on the presence of sustainability disclosure on corporate websites, assessing what information is present and related to which sustainability themes. They have not, however, delved into the discursive elements of communication on corporate websites.
2.7.2 Studies on discursive strategies in corporate communications
As can be seen from the previous section, the existence and use of sustainability communication has been studied to a large extent, but what about the actual discursive strategies used to communicate these matters? If the hypothesis is that one thing can be understood in several ways, depending on how it is communicated, what are the actual discursive strategies that make these differences? In a study in 2003, Pollach pointed that the language of corporate ethics, including language of CSR, had been observed only by a few researchers: Sanderson and Varner in 1984 and Farrell and Farrell in 1998, but an increase in studies on the linguistic aspects can be seen since Pollach’s study. In the late 1980s, a ‘linguistic turn’ emerged in organization studies as researchers became more aware of the role of language in creating identity and shaping social phenomena (Alvesson
and Kärreman 2000b). Hämäläinen (2007) notes that also the recent appearance of special issues discussing language in various organizational and management journals proves this increasing interest in the linguistic aspect.
This multidisciplinary study combines a business and marketing approach with a language approach, highlighting the discursive and linguistic strategies used in corporate communications and bringing new insight to why and how companies communicate their environmental performance. Through my analysis, I will also observe what are the discursive choices that may create a “green” or environmental identity for the case companies.
Relevant researchers in this field include Hämäläinen, who conducted a study (2007) on organizational identity change to argue that corporate identity is a highly discursive phenomenon. The research object was a local Finnish company going through a takeover by a national telecommunications group and, in this study, language was seen as “the very arena where identity construction occurs,” (ibid. 1).
Some previous relevant studies include Lischinsky’s study (2011), a discursive analysis on the referential choices that Swedish companies make in their corporate communications and how these ‘self-reference practices’ create corporate identity. In this study of 50 Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility reports issued by large Swedish companies during 2009, Lischinsky (2011) observed that there was often a shift in institutional and affiliative voices. In practice, the institutional voice in corporate communications is observed when the company refers to itself with the company name (detachment), and the affiliative voice is observed when the company refers to itself as part of a group or society at large (“we-ness”). Much like in Rogers’ and Swales’ study (1990), Lischinsky also found that the institutional voice was often used with verbs that relate to the business operations of the company and how it is involved in industry initiatives, and that the affiliative voice may be used to personify the corporate rhetor. Speaking of ethical
matters by using the affiliative we may give the reader the impression that “every individual member of the organisation is personally committed to sustainable development and corporate responsibility,” (Lischinsky 2011, 272). What is of interest to my thesis, is that Lischinsky also observed, that these patterns are often difficult to identify by any lexical terms or forms as they are pragmatic phenomena, signifying that the meaning is always affected by the context. Cheney (1983) also studied the use of the corporate ‘we’, focusing on company magazines where “uses of the assumed ‘we’ can be found in corporate discourse when the sharing of interests by the corporation and the employee seems taken for granted,” (149). As Cheney and McMillan (1990) state, a company in the industrialized world may gain credibility and legitimacy by using the affiliative voice as opposed to the institutional voice.
Other studies include Pollach’s (2003) study on the language of corporate ethics of six case companies. The case companies were in industries with possible stigmas such as bribery, food safety and sweatshop labour. Pollach observed through discourse analysis and corpus analysis that, for example, companies avoided issues that could harm company reputation and that surprisingly many companies openly mentioned that they benefit from corporate-ethics initiatives to gain good reputation.
From previous studies we may conclude that environmental disclosures in annual reports and sustainability reports have been studied to a large extent, giving us mostly quantitative results to easily compare companies’ performance. Similar studies have been done on other company material as data, such as corporate websites, however, still focusing on the existence and amount of sustainability communication. Far less research has been done on the linguistic aspect of environmental disclosure, with a few exceptions, such as research on the institutional versus affiliative corporate voices. Research on the linguistic choices that companies use to communicate their environmental values has been studied
little, and this study will partly fill the gap in connecting environmental disclosure and language-level research, and it will hopefully lead to more interest and further multidisciplinary studies with a linguistic approach.
3. DATA AND METHODS
A report by Corporate Knights and Aviva from 2019, comparing the World’s stock exchanges, reported Helsinki Nasdaq Stock Exchange as having the best environmental disclosure performance two years in a row. This high amount of environmental disclosure by Finnish listed companies is surely partly due to disclosure requirements and laws, however, listed companies also provide environmental information voluntarily on their public communication channels. This study will focus on how environmental responsibility and performance is communicated on a voluntary basis, on the corporate websites of listed companies in Finland. In this section, I will first explain the rationale for the choice of case companies and then present the methods with which I will study the corporate websites.
3.1 Company limitation
The starting point for my chosen data is derived from the results of Pyrrö’s thesis (2019) where the environmental responsibility disclosure of publicly listed companies in Finland was studied. The study included all companies that are listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange that released a sustainability report made in accordance with GRI reporting standards in 2017, resulting in 53 companies in total. By systematically examining the data through the 34 environmental indicators (Appendix A) of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards, Pyrrö observed how extensively the studied companies reported on different environmental activities in their sustainability reports. Companies were given points (0-1) for complete or partial disclosure for every indicator and the results were rather varied. Pyrrö’s study shows a considerable difference in the extent of environmental disclosure in listed Finnish companies’ annual and sustainability reports (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Disclosure indices of the companies under study (Pyrrö, 2019).
The data for my thesis are derived from these results, as I will compare the three companies that received the highest scores (from now “high-disclosure companies”) in Pyrrö’s study and the three companies that received the lowest scores (from now “low-disclosure”
companies). The voluntary disclosure on corporate websites will be compared to the required disclosure in annual and sustainability reports, comparing the themes of the 34 environmental indicators.
As mentioned in the Introduction chapter, I shall focus on industrial companies, more specifically companies that fall into the following sections in the Nasdaq Stock Market1: Oil
& Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials. These industries were chosen, because they might face more environmental critique and pressure than some other industries. In her study, Pollach (2003) chose case companies from the fashion and food industry, for example, because “they are in need of presenting themselves as ethical companies in view of the stigmas they face,” (280). This narrows down the results slightly, however not affecting the choice of the three high-disclosure companies. A further restriction that will help to limit the
1 www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/osakkeet
data is to only examine companies that are categorized as large-cap companies by the Nasdaq Stock Market, that is companies with a market value over one billion euros. This restriction is done to maximize the comparability between the chosen companies. After these limitations2, the companies that were selected for this study are the following: Stora Enso, Neste and Metsä Group as the three companies with the highest scores, and Ahlström-Munksjö, YIT and Konecranes as the three companies with the lowest scores.
Table 1 below shows in which industry each company is categorized as well as the score that each company received in Pyrrö’s study, 34 points being the maximum score had a company disclosed fully on all 34 environmental indicators.
The three high-disclosure companies
SIZE INDUSTRY SCORE
(points out of 34 indicators) Stora Enso large-cap Basic Materials 31,5
Neste large-cap Oil & Gas 26
Metsä Group large-cap Basic Materials 26 The three low-disclosure companies
Ahlström-Munksjö large-cap Basic Materials 1,5
YIT large-cap Industrials 3
Konecranes large-cap Industrials 4
Table 1 Case companies of the study. Information retrieved from Pyrrö (2019) and www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/osakkeet.
It should be noted that only the subsidiary of Metsä Group, Metsä Board, is listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange. For the purpose of this study, however, I shall study the corporate
2 Note that the company Ramirent was omitted from the study as it is no longer listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange in the year of this study, 2020.
website of the whole Metsä Group as the subsidiaries have little separate communication and they are all under the same global corporate website.
Once the companies have been chosen, I shall focus the study on the communications of these six companies. I will examine the voluntary disclosure on environmental issues in chosen parts of the companies’ websites. For the purpose of this thesis, I will study these global companies’ English or international corporate websites that have the same amount of information as the Finnish versions of the websites, if not more.
The studied websites are: www.storaenso.com, www.neste.com/en, www.metsagroup.com/en, www.ahlstrom-munksjo.com, www.yitgroup.com and www.konecranes.com. A brief introduction of each case company can be found in Appendix B. The Table summarizes some relevant, same basic information of each company and this will help the reader to understand the context in which the companies operate.
3.2 Data selection and delimitation
My analysis will focus on some specific parts of the case companies’ corporate websites.
Firstly, I shall observe the homepage of the website, which is the first page that visitors see.
I will analyse the layout of the page briefly and I will also look at the websites as a whole in terms of where sustainability-related information can be found. Companies will often have a sustainability-subpage, where one can find voluntary disclosure on environmental matters, sustainability reports, company values, CSR, etc. As discussed earlier, large companies are often required to clearly communicate on these matters and having a clear, separate subpage for all official environmental matters is a common way to achieve this goal. Two factors should be noted before the analysis. Firstly, in my data, I will only include page text and therefore exclude any downloadable content. Secondly, the non-linear structure of websites should be acknowledged. This poses a difficulty in this type of study, as I will have
to draw the borders as to what will be included in the data and they will have to be clear for each corporate website.
In the second part of my analysis, I will analyse the latest news of each company from a limited period of approximately 6 months, from April 1st, 2020 to September 31st, 2020. I will focus on so-called general news, thus excluding stock exchange releases, for example.
In these corporate websites, the articles I will observe go under various names, such as
‘news’, ‘releases’, ‘articles’ and ‘case stories’. From the articles especially the titles will be analysed manually and, in addition, the contents will be studied with the help of corpus analysis. This will be the largest part of my analysis since the number of articles analysed will be around from 23 to 57 per company. I wanted to limit the data with a time-period limitation as opposed to selecting the same number of articles from each company, as this will also indicate some results of its own. All six websites vary in how they are constructed and thus how information is presented, which is why all the data cannot be collected and analysed in exactly the same way. I will, however, use several strategies to avoid any bias and ensure validity.
I acknowledge the fact that these corporate websites are updated frequently, which is why all of the data are retrieved on the same date. The data from these websites are retrieved in text format and downloaded to a separate document for each company. In addition, screenshots of the websites will be retrieved on the same date to help the analysis and in case some part must be reviewed in the future. These screenshots will also be important in the brief analysis of the layout.
3.3 Methods
To study these company websites, I will use several methodological approaches that will complement each other. The analysis will also be conducted in two parts: first focusing on the structure of each website and especially the homepages, then moving to articles
