LEGITIMACY AND THE INTERNET: AN EXAMINATION OF CORPORATE WEB PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES

Dennis M. Patten; William Crampton

doi:10.1016/S1479-3598(03)02002-8

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Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management

ISSN: 1479-3598
Series editor(s): Professor Bikki Jaggi, Martin Freedman

Subject Area: Accounting and Finance

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LEGITIMACY AND THE INTERNET: AN EXAMINATION OF CORPORATE WEB PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES

Document Information:
Title:	LEGITIMACY AND THE INTERNET: AN EXAMINATION OF CORPORATE WEB PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES
Author(s):	Dennis M. Patten, William Crampton
Volume:	2 ISBN: 978-0-76231-070-8 eISBN: 978-1-84950-248-1
Citation:	Dennis M. Patten, William Crampton (2003), LEGITIMACY AND THE INTERNET: AN EXAMINATION OF CORPORATE WEB PAGE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES, in (ed.) 2 (Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management, Volume 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.31-57
DOI:	10.1016/S1479-3598(03)02002-8 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	Internet usage has exploded over the past decade and the medium is now being suggested as a potentially powerful tool for disclosing environmental information and increasing corporate accountability. This study, grounded in legitimacy theory, argues that such a view may be overly optimistic. Results of an analysis of both annual report and corporate web page environmental disclosures for a sample of 62 U.S. firms do indicate that corporate web pages appear to be adding at least some additional, non-redundant environmental information beyond what is provided in the annual reports. However, the relative lack of negative environmental disclosure on the web pages, in conjunction with the finding that differences in the level of positive/neutral environmental disclosure are associated with legitimacy variables suggests that the focus of Internet disclosure may be more on corporate attempts at legitimation than on moving toward greater corporate accountability.