Internet-based environmental disclosure tone, corporate environmental performance and board characteristics: evidence from Egypt

Abstract:
Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of firms’ managers usage of disclosure tone within the environmental internet reporting (EIR) as a mean to impact the users’ of this reports perceptions of corporate achievement (i.e., impression management). The paper further explores whether and to what extent the disclosure tone in EIR may varies as a result of corporate environmental performance and the firm’s board characteristics using a sample of listed Egyptian in the Egyptian Stock Exchange within EGX 100 index).
Design/methodology/approach: The current paper depended on a sample of 76 Egyptian companies within the EGX 100 index in the period from 2018 to 2020. The study uses DICTION (a computerized content analysis software) to evaluate the disclosure tone within EIR. Ordinary least squares regression analysis was used to help in examining both the impact of corporate environmental performance and firm’s board characteristics on the disclosure tone in EIR.
Findings: The empirical analysis results showed that Egyptian companies have more tendency to use disclosure tone as an impression management strategy in their EIR. Additionally, the study results show a significant positive association between both disclosure tone in EIR and the concerns over environmental performance. The results show the presence of a significant negative association between disclosure tone in EIR and the number of board meetings. The study results also show the presence of a significant positive association between CEO duality and disclosure tone in EIR. Finally, the results show that there is a non-