Contrasting Realities: Corporate Environmental Disclosure And Stakeholder-Released Information

This paper studies the informational dynamics taking place between a firm and its stakeholders with respect to corporate environmental management. The analysis rests on a longitudinal case study contrasting environmental information reported by the case firm with environmental information about the firm disclosed by four key stakeholder groups or their representatives (governments, community, environmental non-governmental organizations and investors) over three years. Results suggest the presence of a gap composed of different patterns between corporate and stakeholder disclosures. The patterns range from uniformity between disclosures to performance-neutral and performance-biased gaps, with stakeholders complementing or contradicting corporate disclosures.