Seeing the Wood for the Trees - Textual Analysis of the Integrated Reports of Forestry, Logging and Related Services Companies in South Africa

Abstract

Low readability and narrative tones can be used as impression management tools in corporate communications, especially in environmentally sensitive industries. We conducted computerised textual analysis on the integrated reports of all four companies listed in the Forestry, Logging, and Related Services (FLRS) industry of the JSE for the period 2014 to 2020. Results are compared with similar analyses of integrated reports from four well-known Retail companies. We find that FLRS integrated reports are significantly longer and more difficult to read than those from the Retail industry. For analysis of narrative tone, results showed that both industries favoured Commonality as the most favoured tone. However, the Activity and Optimism narrative tones reveal significantly different usage between the two industries. Activity scores are consistently higher for the FLRS industry while Optimism is higher for the Retail industry. We contribute to the field of impression management with results from the South African context. We confirm lower readability of integrated reports from companies operating in environmentally sensitive industries, as well as differences in narrative strategies between two industries, the FLRS and the Retail industry.