The Reputational Consequences of Disclosure

Abstract

In our study we focus on the determinants of reputation and, in particular, on the relation between the quality of annual report disclosures of companies and their reputation. We try to bring together two strands of literature: the literature on corporate reputation and the literature on corporate disclosures. Using data on corporate reputation and on quality of annual report disclosures for a sample of Spanish companies, we test the hypothesis that annual report disclosure quality is a crucial determinant of corporate reputation. After controlling for other possible determinants, especially size, we find significant evidence in favour of our hypothesis. Firms with a better annual report disclosure score are more likely to be rated among the top 50 national companies in terms of corporate reputation. Moreover the disclosure score positively affects the reputation score.

Keywords: Reputation, disclosure, annual report, communication strategy

JEL Classification: M41, M45, M49, M14