Perceptions of Company Performance: A study of impression management

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate two particular forms of impression management commonly found in corporate annual reports, the distortion of narratives and graph manipulation. Little is known about the potential effects these manipulations have on decisions made by annual report users. A laboratory experiment was performed in which participants were provided with a pack of information for two fictional companies and required to make an investment decision. No significant difference was found between the investment decisions of the participants, confirming previous findings that impression management does not affect corporate annual report users’ perceptions of company performance.