First things first: Unselfconscious corporate virtuosity and corporate performance

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between unselfconscious corporate virtuosity and corporate performance using a novel methodology. It contends that honesty in presenting CSR activities is a proxy for corporate virtuosity and that syntheticity of language indexes unselfconscious honesty in corporate reporting. The study's research question is: Is there evidence that being more corporately ethical in the absence of concern about being so perceived enhances hardcore measures of organisational performance? To answer this question, a linguistic analysis of sustainability reports of firms operating in the Mining, Crude Oil Production Industry is undertaken to reveal that firms' financial performance varies as a function of a particular kind of straightforward language use in corporate reporting. This exercise provides evidence that unselfconscious corporate virtuosity is associated with better corporate financial performance. Implications for practice of this finding are explored.