Liking and sharing on Facebook: An analysis of the environmental disclosure of Brazilian open capital companies

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to provide evidence regarding Brazilian companies using Facebook as a communication and engagement channel for environmental disclosure. The data was composed of 78 Brazilian companies listed on the IBrX-100 index by Brazil, Bolsa e Balcão (B3) that has Facebook pages. The Environmental Disclosure Index (EDI) was verified through an instrument proposed by Bachmann, Carneiro and Espejo (2013) in the Facebook pages of companies in 2016. As a complementary analysis, we verified the association between EDI and variables: number of followers and likes, level of governance, sector and sustainability. For this, we used the Anacor test. The main findings indicate that 50% of the companies disclose environmental information. However the EDI average was 20%. The companies that most disclosed belong to the sectors non-cyclical consumption and basic materials. Regarding EDI and the variables selected in this study, omly the number of followers and likes, sector and sustainability presented significant associations. Our results suggest that companies in the most impacting sectors with an average number of followers and appear to be more committed to sustainability practice a greater EDI through social media Facebook. Based on the Theory of Legitimacy, the environmental disclosure on Facebook involves the search for legitimacy of the actions of companies and social media is an important tool in building corporate reputation.