Strategic Sustainability Reporting, Impression Management and Board Gender Diversity: Evidence From Luxury Fashion Industry

Christina Ionela Neokleous; Mahmoud Elmarzouky

doi:10.1002/bse.70253

Strategic Sustainability Reporting, Impression Management and Board Gender Diversity: Evidence From Luxury Fashion Industry

Christina Ionela Neokleous^*
, Mahmoud Elmarzouky

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of St. Andrews

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (SciVal)

22 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The study aims to examine the impression management (IM) of the luxury fashion industry through communications using annual reports and the influence of board gender diversity (BGD). Using a computational approach with Python and Natural Language Processing on sustainability practices and performance of 19 luxury fashion companies from Top 100 global luxury brands over the period 2020 to 2022, it evaluates sustainability dimensions and the BGD's influence on IM practices. The findings reveal a notable increase in IM disclosure over the years and highlight a positive association between IM and sustainability disclosures, illustrating the use of disclosure language strategically to enhance corporate sustainability and reputation. They uncover that the boards with a higher proportion of female directors are positively associated with IM practices. This study contributes to the understanding of IM strategies in sustainability disclosure within the luxury fashion industry and underlines the crucial role of female directors in fostering ethics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1627-1645
Number of pages	19
Journal	Business Strategy and the Environment
Volume	35
Issue number	2
Early online date	6 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70253
Publication status	Published - Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the journal's editors and reviewers for their constructive comments and the participants of the European Accounting Association (EAA) Conference 2025 for their helpful comments in developing this paper.

Funders
European Accounting Association

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

ESG reporting
board gender diversity
impression management
luxury fashion industry
strategic sustainability communication
sustainability disclosure

Access to Document

10.1002/bse.70253Licence: CC BY 4.0

Bus Strat Env - 2025 - Neokleous - Strategic Sustainability Reporting Impression Management and Board Gender Diversity
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 1.52 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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title = "Strategic Sustainability Reporting, Impression Management and Board Gender Diversity: Evidence From Luxury Fashion Industry",

abstract = "The study aims to examine the impression management (IM) of the luxury fashion industry through communications using annual reports and the influence of board gender diversity (BGD). Using a computational approach with Python and Natural Language Processing on sustainability practices and performance of 19 luxury fashion companies from Top 100 global luxury brands over the period 2020 to 2022, it evaluates sustainability dimensions and the BGD's influence on IM practices. The findings reveal a notable increase in IM disclosure over the years and highlight a positive association between IM and sustainability disclosures, illustrating the use of disclosure language strategically to enhance corporate sustainability and reputation. They uncover that the boards with a higher proportion of female directors are positively associated with IM practices. This study contributes to the understanding of IM strategies in sustainability disclosure within the luxury fashion industry and underlines the crucial role of female directors in fostering ethics.",

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Strategic Sustainability Reporting, Impression Management and Board Gender Diversity: Evidence From Luxury Fashion Industry

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this