Investigating Transparency in Corporate Discourse about Safety

Abstract

Transparent communication is key to corporate reputation. Although greater public awareness has obliged firms to take a more proactive approach to transparent communication and disclosure, transparency remains an elusive concept and difficult to verify. This paper explores the characteristics of language which can act as indicators of transparency and focuses on the information about safety at sea provided by cruise and ferry operators in the relevant sections of the companies’ websites and their corporate reports. Following Schnackenberg and Tomlinson’s (2016) classification of the three dimensions of transparency, namely Disclosure, Clarity and Accuracy, the analysis adopts an eclectic, primarily qualitative approach to identify the linguistic and rhetorical features that contribute to or hinder transparency. The study takes into consideration the cognitive strategies adopted in the transfer of specialised and technical knowledge from expert to non-expert, which may give insight into the way information is rendered understandable and hence more transparent from the point of view of clarity. Another line of analysis is the use of vagueness, which could appear to move the discourse in the opposite direction, towards ambiguity, or even opaqueness. Whilst various rhetorical devices, such as cognitive strategies and FAQs, are found to enhance transparency, vagueness and highly evaluative language, typical of corporate communication, may impair it. The overall results of the analysis suggest that it is easier to identify the characteristics of the lack, rather than the presence, of transparency.