Purpose This paper aims to explore how organizations use annual reporting for legitimacy purposes in the context of the ten recently privatised regional water companies in the UK. Although privatization required the water plcs to establish a distinctly different organizational legitimacy for themselves as customer‐focused companies commensurate with their new private sector status, it was clear from the nature of their privatization that they would experience difficulties in achieving this. Privatization did little to change their previous monopoly character, and this created discrepancy with the model of private sector companies operating in customer‐led competitive markets. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a content analysis of statements concerning customer service in annual reports. The analysis examines the variety of ways in which the ten water plcs deployed both assertive and defensive impression management techniques in their attempts to gain, maintain and repair their legitimacy as customer‐focused companies. Findings The analysis emphasises the importance of the role of corporate reporting as a resource in legitimacy management. The paper also argues that, despite sustained efforts, the water plcs did not wholly succeed in persuading all their customers that the privatization of water was “a good thing”. Originality/value The paper will be valuable to researchers and practitioners alike, as it attempts to take further one's understanding of how organizations use corporate reporting for legitimacy purposes by examining a much more extreme case of the legitimacy problem than has been previously considered in the literature: namely, the need for an entirely new basis for corporate legitimacy.

Stuart Ogden

Julia Clarke

Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal

Dedicated to the advancement of accounting knowledge, the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal publishes high quality manuscripts concerning the interaction between accounting/auditing and their socio-economic and political environments, encouraging critical analysis of policy and practice in these areas. The journal also seeks to encourage debate about the philosophies and traditions which underpin the accounting profession, the implications of new policy alternatives and the impact of accountancy on the socio-economic and political environment.

The Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal is dedicated to advancing accounting knowledge by publishing high-quality manuscripts that explore the interaction between accounting/auditing and their socio-economic and political environments. The journal encourages critical analysis of policies and practices in these areas and seeks to foster debate about the philosophies and traditions that underpin the accounting profession, the implications of new policy alternatives, and the impact of accountancy on the socio-economic and political landscape.

《Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal》致力于推动会计知识的发展，发表高质量的手稿，关注会计/审计与其社会经济及政治环境之间的互动，鼓励对这些领域政策和实践的批判性分析。该期刊还旨在促进关于支撑会计职业的哲学和传统的辩论，探讨新政策选择的影响，以及会计对社会经济和政治环境的影响。

Category	Quartile
管理学	3
管理学, 商业财政与金融	3

Customer disclosures, impression management and the construction of legitimacy

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Journal Info

Category	Quartile
BUSINESS, FINANCE	1