Transparency of Business Organizations

This study examines how transparent business organizations communicate during crisis‎ events, how prepared they are for such communication, and how their attitudes towards transparent‎ communication have changed over a period of 10 years. A longitudinal study was conducted to‎ determine how transparent the crisis communication of business organizations actually is and what‎ their self-perception of transparency entails. Based on the research findings, it was determined that‎ business organizations believe that their communication is transparent. However, the content analysis‎ showed that it was not completely transparent, i.e., transparency declines during crisis situations, and‎ most business organizations do not inform stakeholders about the risks associated with their business‎ operations. Optimism regarding the progress of communication transparency in the European Union is‎ supported by the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSR) Directive, according to which all business‎ organizations will be required to begin reporting in 2024.‎