Picking up the pieces: impression management in the retrospective attributional framing of accounting outcomes

Our research reveals that self-serving tendencies in attributional behaviour, especially when operationalized as explicit impression-relevant attributional statements (entitlements, enhancements, excuses, causality denials and justifications), are significantly affected by contextual factors with motivational impact and, depending on the context, reflect attributional patterns that are counterintuitive from an informational perspective. The research results also indicate that the self-serving profile of the attributional explanations strongly depends on the nature of the accounting effect explained with ramifications on the listed/unlisted dichotomy and on the manner in which positive news is constructed in the directors' reports of listed companies.