Content analysis

Content analysis is a research method to analyse texts (or other meaningful matter) in the contexts of their uses with the purpose of providing knowledge, new insights, a representation of facts and a practical guide to action (Krippendorff 2004). It is considered a reliable method and result in replicable findings and valid inferences from the texts. The technique can be quantitative and qualitative.

The content analysis technique has several advantages compared to other data- generating and analysis techniques. Weber (1990) lists the following:

a. Communication is an important aspect of human interaction. The content analytic method assists in understanding the communication process and information through text or transcripts.

b. Both qualitative and quantitative operations on text can be applied in the content analysis method.

c. The method can be used in conjunction with other reliable data to assess the relationships among economic, social, political and cultural change.

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d. There is little danger of any force for change that confounds the data since the analysis usually yields unobtrusive measures in which no parties that send or receive the message are aware that the information is being analysed. This means that the data are “naturalistic” which provides a unique level of authenticity.

The qualitative technique of content analysis was applied in this thesis. This is defined as ‘a research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns’ (Hsieh and Shannon 2005, p. 1278). Using this method, the emphasis is not on how many or how frequently certain words appear in a text but, rather, on the meanings of the texts. The analysis is not limited to a submissive interpretation of the disclosure; external audits were also carried out by matching company disclosures with external sources (such as media and websites). Whenever possible, a quantitative analysis is also performed, although this is not the major focus. Beside the texts, visual images in the form of photographs or pictures are also studied in the annual and sustainability reports to gain a richer understanding.

Qualitative or interpretative content analysis has roots in literary theory, the social sciences (symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology) and critical scholarship (such as feminist theory). According to Krippendorff (2004), the qualitative approaches to content analysis have the following characteristics:

a. a thorough reading of relatively small amounts of textual matter is required; and b. the given texts are interpreted or rearticulated into new narratives (analytical or

critical) which are sometimes opposed to the positivist mode of inquiry.

The processes and procedures involved in qualitative content analysis are depicted as follows.

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Figure 4.1 Qualitative content analysis

Source: Krippendorf (2004), p. 89.

The diagram in Figure 4.1 outlines the procedures followed in qualitative content analysis (Krippendorf 2004). These are explained as follows:

1. The flow begins from re-contextualising given texts using known literature, re- articulating the meanings of the texts and allowing the re-definition of research questions and answers until interpretation is satisfactorily reached.

2. There is no particular sequence of analytical steps because of the holistic qualities of texts. It is deemed appropriate to go back and revise earlier interpretations after doing some later readings. Due to the difficulties of standardising such readings, this process severely limits the volume of texts that can be analysed consistently and in accordance with uniform standards. Moreover, Krippendorf (2004) states that this process is difficult to describe and to communicate, hence, qualitative analysis tends to be worked alone by the researcher and replicability is generally not a major concern.

3. Multiple inferences and interpretations are possible from consideration of diverse voices (readers), alternative perspectives (from different ideological views), oppositional readings (critiques) or varied uses of the text examined by different groups.

4. The interpretations are supported by providing into the conclusion quotations from the analysed texts and literature about the contexts of these texts.

Interpretation: A narrative that answers the research questions supported by textual evidence (examples) from texts and consulted

literature

(Re)Articulation

Construction of others’ contexts from literature and own experiences

Texts Answers

Research questions

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As qualitative content analysis is used to interpret a document as a whole or in part, the texts are first grouped into several categories or themes. A category is a group of content that has common meanings (Krippendorf 2004). A category can be divided into a number of sub-categories or sub-sub-categories at varying degrees of abstraction (Graneheim and Lundman 2004). The analytic categories can come from the data; for example, words are used directly from the texts to form the code categories (Leavy 2007). Various texts and artefacts can be studied, including historical documents, newspapers, magazines, photographs, books, diaries, literature, music, cinema, television and websites.

The content analysis used in this thesis aimed at looking for any corporate governance practices using the ethics of care lens that have been disclosed by the company in its annual and sustainability reports. It was not aimed at searching for the motivation that drives the company to disclose certain “feminist governance” items. Motivation might be associated with legitimacy needs, which are best studied using legitimacy theory, an example of which could be measured through the increase in environmental disclosure (such as O'Donovan 2000).

The themes used in this qualitative content analysis have connections with theories other than the feminist ethics of care, such as stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory. This is acceptable for the following reasons:

1. The ethics of care principle of maintaining relationships with other parties is consistent with the principle applied in stakeholder theory. However, as discussed in Chapter 3, there are three different foci on the stakeholder issue between stakeholder theory and the ethics of care, which are:

a. the ethics of care puts more attention on women—who work in a company or institution or who are in the community—and their interests even though women are not explicitly mentioned as one of the stakeholders.

b. the ethics of care considers not only contractual stakeholders but also non- contractual ones.

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c. in decision making, the ethics of care relates the caring principle to the least advantaged members of the moral community.

2. In legitimacy theory, corporate actions and disclosures are performed as reactions to environmental factors with the aim of legitimising those actions. A company applying the ethics of care principles may exercise and provide the same actions and disclosures, however, the aim goes beyond legitimacy to a genuine “care” for stakeholders.