Social media to disseminate circular economy information. An empirical analysis on Twitter

Abstract In recent years, to solve the problems related to sustainability, there is an increasing need for a transition from linear production and consumption systems to new models oriented toward reusing, reducing and recycling. In the academic field, several scholars have turned their attention to the adoption by companies of the new circular economy (CE) models. Due to the interest of a large number of stakeholders in issues related to the CE, several scholars have begun to explore the CE disclosure (CED) practices of companies. Despite this, studies on the topic are still limited. This study, under the lens of communication and stakeholder theories, aims, first, to examine the level of CE information disseminated by companies via Twitter and, second, to explore the impact of some firm characteristics on the level of CED. The econometric analysis, conducted on a sample of 141 companies belonging to the S&P 500 index, shows that the most profitable and most indebted companies disclose a greater amount of CE information through their official Twitter accounts. Furthermore, it demonstrates a lower propensity by energy companies to disclose CE information via Twitter compared to firms operating in other highly polluting sectors.