Doing what they say or saying what they do? Australian organisations' signals of performance and attitudes

This paper investigates the role of words, i.e. text content, in annual reports. Using word counts of references to different geographic regions over seven years as an indicator of the level of attention companies are giving to regions, we investigate three issues. (1) is level of attention related to firms' level of investment and profitability in a region; (2) is level of attention related to future investment and profitability in a region, and (3) what are some of the environmental drivers of the level of attention firms give to a regions? Although this research asks a very limited set of questions-how does a firm's attention to a region (reflected in the number of references to a region) relate to its investment decisions and performance in that region-it utilises a methodology-content analysis-that provides us with a straightforward way of quantifying qualitative strategic information Future research should help us understand the value of words as indicators of attitudes and intentions and ultimately, performance.