The 'Mask' of Banks: A Multiple Case Study of Impression Management Strategies in Disclosures for Money Laundering Scandals

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines how banks involved in the money laundering scandal have applied various impression management strategies in their accounting narratives as reactions to the public. We conducted a discourse analysis of four case banks' related disclosures from when they were exposed to the scandal until now. Inspired by Goffman (1959)'s framework and other literature regarding impression management strategies (e.g., Cooper and Slack, 2015; Dunne et al., 2021), we apply our typology of impression management strategies in the banking setting under the context of money laundering scandals. The empiric findings suggest that banks tend to use more assertive than defensive impression management strategies to deliver four impressions: (1) We never consciously laundered money; (2) We are making profits; (3) We are improving our work; (4) We are here for good. We further compare the outcomes from each case and provide potential explanations inspired by Goffman (1959)'s framework. This article aims to contribute to the current impression management research by highlighting the money laundering-related issue and contribute to the money laundering research by analyzing how banks report to the scandal using impression management strategies.