The Digital Reputation Gap: Selective Corporate Digital Responsibility Disclosure in French Listed Companies

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Digital transformation has made corporate reputation increasingly dependent on how firms communicate responsibility for data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital inclusion, digital innovation, and the environmental consequences of digital infrastructure. This study introduces the Digital Reputation Gap (DRG), defined as the difference between disclosure on routinized corporate digital responsibility (CDR) dimensions and disclosure on accountability-sensitive dimensions. Drawing on corporate reputation, voluntary disclosure, impression management, agency theory, and resource dependence theory, the paper argues that CDR disclosure helps firms construct a responsible digital identity, but that this identity may remain selective when firms emphasize more reportable digital responsibility themes while under-disclosing accountability-demanding issues. Using a balanced panel of 74 French listed firms from 2021 to 2023, corresponding to 222 firm-year observations, the study measures CDR disclosure through a manually coded 47-item binary index across six dimensions. Results show that firms disclose substantially more on routinized than accountability-sensitive CDR dimensions. Board size, board digital expertise, and dedicated digital committee presence are positively associated with both disclosure categories, but governance mechanisms do not significantly reduce the Digital Reputation Gap. Robustness analyses using an alternative item-weighted gap, random effects, firm fixed effects, and exclusion of 2021 broadly confirm the findings. The study contributes to corporate reputation and CDR research by showing that digital responsibility disclosure should be assessed not only by volume, but also by balance.</p>