Integrated reporting : insights, critical issues and future research agenda

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to understand Integrated Reporting (IR) in action. Given that IR is a relatively recent phenomenon, insights are needed to understand how it works in practice and, as a consequence, if it could eventually become the corporate reporting norm, as the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) advocates. To this end, I discuss the background of how IR has been developing. I then offer an in-depth presentation of the emerging IR literature using a Structured Literature Review (SLR). Insights and critique, as well as arguments on the future of IR research practice and policy, are also provided. These insights are then used to develop an understanding of where research needs to go next in the field of IR. The SLR highlights a lack of research attempting to convert IR rhetoric into practice. An outcome of the SLR, in fact, is the discovery that many articles appear to uncritically accept and support the IIRC’s rhetoric, offering a normative perspective on what IR should be. This generates the research question “How is IR implemented in practice?”. Thereafter, a case study methodology is adopted to investigate IR practice in two organisations. The first case study concerns a sub-unit of an organisation operating in the global aerospace and defence industry, which I refer to as ‘OMEGA’ for anonymity purposes. The second case study provides insights into an Italian company operating in the energy industry which has been a prominent innovator in the area of sustainability reporting and, also, has been part of the IIRC’s experimentation with IR since the beginning. The case studies provide examples of how an interest in IR can develop within organisations, of the reasons for this development and of the importance of top management backing IR projects for these to succeed. The case studies also provide information on who might and might not be an audience for such reports.