Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges
Sustainability reporting has increased over the years due to stakeholder demands. Traditional sustainability reports have an isolated approach to sustainability and disclose information regarding social and environmental issues separate from the financial report. Critics mean that isolated sustainab...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | H2 |
| Language: | Inglés Swedish |
| Published: |
SLU/Dept. of Economics
2019
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| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1855572509615718400 |
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| author | Laggren, Stina Larsson, Saga |
| author_browse | Laggren, Stina Larsson, Saga |
| author_facet | Laggren, Stina Larsson, Saga |
| author_sort | Laggren, Stina |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Sustainability reporting has increased over the years due to stakeholder demands. Traditional sustainability reports have an isolated approach to sustainability and disclose information regarding social and environmental issues separate from the financial report. Critics mean that isolated sustainability reports are too long and complex for numerous stakeholders, not provided in a way that facilitates stakeholders’ understanding of the business and the entire organization. Critics also claim that the reports fail to connect the different dimensions of sustainability, and thus does not create a comprehensive picture of a company’s sustainability impact. Integrated reporting has been praised as a solution to the issues, compared to traditional sustainability reporting. Integrated reporting combines social- and environmental information with financial information. Integrated reporting should also result in integrated thinking within the organization. However, the research field of integrated reporting is relatively novel and contains limited knowledge about how integrated reporting is applied and perceived in organizations, which is important for assessing its potential outcome. The aim of this project is to explain how integrated reporting is perceived by organizations applying it, and to clarify what enables and limits its development. This is done by placing integrated reporting in the context of corporate communication, stakeholder theory and the institutional context that shape organizational behavior. This project applies a qualitative, flexible, multiple case-study approach in which integrated reporting in Swedish organizations is the unit of analysis. To collect data, 13 in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from seven Swedish organizations using integrated reporting, and two consultants serving as integrated reportingexperts. The findings suggest that integrated reporting is applied as annual reports instead of as separate reports, and that many reports are combined even though being referred to as integrated. According to the findings, the motive for implementing integrated reporting is either for the organizations to use it as a communication tool for signaling legitimacy towards stakeholders, or as a management tool. Furthermore, the most prominent perceived benefits of integrated reporting are integrated thinking, organizational changes, integration of sustainability throughout the organization and the breakdown of silos. Perceived challenges of integrated reporting are diffuse guidelines, lack of knowledge and resistance among auditors, a difficulty to combine integrated reporting with GRI-standards for sustainability reporting and, a misunderstanding about what integrated reporting is and how it should be applied. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU15027 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Economics |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU150272020-06-04T12:17:33Z Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges Integrerad rapportering i svenska organisationer : motiv till implementering, fördelar och utmaningar Laggren, Stina Larsson, Saga corporate reporting integrated reporting institutional theory integrated thinking legitimacy theory swedish organizations stakeholder theory standards sustainability reporting Sustainability reporting has increased over the years due to stakeholder demands. Traditional sustainability reports have an isolated approach to sustainability and disclose information regarding social and environmental issues separate from the financial report. Critics mean that isolated sustainability reports are too long and complex for numerous stakeholders, not provided in a way that facilitates stakeholders’ understanding of the business and the entire organization. Critics also claim that the reports fail to connect the different dimensions of sustainability, and thus does not create a comprehensive picture of a company’s sustainability impact. Integrated reporting has been praised as a solution to the issues, compared to traditional sustainability reporting. Integrated reporting combines social- and environmental information with financial information. Integrated reporting should also result in integrated thinking within the organization. However, the research field of integrated reporting is relatively novel and contains limited knowledge about how integrated reporting is applied and perceived in organizations, which is important for assessing its potential outcome. The aim of this project is to explain how integrated reporting is perceived by organizations applying it, and to clarify what enables and limits its development. This is done by placing integrated reporting in the context of corporate communication, stakeholder theory and the institutional context that shape organizational behavior. This project applies a qualitative, flexible, multiple case-study approach in which integrated reporting in Swedish organizations is the unit of analysis. To collect data, 13 in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from seven Swedish organizations using integrated reporting, and two consultants serving as integrated reportingexperts. The findings suggest that integrated reporting is applied as annual reports instead of as separate reports, and that many reports are combined even though being referred to as integrated. According to the findings, the motive for implementing integrated reporting is either for the organizations to use it as a communication tool for signaling legitimacy towards stakeholders, or as a management tool. Furthermore, the most prominent perceived benefits of integrated reporting are integrated thinking, organizational changes, integration of sustainability throughout the organization and the breakdown of silos. Perceived challenges of integrated reporting are diffuse guidelines, lack of knowledge and resistance among auditors, a difficulty to combine integrated reporting with GRI-standards for sustainability reporting and, a misunderstanding about what integrated reporting is and how it should be applied. På grund av nya lagar och krav från intressenter har hållbarhetsrapportering ökat under de senaste åren. Traditionell hållbarhetsrapportering presenterar hållbarhetsinformation separerat från finansiell information. Kritiker menar att traditionella hållbarhetsrapporter är för långa och komplicerade och inte heller ger en tydlig bild av företaget och dess hållbarhetspåverkan. Integrerad rapportering har blivit lovordat som en ny lösning till dessa problem, eftersom en integrerad rapport integrerar hållbarhets- och finansiell information. Integrerad rapportering är dock ett nytt fenomen och det finns inte mycket forskning inom ämnet, framförallt inte gällande hur integrerad rapportering uppfattas av de organisationer som tillämpar det, samt dess fördelar och utmaningar. Syftet med denna studie är att förklara hur integrerad rapportering upplevs av dess användare, samt att klargöra vad som möjliggör och begränsar dess utveckling. Detta har gjorts, i det här projektet, genom att analysera integrerad rapportering som en typ av företagskommunikation. Vidare har legitimitetsteori, institutionell teori och intressentteori använts som det konceptuella ramverket för att analysera fenomenet integrerad rapportering. Projektet tillämpar en kvalitativ och flexibel metodik där integrerad rapportering bland svenska organisationer utgör analysenheten. Data har samlats in genom 13 djupintervjuer med representanter från sju organisationer som använder sig av integrerad rapportering, samt två experter inom integrerad rapportering. Enligt resultaten tillämpas integrerad rapportering som en typ av årsredovisning, snarare än som en separat rapport. Många är även ”kombinerade” trots att de kallas integrerade. Enligt resultaten implementeras integrerad rapportering dels som ett kommunikationsverktyg, men också som ett verktyg för ledningen för att integrera hållbarhet inom organisationen. Upplevda fördelar med integrerad rapportering är integrerat tänkande, organisationsförändringar, integrering av hållbarhet bland organisationens avdelningar samt minskade siloeffekter. Upplevda utmaningar är otydliga riktlinjer, kunskapsbrist och motstånd bland revisorer, en upplevd svårighet att kombinera integrerad rapportering och GRI, samt ett missförstånd om vad integrerad rapportering är och hur det bör tillämpas. SLU/Dept. of Economics 2019 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/15027/ |
| spellingShingle | corporate reporting integrated reporting institutional theory integrated thinking legitimacy theory swedish organizations stakeholder theory standards sustainability reporting Laggren, Stina Larsson, Saga Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title | Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title_full | Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title_fullStr | Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title_short | Integrated Reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| title_sort | integrated reporting in swedish organizations : motives for implementation, benefits and challenges |
| topic | corporate reporting integrated reporting institutional theory integrated thinking legitimacy theory swedish organizations stakeholder theory standards sustainability reporting |