Integrated Reporting come sistema manageriale per raggiungere obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile : una verifica empirica

This study aims to provide insights into the managerial implications of the adoption of Integrated Reporting (IR) and the strategic involvement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As regards to research design, content analysis is used to investigate a sample of IRs. The sample consists of the reports of seven basic materials companies for two fiscal years (20182019). Two sets of variables were developed to evaluate the level of integrated thinking and SDGs' strategic involvement in the sample. An elevated level of integration between disclosures and business strategy supports the academic debate on the benefits of integrated thinking.

On the contrary, the empirical research indicates that the involvement of SDGs in business strategy is very low. Nevertheless, sustainability issues are one of the main themes of the reports analysed, and there is an improvement in 2019 results compared to 2018. This study contributes to the debate on the managerial implications of the IR process: a scoreboard is developed to evaluate the integrated thinking components from an external point of view. [Publisher's text].