The United Nations 2030 Agenda has emphasized the potential of digital technology to enhance sustainability performance, assuming that digital transformation can enable firms’ convergence toward the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite this, the literature is unclear regarding whether there is a positive relationship between digitalization and sustainability, as the effects of digital transformation are controversial. The main goal of this study was to assess the hypothesis that digital technology contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals within the UN 2030 Agenda. To test this hypothesis, a textual analysis was performed to assess Italian firms’ digitalization efforts; the obtained results were then related to the selected firms’ ESG scores using a regression analysis. The analysis focused on Italian FTSE MIB listed firms for the period 2016–2019. The findings show a positive relation between digitalization and Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the relevance of digital technology in implementing the sustainability agenda.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the value-relevance of corporate sustainability disclosure through integrated reporting. Sustainability disclosure is subject to managers’ discretion. Besides, it is often hardly verifiable. In this respect, integrated reporting could provide the means for a verifiable disclosure, otherwise, in the jargon of game theory, it could be considered as a cheap talk. This paper investigates which of these hypotheses is most likely to occur in reality. In order to do this, a simple theoretical framework is introduced, where sustainability of corporate performances is modelled as a tail-risk for shareholders. Costless signaling games (cheap talk) and persuasion games are reviewed within this context, in order to derive competing theories of sustainability disclosure’s value relevance through integrated reporting. These alternative theories are tested empirically consistent with the theoretical framework presented, in order to identify key-parameters. In this respect, a systematic textual analysis (artificial intelligence) of integrated reports was employed as to build a synthetic measure of sustainability disclosure. The application of this methodology on a sample of European listed companies showed that sustainability disclosure through integrated reporting has no effect on market-valuations, confirming the null hypothesis of integrated reporting resulting in a cheap talk’s babbling equilibrium.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use a theoretical and empirical model to investigate the adoption of the integrated reporting (IR) framework as a strategic choice to signal intellectual capital (IC) to equity investors, with specific reference to the pharmaceutical industry. Design/methodology/approach The choice of drafting an integrated report is modelled as a means for managers to strategically disclose price-relevant information related to IC. The voluntary disclosure model developed by Verrecchia (1983) is used, also introducing the role of financial analysts to derive a directly reproducible empirical equation. Findings Theoretically, as IR requires managers to exert an effort in reporting activity, this work shows that in equilibrium, only firms with sufficient IC have decided to adopt IR, resulting in rational investors’ willingness to pay more only for the forecasted earnings of integrated reporters. This theory is tested in the pharmaceutical sector, where the modelling choice is probably more valid, with mixed results. Research limitations/implications When compliant with the International Integrated Reporting Council’s (IIRC) standards, IR provides the means to disclose IC in a perfectly verifiable way. Furthermore, since the IIRC has only recently been established, the conclusions have only been tested on a limited data set. Originality/value This work connects the value relevance of IR to IC by adopting an equilibrium approach, which, in turn, provides specific indications of how to build a consistent empirical test of the theory.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the change experienced by the Italian listed companies through the implementation of integrating reporting. The objective of this study is to shed light on the company's moving reasons towards integrating reporting and on its effects on the company's thinking approach.This paper builds on multi-source data gathered through web-site visits, company materials and interviews, according to an interpretive case study approach.The authors found that the process of change experienced by the selected companies deserves consideration for at least two reasons: on the one hand, as a transition from a stand alone to an integrated thinking approach; on the other hand, as a transition from an implicit to a more explicit approach to sustainability.The paper is, to the best of the knowledge, the first one to explore the process of change experienced by the Italian listed companies through the implementation of integrated reporting.

Certainly, the issue of accessibility has, in addition to a well-known social value, obvious economic repercussions. However, these are not easily measurable, as they can be investigated only on the basis of indicators that are mainly qualitative and indirect. That said, this paper will highlight some aspects that can be considered a first approach, identifying the variables and key players in the economic field. The approach, according to the principles of Universal Design, already identifies economic implications related to the design of spaces, objects, and services. The socio-economic relevance has also been underlined within Sen’s economic theories based on the capability approach and is generally referable to the theme of corporate social responsibility. In recent years, all this has been finding a universalistic synthesis in the enunciation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis is conducted according to an interdisciplinary qualitative approach from two main perspectives: the company and the public administration. The study highlights how accessibility—understood according to a broad meaning that considers material and immaterial factors—assumes significant economic value with different specificities, depending on the reference actor (company/public administration). In particular, it is evident that for the company, the issue of accessibility (both with regard to products and services and organizational profiles) is taking on an increasingly important dimension with reference to marketing and ratings. The present work defines with clear evidence the main areas in which the economic value of accessibility appears, although a more in-depth study is needed to define metrics useful for quantifying the phenomenon. The study can be useful in various public and private sectors that involve policy-makers, designers, managers, and companies that produce goods and services.