Integrated reporting and change: evidence from public universities

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to set out the case for integrated reporting (IR) and its potential to lead to change in the public sector by examining it in practice and analyzing the challenges associated with its implementation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper investigates the role of IR in the public sector through the development of a theoretical framework applied to a case study focused on the University of Udine in Italy.FindingsIR can be considered more as an incremental than a groundbreaking transformation of existing arrangements and approaches. The analysis revealed that the vagueness, complexity and intrinsic discrepancy between the IR concept and its operationalization brought the University of Udine to challenge and debate the IR approach and ultimately, to reconceptualize and implement its own version that better fitted its strategic aims, its intended audience and its status as a public entity.Research limitations/implicationsThe application of the findings to other contexts should be further investigated, while the analytical framework should be applied to different settings and could be enriched to add knowledge and sharpen the paradigms of integrated thinking and value co-creation. Moreover, the interviews focused on people directly involved in the preparation of the integrated report, excluding other stakeholders. Further research could explore their perceptions of IR and focus on their understanding of the IR as well as the value co-creation process.Practical implicationsThe findings provide decision makers with insights about how IR can be promoted to enhance its impact on value co-creation. The key processes to be considered for a public organization are integrated thinking and value co-creation, while the key aspects to be investigated in an integrated report for the public sector are materiality and stakeholder engagement. Yet, the IR framework is missing indications on how to account for stakeholders' inputs, outputs and outcomes in a value co-creation process, which is fundamental in a public service logic.Originality/valueThe results shed further light on two fundamental phenomena in the public sector, namely, integrated thinking and value co-creation. The paper also answers the call for more empirical research on IR's rhetoric and practice and on its concrete role in the value creation process.

Non-financial reporting formats in public sector organizations: a structured literature review

“…Integrated reporting is a new communication tool that has gained prominent relevance in the last few years, due to its ability to convey financial and non-financial information in a single report, which supports investors and other stakeholders in understanding how an organization manages its value-creation process (Argento et al , 2019a; de Villiers et al , 2017; Iacuzzi et al , 2020). Seven articles deal with experiences undertaken by PSOs in adopting IRs, mainly following a case-study method.…”

“…Sustainability entails responsibilities for long-term value creation and is not always compatible with the information provided via traditional financial reports (Argento et al , 2019a). Research has shown how PSOs have begun to provide non-financial disclosure through various types of non-financial reports, such as sustainability reports (SRs), popular reports (PRs), integrated reports (IRs), webpages or social media, in order to meet stakeholders' expectations and ensure adequate levels of accountability (Andrades Peña and Larrán Jorge, 2019; Iacuzzi et al , 2020; Manes-Rossi et al , 2020).…”

Operationalizing public value in higher education: the use of narratives as an alternative for performance indicators

“…In recent literature, attention has also been paid to various methods within universities (Alach, 2017;Mauro et al, 2020) to assess the accountability (Nicolo et al, 2020) of public value creation (Grossi et al, 2021;Kallio and Kallio, 2014;Iacuzzi et al, 2020). Without exception, however, they indicate that more research is necessary in testing these methods and see if this fits with the practice of a specific university.…”

“A little bit of everything?” Conceptualising performance measurement in hybrid public sector organisations through a literature review

“…We invite future research to scrutinise, apply and further refine this framework. For example, future work could examine how performance measurement is linked to systems of integrated reporting (Iacuzzi et al, 2020;P€ arl et al, 2020) and accounting for the public value that hybrid PSOs generate (Bracci et al, 2019;Douglas and Overmans, 2020). As we did not test our framework empirically (which is a limitation), a potential further research avenue would be to investigate the ways in which indicators from different performance dimensions are actually used in hybrid PSOshere, research differentiates, e.g.…”