Integrated thinking leading to integrated reporting: case study insights from a global player

CITATION

Al-Htaybat Khaldoon. (2018). Integrated thinking leading to integrated reporting: case study insights from a global player. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 31(5), 1435–1460

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ABSTRACT
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between integrated thinking (IT) and
integrated reporting (IR) in a global player. It seeks to shed light on how IT develops organically, using their
IR as a source. Bourdieu’s theory of practice is utilised to explain the concept of IT and how it is established in
the case organisation through publicly available corporate information.
Design/methodology/approach – Video, document/text and interview material are used to investigate the
perception and status quo of IT at the case organisation. Data were analysed in two coding stages to derive at
the categories/themes that have the most explanatory power regarding the phenomenon under study.
Findings – The study contributes the organisational habitus of handling uncertainty and disruption, which
governs the IT and IR initiative and development in the case organisation. Furthermore, it illustrates an
empirical example of how an organisation has grown its IT approach over time and has introduced IR as a
result of that, as a reflection on the IT approach.
Originality/value – This paper investigates a global organisation, the first provider of an integrated report
in their geographical region, and its IT and reporting approach. The findings reflect on the organisational
habitus of handling uncertainty and disruption, which leads to IT and ultimately IR. The case organisation
constitutes a “natural integrated thinker” in their agile asset-light approach to their business and their
integration of stakeholders beyond the organisation. They are the regional vanguard of sustainability and
integration, as a result of which they have become one of the few global players of their region.


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