In Pursuit of a “Single Source of Truth”: from Threatened Legitimacy to Integrated Reporting

CITATION

Beck, C., Dumay, J., & Frost, G. (2017). In Pursuit of a “Single Source of Truth”: from Threatened Legitimacy to Integrated Reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 141(1), 191–205

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ABSTRACT
This paper explores one organisation’s journey
into non-financial reporting, initially motivated by a crisis in
public confidence that threatened the organisation’s legitimacy
to the present with the organisation embracing integrated
reporting. The organisation’s journey is framed
through a legitimation lens and is illustrated by aligning
internal reflections with external outputs guided by predominant
paradigms of good practice, such as the GRI guidelines
and more recently integrated reporting hIRi. We find that the
organisation’s relationship with external guidelines has
evolved from pragmatic adoption as a means of seeking
external legitimation to the present position where those that
prepare external reports are informed by the organisation’s
strategic positioning and not constrained by the promulgation
of voluntary guidelines. From the case study, we suggest that
the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) may
face two hurdles: First, organisations may define social norms
based on a broader definition of stakeholders than the definition
currently published by the IIRC. The second hurdle is to
convince report preparers that adopting integrated reporting
hIRi will positively impact on capital flows.


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