The continuous translation of the idea of integrated reporting (IR): the travel of IR to a public sector entity

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores the travel of integrated reporting (IR) from a global private sector reporting idea into a local public sector entity. Drawing on the Scandinavian institutionalist notion of translation, a case study approach is adopted to analyse the continuous transformation of the idea of IR. The case study unfolds the process as IR became dis-embedded from the corporate reporting context, packaged as an adaptable accounting technology to be unpacked, and re-embedded in a public sector entity. This study extends the current literature in three areas. First, it contributes to how IR moves across context. By recognising the importance of both the macro-trends and the idiosyncrasies of the micro context, it provides a holistic perspective on the continuous adaptions of IR as it travels, thereby contributing to our understanding of the diversity inherent in IR practice. Second, it provides empirical insights into the challenges of adapting IR in a public sector context. Third, it reveals the idea carrier's instrumental role in connecting different contexts and in editing and giving meaning to the continuous translations of IR. Highlights Illustrates the emergence of a “new” reporting idea, namely integrated reporting from the global corporate reporting context into a local public sector context. Analytical focus on the process of translating IR and the continuous transformation as it travels across contexts. Brings out the role of individual idea carriers in the preadoption phase of IR, highlighting the relational and rhetorical work involved in the travel of ideas across contexts. Reveals the fragility of the idea as the meaning structures embodied in the translation do not support integrated thinking.