Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa
The purpose of this research report is to document, understand and describe the extent to which integrated thinking and reporting has affected business practices in South African companies and resulted in intra-organisational change. It investigates how and why change is taking place and what the be...
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| Format: | Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48036/ |
| _version_ | 1848797676985909248 |
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| author | Gibson, Donald J.D. |
| author_facet | Gibson, Donald J.D. |
| author_sort | Gibson, Donald J.D. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The purpose of this research report is to document, understand and describe the extent to which integrated thinking and reporting has affected business practices in South African companies and resulted in intra-organisational change. It investigates how and why change is taking place and what the benefits of the change have been. The research adopts qualitative research methods incorporating a case study and involving semi-structured interviews with Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies rated as having high quality integrated reports and leading ESG performance, documentary analysis and participant observation. A total of nine interviews were held with representatives from finance, strategy, investor relations, sustainability and corporate affairs, in nine companies. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts is undertaken using qualitative coding techniques, and case material is interpreted and theorised through Laughlin’s (1991) organisational change framework. The case narrative and theorisation show that integrated thinking and reporting did lead to intra-organisational change which had several impacts on company and societal value creation. It also showed that changes driven by integrated thinking and reporting have shifted firm ethos and therefore display the hallmarks of more fundamental ‘morphogenetic’ change. A limitation of this research project is the small number of company participants, the limited diversity of views obtained within companies, and the focus on South Africa only. The research does however empirically document the influences of integrated thinking and reporting on organisational change in the South African context, and the case analysis has identified several implications for practice and policy. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:07:40Z |
| format | Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-48036 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:07:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-480362022-01-24T15:51:40Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48036/ Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa Gibson, Donald J.D. The purpose of this research report is to document, understand and describe the extent to which integrated thinking and reporting has affected business practices in South African companies and resulted in intra-organisational change. It investigates how and why change is taking place and what the benefits of the change have been. The research adopts qualitative research methods incorporating a case study and involving semi-structured interviews with Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies rated as having high quality integrated reports and leading ESG performance, documentary analysis and participant observation. A total of nine interviews were held with representatives from finance, strategy, investor relations, sustainability and corporate affairs, in nine companies. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts is undertaken using qualitative coding techniques, and case material is interpreted and theorised through Laughlin’s (1991) organisational change framework. The case narrative and theorisation show that integrated thinking and reporting did lead to intra-organisational change which had several impacts on company and societal value creation. It also showed that changes driven by integrated thinking and reporting have shifted firm ethos and therefore display the hallmarks of more fundamental ‘morphogenetic’ change. A limitation of this research project is the small number of company participants, the limited diversity of views obtained within companies, and the focus on South Africa only. The research does however empirically document the influences of integrated thinking and reporting on organisational change in the South African context, and the case analysis has identified several implications for practice and policy. 2017-11-10 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nd https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48036/1/MBA%20Management%20Research%20Project%20Report%20-%20D%20Gibson%20-%20eDissertations%2010Nov2017.pdf Gibson, Donald J.D. (2017) Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] Integrated reporting integrated thinking organisational change ESG sustainability reporting |
| spellingShingle | Integrated reporting integrated thinking organisational change ESG sustainability reporting Gibson, Donald J.D. Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title | Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title_full | Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title_short | Integrated Thinking, Reporting and Organisational Change: The Case of Integrated Reporting in South Africa |
| title_sort | integrated thinking, reporting and organisational change: the case of integrated reporting in south africa |
| topic | Integrated reporting integrated thinking organisational change ESG sustainability reporting |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48036/ |