CORPORATE REPORTING
Integrated Thinking or Integrated Reporting: Which Comes First?
Should companies first change the way they think about their business and then change the way they report or can changing the way they report actually change the way they think? Our research suggests the answer is: both.
THE BIG IDEA
Integrated thinking is often seen as something that should happen before integrated reporting: first a company changes how it thinks about value creation, and then its reporting follows.
Our research finds that the relationship works both ways.
Integrated thinking encourages integrated reporting, but the process of integrated reporting can also stimulate more integrated thinking. Rather than a simple sequence, the two can reinforce one another over time.
INTEGRATED THINKING ⇄ INTEGRATED REPORTING
Rather than a simple sequence, the two reinforce one another over time, creating what the research describes as a virtuous circle.
WHAT WE STUDIED
584 companies
European listed companies
5,037 observations
Firm-year observations
2009–2018
Study period
18 countries
Across Europe
We combined quantitative analysis with in-depth interviews with integrated-reporting practitioners to examine whether integrated thinking drives integrated reporting or whether the relationship also works in reverse.
WHAT WE FOUND
⇄ THEY REINFORCE EACH OTHER
Integrated thinking encourages integrated reporting — but integrated reporting can also stimulate more integrated thinking.
🚪 NO SINGLE STARTING POINT
Companies can begin with either thinking or reporting. What matters is starting the integration journey.
🧠 REPORTING CAN CHANGE THINKING
Preparing an integrated report can encourage greater connectivity, discussion and collaboration within the organisation.
🔄 A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE
Over time, thinking and reporting can reinforce one another, creating an ongoing process of organisational change.
WHY IT MATTERS
🏢 FOR COMPANIES
Companies do not need to wait until integrated thinking is fully embedded before improving their reporting. Starting with integrated reporting itself can help stimulate greater connectivity and more integrated thinking across the organisation.
📊 FOR FINANCE & REPORTING PROFESSIONALS
Reporting is more than the final output of organisational processes. The process of preparing an integrated report can encourage discussion, collaboration and better connections between different parts of the business.
⚖️ FOR STANDARD SETTERS
Reporting frameworks can potentially influence more than disclosure. By encouraging organisations to connect strategy, governance, performance and value creation, reporting requirements can also contribute to wider organisational change.
ONE IMPORTANT CAVEAT
Producing an integrated report does not automatically mean that integrated thinking is embedded across an organisation. Reporting can become a compliance or “tick-box” exercise if it is disconnected from strategy, decision-making and organisational processes. The benefits are more likely to emerge when reporting becomes part of a genuine process of organisational change.
THE RESEARCH BEHIND THIS INSIGHT
THE PUBLISHED RESEARCH
Malafronte, I. & Pereira, J. (2026).
What comes first? The chicken–egg relationship between integrated thinking and reporting
Journal of Management and Governance, 30, 225–260
THE STUDY
584 companies
European listed companies
5,037 observations
Firm-year observations
2009–2018
Study period
Mixed-method analysis
Granger causality and SYS-GMM analysis, triangulated with in-depth interviews with integrated-reporting practitioners