Disclosure of Intellectual Capital Components in Integrated Reporting: An Empirical Analysis

Serena Santis, Michela Bianchi, Alberto Incollingo and Marco Bisogno
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Serena Santis: Department of Political Science “Jean Monnet”, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Viale Ellittico, no. 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Michela Bianchi: Department of Political Science, University of Roma Tre, Via Gabriello Chiabrera, 199, 00145 Rome, Italy
Alberto Incollingo: Department of Political Science “Jean Monnet”, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Viale Ellittico, no. 31, 81100 Caserta, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to investigate how firms disclose information in their integrated report (IR) on intellectual capital (IC), regarding its components and their link with the value creation process. Therefore, by adopting a content analysis methodology, the study, which covers three years (2014–2016), is focused on IC. A sample of firms belonging to the financial services sector is investigated by analysing 135 integrated reports. The main findings show that firms, on the one hand, provide information on IC by adopting a classification close to those outlined by IC scholars; on the other hand, the vast majority of the investigated firms tends to adopt a superficial approach. More specifically, firms disclose a low amount of information about the link between IC and the value creation process, even though they are aware of its importance.

Keywords: integrated reporting; intellectual capital; disclosure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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