• Energy Research

The purpose of this research is to contribute new and relevant information about the early adoption of integrated reporting in an emerging economy, in this case the Chilean economy, with emphasis on the reasons for its use, the perceived benefits, and the difficulties experienced during the process of adoption. Methodologically, this work uses a qualitative approach, utilising semi-structured interviews as a data collection instrument that are applied to the managers in charge of preparing this reporting for a sample of companies that trade on the Chilean stock exchange. These interviews were interpreted using an analysis of their content. The results obtained are in accordance with the literature and the empirical evidence, with the characteristics belonging to an emerging economy and highlighting the importance of communicating with the stakeholders. The relationship with the stakeholders and the inclusion in international contexts were the most valued. It is also highlighted that all of the companies analysed declare sustainability as a strategic focus, which is an infrequent situation in developing economies. One limitation of this work is the low valuation and use that market agents still assign to integrated reporting in Chile, which affects the degree of preparation and utilisation, and could be explained by other types of incentives and motivations.

Recent financial scandals and the global financial crisis have generated numerous criticisms of the value and use of annual financial and sustainability reports prepared by companies. This has generated the elaboration and use of a new model of corporate-information reporting that considers strategic, social, economic, and environmental aspects. This study synthesizes the knowledge of the use of integrated reporting as a source of information, and bibliometrically analyzes of 268 articles published in the Web of Science database in 2011–2019. Results show that 77.6% of the academic articles were from developed countries, and the five most influential countries are Italy, South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Results show that the development of this type of research is scarce in emerging economies. The most influential authors are García, Rodríguez, and De Villiers. A high level of interconnections is observed in used keywords, of which the most used are ‘sustainability’ and ‘management’. Lastly, this article contributes to the international discussion on integrated reporting by carrying out a structured review of the literature, highlighting previous research.