Beyond Integrated Reporting: Mapping the Integration of Strategy, Integrated Thinking, and Management Control a Bibliometric Analysis and Future Research Agenda
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46799/adv.v4i8.620Keywords:
integrated reporting, integrated thinking, management control systems, management accounting, corporate strategyAbstract
Purpose – This study examined whether the intellectual development of integrated reporting (IR) had progressed from external reporting integration toward internal managerial integration. Design/methodology/approach – A Scopus-based bibliometric dataset was constructed using a search strategy that combined “integrated reporting” with terms related to integrated thinking, strategy, management accounting, performance measurement, performance management, and management control. After document type, language, publication stage, and relevance screening, 322 articles and review papers published between 2011 and August 2026 were retained. Keyword co-occurrence analysis was conducted using VOSviewer with a cleaned thesaurus. Using a minimum occurrence threshold of five, the final bibliometric map contained 55 keywords, seven clusters, 492 links, and a total link strength (TLS) of 1,335. Findings – Integrated reporting remained the dominant intellectual anchor and demonstrated strong connections with sustainability, integrated thinking, stakeholder orientation, corporate strategy, governance, and value creation. Formal internal managerial mechanisms, including management accounting, the Balanced Scorecard, and management control systems (MCS), were identified but remained substantially less prominent within the research landscape. Originality/value – Rather than suggesting that integrated reporting and management control systems were disconnected, this study identified an “internal integration gap,” referring to a bibliometric asymmetry between the extensive development of reporting and integrated-thinking themes and the comparatively limited cumulative development of formal managerial mechanisms through which integration was operationalized. This study distinguished empirically generated VOSviewer clusters from a higher-order conceptual synthesis involving reporting integration, strategic integration, and managerial/control integration. Furthermore, it proposed a future research agenda toward the development of integrated management.
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