Systematic literature network analysis in accounting: A first application on integrated reporting research

Abstract

A Over the past decade, we have been witnessing an exponential growth in the number of publications on Integrated Reporting, with the aim of exploring challenges, opportunities and implications of its adoption. Given the abundance of studies, which are often characterized by conflicting evidences, it can be complex to pinpoint all the seminal works already published: it raises the need to develop methodologies which can help to screen the existing literature and to detect the articles which contribute the most to the scientific research. However, little is known about structured approaches in accounting studies: thus, in order to extract the backbones of the research tradition on Integrated Reporting, in this paper we apply the dynamic literature review method called "Systematic Literature Network Analysis", which combines systematic literature review and bibliographic network analysis. Furthermore, our findings confirm how this methodology may be exploited as a research tool to support dynamic analyses for drawing agendas for future research in the accounting fields of study.