A critical reflection on the recent developments in voluntary corporate non-financial and sustainability reporting and disclosure: Lessons learnt from research on integrated reporting adoption in practice

Purpose: To provide a critical assessment of the developments in the Voluntary Corporate non-Financial and Sustainability Reporting and Disclosure (VCnFSRD) research. The critical assessment is grounded in empirical research during a three-year PhD project on integrated reporting (IR). Design/methodology/approach: Alvesson & Deetz's (2021) critical management framework structures the arguments in this thesis overview. By investigating local phenomena and extant literature, I glean insights that I later critique drawing on the empirical evidence collected during the PhD research project. Lastly, I propose transformative redefinitions by pointing to future opportunities for VCnFSRD. Findings: The mainstream approaches to VCnFSRD – namely incremental information and legitimacy theories –present shortcomings in addressing why and how corporations voluntarily disclose and report information. First, companies adopting the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC, 2021)’s IR framework tend to comply with such a framework only in a formal, rather than substantial way. Second, at times corporations serendipitously chance upon practices such as IR instead of rationally searching for such practices to provide useful information for investors’ decision making. Also, corporations may use VCnFSRD practices seeking to establish, maintain, and restore the balance of power in their favour. Originality: A reflection on timely and relevant issues linked to recent developments in VCnFSRD. Further, I offer possible ways forward for critical research that may rely on various methodological choices such as interventionist and post-structuralist methodologies.