Investigating the role of national culture on integrated report assurance: international evidence

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on neo-institutional, stakeholder, social contract and contingency theories, the objective of this study is to examine whether cultural values across countries may influence decisions to assure integrated reports.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, the authors have collected integrated reporting assurance, national culture and firm-specific data from several sources for the years ranging between 2011 and 2016 and have performed pooled and panel logistic regression analyses.

Findings

The authors found that corporations established in countries where the following characteristics prevail have higher tendencies to assure integrated reports: high collectivism among people, low power distance, strong feminine values rather than masculine values, high uncertainty avoidance, pursuance of short-term goals rather than long-term and a low level of indulgence.

Research limitations/implications

The study is not free from limitations. First, the authors were only able to obtain assurance data for the years between 2011 and 2016 since 2011 was the initial year in which integrated reporting was adopted. Second, culture variables used throughout the study remained the same for each year due to the unavailability of differing data. This was noted in prior studies as well; thus, this is not an exception. Third, the assumption that all companies in a country have the same culture score is inherent in the scoring system of countries (Orij, 2010).

Practical implications

Based on the results, the authors drew implications for organizations, policymakers and assurance service providers. Multinational corporations can benefit from the outcome of this study by considering national cultures in formulating their corporate strategies. Finally, assurance service providers can position themselves in the marketplace by the findings of this study.

Originality/value

This paper aims to enhance the comprehension of corporate reporting practices by companies that operate in different countries, with necessarily varying cultural values. To the best knowledge of the authors, no prior study has yet examined the impact of national culture on the assurance of integrated reports.

Citation

Uyar, A., Kilic, M. and Kuzey, C. (2022), "Investigating the role of national culture on integrated report assurance: international evidence", Management Decision, Vol. 60 No. 7, pp. 1875-1904. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-01-2021-0112