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Key research themes
1. How can management commentary enhance integrated and non-financial reporting to better meet stakeholder decision-making needs?
This research theme explores the role of management commentary as a vehicle for integrated reporting (IR) and the disclosure of non-financial information, particularly in complex organizations such as healthcare entities and banking firms. It investigates how management commentary can evolve from merely fulfilling normative or regulatory requirements to becoming a strategic communication tool that integrates financial and non-financial data, thereby improving stakeholders’ understanding and decision-making. Studies emphasize challenges in breaking preparers’ silo mentalities, addressing stakeholder diversity, and linking various forms of capital and corporate governance disclosures into cohesive narratives. This area matters because improved management commentary can lead to enhanced transparency, accountability, and value communication to a broader set of users including institutional stakeholders, investors, and regulators.
Key finding: Through a case study of a university hospital, the paper found that management commentary often remains a heavy, normative-driven document reflecting a preparers' silo mentality with limited user usefulness. Stakeholder... Read more
Key finding: This research shows that effective communication about organizational change through management—especially top managers and supervisors—is essential for preparing employees to implement change successfully. It emphasizes the... Read more
Key finding: Using a panel data regression with 86 banks during the 2008-2011 economic crisis, the study showed that disclosure of corporate governance features such as board independence and external audit positively enhanced banks’... Read more
Key finding: Empirical findings demonstrated that in times of financial crisis, robust corporate governance disclosures integrated into management commentary sections positively impact banks' efficiency. The results reaffirm the role of... Read more
Key finding: This study developed the Management Commentary Index (Ma.Co.I.) using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to quantitatively assess the quality of narrative disclosure between 2002 and 2007. Results revealed only medium... Read more
2. How do creative and scientific management principles influence the structuring and effectiveness of modern management practices and communication?
This theme examines how foundational management theories—such as Taylor’s scientific management and creativity-driven management thinking—shape current organizational practices and the communication approaches embedded within management commentary and organizational narratives. It looks at how these principles inform job specialization, workflow optimization, and the balancing of formalized procedures with creative problem-solving and leadership communication. The theme also assesses the translation of these principles into industries like fast food (e.g., McDonald's) and broader organizational structures, highlighting their relevance to managerial communication, efficiency, and employee engagement.
Key finding: Demonstrates how scientific management principles—such as task specialization, standardized workflows, and performance-based rewards—were systematically applied by McDonald’s to maximize operational efficiency and... Read more
Key finding: This paper articulates the vital role of creative thinking in contemporary management, emphasizing divergent, lateral, and convergent thinking modalities to generate innovative solutions beyond routine processes. It argues... Read more
Key finding: Explores the evolution of modern management characterized by interdisciplinary problem-solving and synthesis of diverse specialized knowledge (e.g., law, organizational development, management science). The synthesis of new... Read more
3. What methods and tools exist to evaluate and improve the quality, reliability, and effectiveness of management commentary narrative disclosures?
This theme centers on the development and application of measurement tools and qualitative analyses aimed at assessing the readability, completeness, and stakeholder relevance of management commentary narrative disclosures. It reflects research on typologies of disclosure, graphical reporting, reading ease, and the correspondence between narrative content and investor needs. The research highlights challenges such as selective presentation and impression management in narrative disclosures, and discusses multi-criteria decision aid tools and indices enabling objective quality assessment, which are critical for evolving management commentary into transparent and informative narratives.
Key finding: The study found that although the narrative section of annual reports is extensive and contains more information than the financial statements, it does not necessarily meet investors' qualitative characteristics requirements... Read more
Key finding: Examining the discretionary nature of management commentary disclosures in New Zealand, this research highlights the lack of legislative guidance leading to variability in quality and completeness. The study reinforces the... Read more
Key finding: This paper introduces a Multi-Criteria Decision Aid tool using the PROMETHEE II method to aggregate and analyze Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure quality. It demonstrated how multi-criteria optimization... Read more
Key finding: Presents the Management Commentary Index (Ma.Co.I.) that quantifies narrative reporting quality by encoding key performance indicators within narratives. Applied in a transitional period marked by corporate scandals and... Read more