Linking business models and digital technologies through integrated reporting
分析了48份整合报告中企业如何描述数字化转型与商业模式的关系，发现企业将数字化转型视为影响生态系统的驱动因素，但缺乏定量和前瞻性信息来披露两者关联。
Abstract Within the 4.0 paradigm, the disruptive adoption of digital technologies is modifying the way companies develop business and manage the relationships within and across their business environment. Although several scholarly contributions have investigated how digital transformation (DT) and business models (BMs) influence each other, a research gap has emerged regarding the relevance attributed to the DT information disclosed in the section of the integrated reports (IRs) devoted to BM. This research investigates the role that reporters attribute to DT by exploring whether and how companies qualify DT as part of their BM and whether it is considered a purely structural factor or a strategic factor able to influence the relationship with stakeholders and the value‐creation process. Based on a content analysis of 48 integrated reports for the years 2020 and 2021, our research insights qualify DT as a driver capable of generating impacts on companies' ecosystems, although the findings do not reveal the adoption of quantitative and forward‐looking information to disclose the relationship between DT and BM. Moreover, our research provides managerial implication in terms of reporting and communication effectiveness, and it is unique and valuable, as it opens up a new line of research on IR and DT.