The Correlation Between Annual Reports’ Narratives and Business Performance: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

This article investigates the extant literature on the correlation between narratives in corporate annual reports and corporate performance. Prior studies are reviewed for overall characteristics, research topics, theoretical foundations, and methods. Articles published between 2000 and 2018 were analyzed using the content analysis method. The results demonstrated that prior studies generally show an increasing trend with salient interdisciplinarity. Mapping and predictability between annual reports’ narratives and business performance have been the prevailing topics. The impression management and agency theories are the most frequent theoretical references. More importantly, complexity of research methods was found in data, analytical approaches, and variables. The emphasis on narratives in prior research proves the necessity of contextualizing narratives in business communication. Future work would benefit from a “narrative framework” that incorporates linguistic, socio-cultural, and organizational perspectives into the correlation study. The article presents the first study to investigate the correlation studies through content analysis.