Integrated Thinking: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice

The IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council) Framework clearly states that Integrated Thinking is the foundation of a better reporting: “Integrated Reporting is a process founded on Integrated Thinking” (The International < IR > Framework, p. 33). However, both professionals and academics deplore an overly broad description of the concept and a lack of guidance from the IIRC (Aras and Williams, 2022; Dumay, J., Dai, T., 2017; Feng et al., 2017a; Oliver et al.,2016). Although several literature reviews have already been conducted in the < IR > field, none of them focuses on Integrated Thinking. The purpose of this chapter is firstly to provide up-to-date research insights into Integrated Thinking. Second, in light of the different practices explored in this section, this last chapter also allows us to bridge the gap between research and practice, with the proposal of a framework identifying the various approaches in terms of Integrated Thinking, notably the push vs. pull approaches and the soft vs. hard approaches.