Analyzing Changes in Integrated Report Descriptions

This study used natural language processing to analyze the content differences between the awarded integrated reports selected by the Government Pension Investment Fund and non-awarded integrated reports. The analysis focused on integrated reports from seven sectors, including consumer-related, basic materials, and processing/assembly categories within the manufacturing industry, and non-manufacturing sectors. Next, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling and co-occurrence analysis were employed to examine these reports. The results revealed that the awarded integrated reports tend to emphasize environmental, social, and governance (ESG) elements aligned with industry-specific characteristics. Moreover, such reports are more likely to present a coherent narrative that integrates the resolution of social issues with the company’s own growth strategies. Thus, clearly communicating a value creation story, rather than merely listing ESG-related information, is important. This study provides valuable insights for future integrated reporting practices by highlighting the significance of sector-specific disclosure approaches.