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.

Linguistic Variations Between Translated and Non-Translated English Chairman’s Statements in Corporate Annual Reports: A Multidimensional Analysis

“…As China’s finance and economy continue to grow rapidly, an increasing number of Chinese companies are going global and seeking investment from external investors to remain competitive in the international market (Ngai & Singh, 2014). In order to effectively communicate with shareholders and investors, these companies prioritize the production of high-quality annual reports, which provide important information for investment decisions (Qian & Sun, 2021). As a key part of the annual report, the chairman’s statement is particularly significant because it summarizes the financial performance of a company’s operations.…”