Reporting Design – A systematic literature review

Due to the fact, that the quality of decisions is directly linked to the availability and the erception of information, its selection and representation are of major importance in business communication. The purpose of this paper is to identify the current status quo of existing research in the field of information design in business reports (reporting design) in order to cluster empirical contributions and to generate new findings. A systematic literature review consisting of 48 international studies published between 2003 and 2013 was conducted. The extended cognitive fit model from Shaft and Vessey (2006) serves as a research framework. The analysis of its four main perspectives: “External Problem Representation”, “Internal Problem Representation”, “Problem-Solving Task” and “Mental Representation” revealed the following eight literature streams: (1) Tables versus Graphs, (2) Analyses of annual reports, (3) Reporting Guidelines, (4) Knowledge and Skills, (5) Task Type, (6) Task Complexity, (7) Working Memory and Memory Affection, and (8) Information Overload. Based on this literature review a research agenda was developed.