Author :
Abstract
This study examines how the discourse on digitalisation and sustainability in the annual reports of BIST100 companies evolved between 2015 and 2024, and what this change implies in terms of corporate reporting priorities. Using text mining and natural language processing techniques, the annual reports were analysed through lexicon-based topic measurement, trend and structural break tests, TF-IDF and LDA-based topic modelling, and sustainability sub-theme analysis. The findings indicate that financial and governance themes have retained their central position; however, transformation-focused non-financial themes such as digitalisation and sustainability are becoming increasingly prominent. Sustainability showed an increase of 501.5 per cent, whilst digitalisation increased by 276.6 per cent; a structural break was identified for both themes in 2019. The LDA results reveal that these two themes are increasingly converging under a common ‘Digital and Sustainable Transformation’ umbrella. Furthermore, it is observed that the sustainability discourse is shifting from a focus on social responsibility towards more strategic areas such as climate, the circular economy, diversity, governance and sustainable finance. Overall, the study highlights the co-evolution of digitalisation and sustainability narratives in Turkish corporate reporting; however, it emphasises that the increasing level of disclosure should be interpreted as an indicator of shifting communication priorities rather than as direct evidence of concrete performance.
Keywords
Abstract
This study examines how the discourse on digitalisation and sustainability in the annual reports of BIST100 companies evolved between 2015 and 2024, and what this change implies in terms of corporate reporting priorities. Using text mining and natural language processing techniques, the annual reports were analysed through lexicon-based topic measurement, trend and structural break tests, TF-IDF and LDA-based topic modelling, and sustainability sub-theme analysis. The findings indicate that financial and governance themes have retained their central position; however, transformation-focused non-financial themes such as digitalisation and sustainability are becoming increasingly prominent. Sustainability showed an increase of 501.5 per cent, whilst digitalisation increased by 276.6 per cent; a structural break was identified for both themes in 2019. The LDA results reveal that these two themes are increasingly converging under a common ‘Digital and Sustainable Transformation’ umbrella. Furthermore, it is observed that the sustainability discourse is shifting from a focus on social responsibility towards more strategic areas such as climate, the circular economy, diversity, governance and sustainable finance. Overall, the study highlights the co-evolution of digitalisation and sustainability narratives in Turkish corporate reporting; however, it emphasises that the increasing level of disclosure should be interpreted as an indicator of shifting communication priorities rather than as direct evidence of concrete performance.
