Abstract In the accounting and finance literature, the concept of the information environment (IE) is widely used, but its meaning varies across different articles. Given the considerable presence of the IE concept, it seems relevant to clarify the concept and allow a clearer path forward for future research. With this ambition, this paper reviews articles that apply the concept of IE. Our sample consists of 248 articles published within the accounting and finance field between 2000 and 2017. We confirm an increasing trend in the use of the concept over time and discuss the lack of distinctness in the concept's general meaning. Several definitions of IE appear parallel to one another in the literature; in many cases, these definitions are also inconsistent. To analyze the concept, we use a two-step approach with the following subordinated aims: 1) to identify and clarify different types of IE, and 2) to identify and clarify the components that constitute the firm's IE. We find that the description preceding the term IE signals a border between different types of information or between different societal levels of IE. Also, the concept appears as a “system concept,” and its inclusion of different actors, the relations among these actors, and the effect of these relations on information asymmetry are core aspects that need to be described in future research.

中文翻译：

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信息环境–基于现有文献对概念的探索和澄清

摘要在会计和金融文献中，信息环境（IE）的概念得到了广泛使用，但是其含义在不同的文章中有所不同。考虑到IE概念的大量存在，澄清该概念并为将来的研究提供更清晰的途径似乎很重要。带着这种野心，本文回顾了应用IE概念的文章。我们的样本包含2000年至2017年期间在会计和金融领域发表的248条文章。我们确认了该概念在一段时间内的使用呈增长趋势，并讨论了该概念的一般含义缺乏独特性。IE的几种定义在文献中似乎相互平行。在许多情况下，这些定义也不一致。为了分析这个概念，我们使用两步方法，并具有以下从属目标：1）识别和澄清不同类型的IE，以及2）识别和澄清构成公司IE的组件。我们发现，术语“ IE”之前的描述表明了不同类型的信息之间或IE的不同社会层次之间的边界。而且，该概念似乎是“系统概念”，它包含不同的参与者，这些参与者之间的关系以及这些关系对信息不对称的影响是需要在未来研究中描述的核心方面。