Environmental Accounting Research Research Articles

Emerging trends of environmental accounting research: a science mapping approach

Purpose This paper aims to provide a comprehensive knowledge structure for environmental accounting (EA) research by identifying research hotspots and frontiers and suggesting future trends for scholarly investigation. Design/methodology/approach Using the bibliometric method, the paper analyzed 321 academic articles and reviews in international journals from the Scopus database. Science mapping, including strategic diagrams, network analysis and thematic maps, was used to analyze the evolution of topics and to recommend future research trends. Findings EA research is an emerging trend. This study presents the landscape of EA research by constructing the “synthesis house of knowledge” in EA. Significant EA research areas were identified and future research trends were suggested based on the results. Practical implications This paper provides insights into the current state of EA research and identifies potential future research trends that can help scholars and experts develop and stimulate further advancement of the research in this field. Social implications Results may motivate policymakers and government agencies to formulate regulations to enforce appropriate corporate environmental strategies to better manage environmental costs and reduce community environmental impact. Originality/value The study provides an intellectually structured literature review of the EA research field; identifies the main themes through the innovative use of network analysis, strategic diagrams and thematic maps; highlights research gaps; and offers potential research questions and suggestions for future research. The novelty of this paper lies in the “synthesis house of knowledge” in EA and the research gaps and potential and specific research questions constructed from the findings.

The use of institutional theory in social and environmental accounting research: a critical review

In this paper, we review and critique the use of institutional theory in social and environmental accounting (SEA) research and discuss whether this has helped or hindered in furthering a critical research programme that is concerned with questions of power and emancipation. This research focus is warranted by broader debates within institutional theory as well as the SEA literature. Insofar as institutional theory is concerned, there are disagreements as to whether this theory can be imbued with critical intent or whether it is trapped in a normal science tradition of constantly extending and refining theory that detracts from such intent. By contrast, within the SEA literature, we find a largely inverse criticism suggesting that its lack of theoretical sophistication has diminished its critical potential. We show that most institutional research on SEA under review has not advanced research in a critical direction. However, this has little to do with the normal science ideal underpinning institutional theory but is rather due to the failure to keep up with key conceptual developments crystallising its critical potential. We outline a research agenda that may turn institutional research on SEA into a more critical research programme while simultaneously developing institutional theory conceptually.

Environmental accounting in public sector: systematic literature review

Research aims: The literature on Environmental Accounting (EA) in the public sector is scarce, unlike in the private sector. Hence, this study aims to ascertain the trajectory of EA research in the public sector and extract insights from prior research on EA in the public sector.Design/Methodology/Approach: The research process was conducted in several stages following Anggraini et al. (2022) and Poje et al. (2022) with several modifications. The keywords were used to discover the articles relating to the topic, namely: “Environmental Reporting,” “Environmental Management,” or “Environmental Accounting,” “Green Accounting,” and “Public Sector”. The study employed an extended period, namely papers published in 2010-2023 in the database Scopus.com. Based on the specified criteria, the final paper that could be analyzed was 69 out of 112 articles.Research findings: Using VOS-viewer, 15 items of keyword themes were discovered. Then, the 15 items were classified into three clusters: Green Accounting, Environmental Regulation, and Sustainable Development Goals in the Public Sector. Theoretical contribution/Originality: The authors are unaware of any existing literature review research on EA, specifically in the public sector, even though it arises from environmental management accounting in the public sector. This study also demonstrates the inferences that can be derived.

The New Wave of CSR-Related Mainstream Accounting Research: On the Performative Effects of Literature Reviews

ABSTRACT This commentary/reflection offers a critical analysis of four articles presenting literature reviews concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research in accounting published in North American-based or inspired accounting research journals and of the research on which they focus. This analysis is presented against the backdrop of [Gond, J.P., S. Mena, and S. Mosonyi. 2023. The performativity of literature reviewing: Constituting the corporate social responsibility literature through re-presentation and intervention. Organizational Research Methods 26, no. 2: 195–228] conceptualisation of the performative effects of literature reviews, examinations of the recent resurgence of CSR research in top-tier North American-based accounting journals offered by well-established social and environmental accounting (SEA) researchers, as well as in light of some of the many reviews on the same or similar lines of research. Whilst previous examinations of such resurgence focused on regular articles, this reflection focuses on literature reviews, which I consider a negative development in view of what they represent in terms of the self-referencing behaviour already present in the literature they review. This commentary serves the purpose of cautioning those interested in becoming acquainted with accounting research on CSR-related topics that the reviews examined should not be used as an entry point, given that they offer a rather incomplete picture of such research. Rather, they should only be used after having acquired a global view of CSR-related literature.

Taking shape within the structural and the personal: sustainability accountability within a Swedish public sector organisation

PurposeThis paper aims to better understand how accountability for sustainability takes shape within organisations and specifically, what makes employees act in a Swedish local authority. This aim moves beyond the prevalent external face of accountability in social and environmental accounting research by observing how employees understand and act upon their multiple accountability demands.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a single case study approach within a Swedish local authority, drawing from qualitative data including semi-structured interviews, site visits and governing documents.FindingsSustainable action is not only the product of hierarchically enforced structural accountabilities and procedures but often must be reconciled with the personal perspectives of the public sector employees involved as part of an accountability dynamic. Additionally, the findings reveal that hierarchical accountability, rather than serving to individualise and isolate employees, acts as a prompt for the more practical and personal reconciliations of accountability with the ethics and experiences of the individual involved.Practical implicationsGreater consideration to employee socialisation processes in public sector organisations should be given to reinforce organisational governance systems and controls, and thus help ensure sustainable behaviour in practice.Social implicationsEmployee socialisation processes are important for the development of sustainable practices both within and beyond organisational boundaries.Originality/valueThis study considers the interrelatedness of hierarchical and socialising accountability measures and contributes towards the understanding of the relationship between these two accountability forms, contrary to previous understandings that emphasise their contrasting nature and incompatibility.

Environmental Accounting in the European Accounting Review: A Reflection

We reflect upon how European Accounting Review has conceived of environmental accounting (and to some extent social/sustainability accounting work) over its 30-year history, with the aim of discussing ways in which environmental accounting research can further develop, both within and beyond this journal. After outlining the broader social and ecological context from which environmental accounting has emerged (and noting that this context is evolving in substantive ways), we provide an overview of the types of research published in EAR. We combine these elements to identify three themes that we argue are critical for the direction of future research: the financial materiality of ecological issues and the impact this has on risk; how environmental accounting practices are constructed; and how a new relationship between nature and society may affect accounting practices. We finally conclude by envisioning a future of environmental accounting research that dovetails with the sustainability ambitions that can be draw from an examination of the detailed targets that underpin the Sustainable Development Goals.

Exploring the historical roots of environmental and ecological accounting from the dawn of human consciousness

PurposeThis paper seeks to broaden the agenda for environmental and ecological accounting research across several dimensions, extending the form of accounting in this field by encouraging research into its historical roots and developing a definition of accounting that can address the severe environmental and ecological challenges of the 21st century.Design/methodology/approachThe authors explored environmental and ecological accounts from the dawn of human consciousness across a wide variety of media and in a broad range of forms. This theoretical approach reacts to the cold capitalist commodification of nature inherent in much environmental accounting practice, which documents, values and records usage of natural capital with little attempt to address depletion and loss.FindingsBy analysing the earliest ecological and environmental “accounts” recorded by humans at the dawn of human consciousness, and considering a wide array of subsequent accounts, the authors demonstrate that rather than being a secondary, relatively recent development emerging from financial accounting and reporting, environmental and ecological accounting predated financial accounting by tens of thousands of years. This research also provides a wealth of perspectives on diversity, not only in forms of account but also in the diversity of accountants, as well as the broadness of the stakeholders to whom and to which the accounts are rendered.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper can be placed at the intersection of accounting history, the alternative, interdisciplinary and critical accounts literature, and environmental and ecological accounting research.Practical implicationsPractically, the authors can draw ideas and inspiration from the historical forms and content of ecological and environmental account that can inform new forms of and approaches to accounting.Social implicationsThere are social implications including the diversity of accounts and accountants derived from studying historical ecological and environmental accounts from the dawn of human consciousness especially in the broadening out of the authors' understanding of the origins and cultural roots of accounting.Originality/valueThis study concludes with a new definition of accounting, fit for purpose in the 21st century, that integrates ecological, environmental concerns and is emancipatory, aiming to restore nature, revive biodiversity, conserve species and enhance ecosystems.

Environmental Management Accounting – Developments Over the Last 20 years from a Framework Perspective

AbstractThe most cited framework for environmental management accounting to date was published in the Australian Accounting Review 20 years ago. This framework has until today considerably influenced the development of the environmental management accounting field. Set against new sustainability challenges it is now time to question if the framework remains relevant or if it needs to change, and in what ways, to address the contemporary challenges now facing society. Taking stock of environmental management accounting research and practice over the last two decades, a conceptual discussion is developed which is based on extant literature and the authors’ extensive experience of the topic. Thus, the paper looks back to reflect on the developments from the perspective of the framework and looks towards how environmental management accounting could be further developed in the future. It considers the current and future potential of environmental management accounting and managers to contribute towards sustainable development. This can be through: the development of new areas of application and thematic scopes targeting aspirational sustainability goals such as those represented by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and planetary boundaries; extending spatial scope beyond the organisation into supply chains and circular systems; development of new social and environmental measures of performance to complement economic measures; providing information specific to the needs and roles of new personnel using environmental and sustainability information; and building awareness and implementing new drivers for environmental and sustainability management accounting such as AI and chatbots.

Corporate social and environmental reporting in the mining sector: seeking pragmatic and moral forms of legitimacy?

PurposeThe study examines the social and environmental responsibility indicators disclosed by three International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) corporate mining members in their social and environmental reporting (SER) from 2006 to 2014. To achieve this aim, the author limits the data two years before (i.e. from 2006 to 2007) and six years after (i.e. from 2009 to 2014) the implementation of the Sustainable Development Framework in the mining sector in 2008.Design/methodology/approachUsing the techniques of content analysis and interpretive textual analysis, this study examines 27 social and environmental responsibility reports published between 2006 and 2014 by three ICMM corporate mining members. The study develops a disclosure index based on the earlier work of Hackston and Milne (1996), together with other disclosure items suggested in the extant literature and considered appropriate for this work. The disclosure index for this study comprised six disclosure categories (“employee”, “environment”, “community involvement”, “energy”, “governance” and “general”). In each of the six disclosure categories, only 10 disclosure items were chosen and that results in 60 disclosure items.FindingsA total of 830 out of a maximum of 1,620 social and environmental responsibility indicators, representing 51% (168 employees, 151 environmental, 145 community involvement, 128 energy, 127 governance and 111 general) were identified and examined in company SER. The study showed that the sample companies relied on multiple strategies for managing pragmatic legitimacy and moral legitimacy via disclosures. Such practices raise questions regarding company-specific disclosure policies and their possible links to the quality/quantity of their disclosures. The findings suggest that managers of mining companies may opt for “cherry-picking” and/or capitalise on events for reporting purposes as well as refocus on company-specific issues of priority in their disclosures. While such practices may appear appropriate and/or timely to meet stakeholders’ needs and interests, they may work against the development of comprehensive reports due to the multiple strategies adopted to manage pragmatic and moral legitimacy.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of this research is that the author relied on self-reported corporate disclosures, as opposed to verifying the activities associated with the claims by the sample mining companies.Practical implicationsThe findings from this research will help future social and environmental accounting researchers to operationalise Suchman’s typology of legitimacy in other contexts.Social implicationsWith growing large-scale mining activity, potential social and environmental footprints are obviously far from being socially acceptable. Powerful and legitimacy-conferring stakeholders are likely to disapprove such mining activity and reconsider their support, which may threaten the survival of the mining company and also create a legitimacy threat for the whole mining industry.Originality/valueThis study innovates by focusing on Suchman’s (1995) typology of legitimacy framework to interpret SER in an industry characterised by potential social and environmental footprints – the mining industry.

CSR reporting in Arab countries: the emergence of three genres

PurposeThis paper aims to explain how companies in the region of Arab countries respond to the institutional diffusion of a new communication genre like corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis of the features, content and language of CSR reports published by listed companies in the region, to classify the genres of these reports and infer results about ways of companies’ interaction with newly institutionalized genre.FindingsThree distinct genres are identified: “sustainability reports genre,” “professional CSR report genre” and “light CSR report genre.” When companies interact with institutionally diffused genres, they either adopt them and re-enforce their distinctiveness, mix them with elements from other genres so their distinctiveness will be diluted, or produce the old and established genres under the new name so the new genre will lose its distinctiveness.Originality/valueThe proposed classification of CSR report genres and ways of companies’ interaction with new genres are original and open new horizons for research in social and environmental accounting and corporate communication fields.

Taking the world seriously: Autonomy, reflexivity and engagement research in social and environmental accounting

There is a long-standing debate within the social and environmental accounting research community concerning whether research engagement with (commercial) organisations and decision-makers is detrimental to the pursuit of sustainability transformation. Those critical of engagement research see such an approach as futile or outright harmful, suggesting that scholars are bound to be co-opted in the process and essentially end up reproducing systems of domination. In response, we emphasise in this paper how engagement research requires an exercise of reflexivity, which, hopefully, makes us “more conscious and more systematic” about engagement research and provides “the mutual surveillance” (Bourdieu, 2000b, p. 119) required for this academic exercise. Drawing on Bourdieu’s Pascalian Meditations, we discuss the implications of the notions of intellectual autonomy and scientific capital in the field of social and environmental accounting research and stress that both the scholastic situation and engagement with the social world are necessary elements for scholarship. We argue, on the one hand, that critical research in social and environmental accounting is a key mechanism to enhance the scientific capital of the field—through improved theorising of power and conflict—and hence retain (strengthen) the autonomy of social and environmental accounting. On the other hand, we also suggest that reinvigorating research on the relevance of accounting techniques for sustainable development is essential for our scientific capital and the wider contribution of social accounting across intellectual fields and beyond.

The Environmental Accounting Evolution: A Literature Review and Future Directions


 
 
 
 
 The aim of this article is to track the trending topics in the field study of environmental accounting research. The data was analyzed by using the library study method. The data was collected from scopus database by searching the systematic keyword that related with the environmental accounting literature on the search engine. This study found that the article that discussed about the environmental accounting was various and mostly concern on the issue about carbon accounting, water accounting, and biodiversity accounting as well as the measurement stages of extinction accounting. The author also found there was some theory which fit with the environmental accounting research that mainly discussed about the evolution of modern accounting and business methods that now more concerned with the social and environmental accounting. This research had implication for the accounting thinkers as well as the accounting and economic students, because the author did not only discuss about the literature review of environmental accounting but also the future direction of the environmental accounting that could become a new novelty for the future
 
 
 
 
 
 
 study.
 
 
 
 

The Structure of Social and Environmental Accounting Research: A Citation‐Based Social Network Analysis*

ABSTRACTWe investigate the structure and progress of the emergent field of social and environmental accounting (SEA) research by combining social network analysis (SNA) with a systematic literature review based on 461 papers containing 26,872 citations in total. Our approach, which to the best of our knowledge this study is the first to apply, enables us to use research metrics to identify the knowledge database of SEA research and examine how the field has been evolving. We analyze the connections and structure of foundational SEA research spanning the period 1973–2015. In line with previous research, our results reveal network characteristics typical of an emerging field—that is, subgroups without distinguishing content characteristics and low network density. Our additional analyses show that the results remain unchanged until 2021. The state‐of‐the‐art SNA we apply, the knowledge database we identify, and the insights into the SEA field's structure that we provide support the growth of the field.

Unlocking environmental accounting for healthy future landscapes

Abstract Competing land‐use demands for agriculture and nature conservation is one of the most significant global challenges. To improve the health of landscapes, collaborative transdisciplinary solutions are required. Environmental accounting is an attractive governance approach for helping to deliver healthy future landscapes; however, the diversity of approaches to environmental accounting makes this field complex to navigate, which limits transdisciplinary collaboration and impedes implementation. We seek to address this issue by presenting a new framework to clarify environmental accounting. This framework classifies the currently disparate branches of the literature into four newly described environmental accounting types: Organisational Environmental Management Accounting, Organisational Environmental Reporting Accounting, Area Environmental Management Accounting and Area Environmental Reporting Accounting. The framework is then used to discuss, across multiple scales (organisational, ecosystem and national), existing environmental accounting tools which could assist in delivering healthy future landscapes, and areas for future research. Finally, we demonstrate the potential for environmental accounting research approaches (materiality assessment, dialogic accounting and critical accounting) to assist in defining healthy future landscapes. This paper presents the first substantial exploration of environmental accounting in the landscapes context and presents a research agenda to progress this exciting area of transdisciplinary research. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Still Flying in the Face of Low-carbon Scholarship? A Final Call for the CSEAR Community to Get on Board

ABSTRACT Socio-ecological crises in the Anthropocene are shaking the assumptions, norms and practices of many disciplines. The climate emergency and the COVID-19 pandemic have substantially disrupted academic work and life with calls to return to normal, embrace change and many other options in between. Here, we invite critical discussion and reflection amongst the Centre for Social & Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR) community on our collective reliance on international in-person conferences and associated air travel. In doing so, we seek to highlight the ways in which our intellectual and practical endeavours are increasingly being shaped by both the climate crisis and debates around post-pandemic academia. We also report on the results of a (pre-pandemic) survey of the CSEAR community, which reveals highly differentiated patterns of air travel, echoing global patterns of dependency and inequality. Following this, we outline various practical solutions that have been proposed or introduced at individual, institutional and community levels. These include recent grassroots campaigns which have sought to mobilise opinion around the issues and explore different practices and modes of organising knowledge production, as well as the work of other academic communities attempting to enact commitments to lower their carbon emissions. Finally, we briefly outline the wider contours around low carbon scholarship and conclude by considering whether this is sufficient to contribute to collective efforts for scholarship for sustainability.

Assessing the impact of environmental accounting research: evidence from citation and journal data

PurposeThis paper aims to conduct an analysis of management research based on impact measures, with a focus on the accounting discipline and the environment theme. Using author and journal data as units of analysis, this study seek to determine the representation of environmental accounting researchers among the most cited accounting authors and the consideration given to environmental issues in the impact assessment of management journals.Design/methodology/approachThis study collects and quantitatively analyzes the publications and citations of the 50 most cited accounting authors and run a principal component analysis on a collection of journal-centered indicators and rankings.FindingsThis study finds that – among the most cited accounting authors – environmental accounting researchers hold a relatively influential position although their research is mainly published in non-top-tier accounting journals. This study also documents that some environment-themed journals suffer from significant disadvantages in peer-reviewed journal rankings.Practical implicationsEnvironmental accounting researchers are likely to disseminate their research in other media than in top-tier journals. This may have an impact on the academic viability of this field.Social implicationsDespite their strong connection to societal issues, some research themes could become understudied if journal rankings are not able to consider publication outlets in a more comprehensive way. There is a strong need for a broader consideration of scientific production, particularly in relation to its overall societal impact.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time an empirical analysis, combining author and journal data and documenting such findings, has been presented for publication. This study means to provide some descriptive insights into where environmental accounting researchers and environment-themed journals stand.

There Should be More Normative Research on How Social and Environmental Accounting Should be Done

ABSTRACT I suggest that the SEA research community has not engaged significantly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change because our community generally does not offer normative policy-focused advice on how to account for climate change. This raises the question ‘Why not?’. It cannot be because there is no demand for normative accounting guidance, as examples of this need abound everywhere. And it cannot be because normativity is ‘not academic’ as other academic disciplines engage in normative research, notably the fields of economics and life cycle assessment. The SEA research community may be constrained by its social constructivist epistemology, its focus on explanatory theory which drives us towards explanatory rather than normative questions, and our training in social science research methods rather than direct engagement with how to do social and environmental accounting. Notwithstanding the challenges there is a pressing need for better accounting practice, and who better to develop methods for social and environmental accounting than the social and environmental accounting research community? Arguably, there should be more normative research on how social and environmental accounting should be done.

Social and environmental accounting research in vulnerable and exploitable less-developed countries: a theoretical extension

ABSTRACT Research on social and environmental accountability (SEA) and transparency in less-developed countries may generate deeper insights, if theoretical underpinnings which are consistent with the social, political and economic realities found in these countries are used. This paper revisits “vulnerability and exploitability” framework introduced by [Belal, A. R., Cooper, S. M., & Roberts, R. W. (2013). Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies. Accounting Forum, 37(2), 81–91]. The paper refines, builds on and extends the theoretical context of the framework with a view to strengthening its ability to describe, explain and predict corporate SEA and transparency practices in less-developed countries. The study utilises analytical review of the relevant multidisciplinary literature from environmental economics, vulnerability and openness, and SEA in less-developed countries. In doing this, firstly, the paper derives three postulates and presents a diagram depicting the conditions which make less-developed countries vulnerable and exploitable. Secondly, as the main contribution of the study, pollution haven theory is integrated into the framework as an additional element. This leads to the derivation of five additional postulates and a modified diagram depicting the conditions for pollution haven and the outcomes of vulnerability’s causal link with exploitability and pollution haven. These outcomes take the form of poor SEA and transparency indicated by low corporate social and environmental performance, disclosure level and disclosure quality. The postulates developed are put forward for further debate and empirical tests.

Environmental Accounting: Analysis of Research Trend By Using Content Mining

The current research leads a substance mining procedure to dissect the articles dependent on bibliographic coupling investigations to decide the remarkable examination subjects. These natural bookkeeping research subjects are confirmed with those intermediaries by the Environmental Management Accounting system with the absolute 71 articles from 2017 to 2020 were dissected. Regarding subjects came about seventeen subjects. The outcome discovered three EMA's point did exclude from CATAR, for example, emission allowances, environmental shareholder value and corporate eco-efficiency. The aftereffects of this study will help researchers investigate their own field strengths, comprehend the creating patterns in environmental accounting research, demonstrate researchers who have had impact in environmental accounting research, and decide future research subjects. Keywords: articles, bibliographic, environmental

Methodological Openness, Theoretical Diversity and Societal Relevance. A Review of Jeffrey Unerman’s Contributions to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Research

ABSTRACT Jeffrey Unerman was a prominent figure in the social and environmental accounting research community. In this review I reflect on one specific element of his legacy, namely the research Jeffrey conducted and published on corporate social and environmental disclosures both on his own as well as with various co-authors. In addition to giving an overview of this research, I will also provide some reflections on his work. I structure my review around three themes featuring across Jeffrey’s research on organisational disclosures: methodological insight, theoretical diversity and agenda-setting discussion. I conclude by highlighting how Jeffrey emphasised the importance of pursuing rigorous scholarly research with societal relevance.