IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v25y2018i6p1212-1222.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental management decisions in CSR‐based accounting research

Author

Listed:
  • Leanne Johnstone

Abstract

This commentary presents conceptualizations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the realm of environmental accounting. By asking what the main theoretical perspectives are within CSR‐based environmental accounting research, and how these have been used, it finds that there have been three clear theoretical waves. These are based on legitimacy, stakeholder and institutional theories, which evidently build upon one another as CSR1 (responsibility), CSR2 (responsiveness) and CSR3 (proactiveness) respectively. Nevertheless, such perspectives are weak, as they remain at the strategic level and do not confront the operational levels of management accounting and control. Thus, structuration theory is proposed as the fourth wave of CSR‐based research by emphasizing that CSR does not rest with either the organizations as agents or the institutions as social structures, but is the product of the two. This informs managers by illustrating that environmental accounting decisions are shaped not only by the external environment, but also from within.

Suggested Citation

  • Leanne Johnstone, 2018. "Environmental management decisions in CSR‐based accounting research," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1212-1222, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:6:p:1212-1222
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1632
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1632
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1632?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johan Graafland & Hugo Smid, 2016. "Environmental Impacts of SMEs and the Effects of Formal Management Tools: Evidence from EU's Largest Survey," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(5), pages 297-307, September.
    2. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    3. Jean-Noël Chauvey & Sophie Giordano-Spring & Charles H. Cho & Dennis M. Patten, 2015. "The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France," Post-Print hal-02009500, HAL.
    4. Jean-Noël Chauvey & Sophie Giordano-Spring & Charles Cho & Dennis Patten, 2015. "The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 789-803, September.
    5. Huang, Xiaobei “Beryl†& Watson, Luke, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility research in accounting," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    7. Esther Albelda Pérez & Carmen Correa Ruiz & Francisco Carrasco Fenech, 2007. "Environmental management systems as an embedding mechanism: a research note," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 403-422, June.
    8. Lies Bouten & Patricia Everaert & Luc Van Liedekerke & Lieven De Moor & Johan Christiaens, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility reporting: A comprehensive picture?," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 187-204, September.
    9. Ball, Amanda & Craig, Russell, 2010. "Using neo-institutionalism to advance social and environmental accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 283-293.
    10. Scapens, Robert W., 2006. "Understanding management accounting practices: A personal journey," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-30.
    11. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    12. Roberts, John & Scapens, Robert, 1985. "Accounting systems and systems of accountability -- understanding accounting practices in their organisational contexts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 443-456, October.
    13. Ki‐Hoon Lee, 2011. "Motivations, barriers, and incentives for adopting environmental management (cost) accounting and related guidelines: a study of the republic of Korea," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 39-49, January.
    14. Timo Hyvonen & Janne Jarvinen & Jukka Pellinen & Tapani Rahko, 2009. "Institutional Logics, ICT and Stability of Management Accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 241-275.
    15. Kari Lukka & Eija Vinnari, 2014. "Domain theory and method theory in management accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(8), pages 1308-1338, October.
    16. Fawzi Halila, 2007. "Networks as a means of supporting the adoption of organizational innovations in SMEs: the case of Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) based on ISO 14001," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 167-181, July.
    17. S. Marquet-Pondeville & V. Swaen & Y. de Ronge, 2013. "Environmental management control systems: The role of contextual and strategic factors," Post-Print hal-00846969, HAL.
    18. Englund, Hans & Gerdin, Jonas & Burns, John, 2011. "25 Years of Giddens in accounting research: Achievements, limitations and the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 494-513.
    19. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    20. Orts, Eric W. & Strudler, Alan, 2002. "The Ethical and Environmental Limits of Stakeholder Theory," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 215-233, April.
    21. Contrafatto, Massimo, 2014. "The institutionalization of social and environmental reporting: An Italian narrative," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 414-432.
    22. David Owen, 2008. "Chronicles of wasted time?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 240-267, February.
    23. Blake E. Ashforth & Barrie W. Gibbs, 1990. "The Double-Edge of Organizational Legitimation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 177-194, May.
    24. François Maon & Adam Lindgreen, 2015. "Reclaiming the Child Left Behind: The Case for Corporate Cultural Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 755-766, September.
    25. Monir Zaman Mir & Abu Shiraz Rahaman, 2011. "In pursuit of environmental excellence," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(7), pages 848-878, September.
    26. Alexander Dahlsrud, 2008. "How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    27. Henri, Jean-François & Journeault, Marc, 2010. "Eco-control: The influence of management control systems on environmental and economic performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 63-80, January.
    28. Heidi Sundin & David Andrew Brown, 2017. "Greening the black box: integrating the environment and management control systems," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 620-642, March.
    29. Parker, Lee D., 2014. "Corporate social accountability through action: Contemporary insights from British industrial pioneers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 632-659.
    30. Phillips, Robert, 2003. "Stakeholder Legitimacy," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 25-41, January.
    31. Massimo Costa & Patrizia Torrecchia, 2018. "The Concept of Value for CSR: A Debate Drawn from Italian Classical Accounting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 113-123, March.
    32. Burnett, Royce D. & Hansen, Don R., 2008. "Ecoefficiency: Defining a role for environmental cost management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 551-581, August.
    33. Deegan, Craig & Blomquist, Christopher, 2006. "Stakeholder influence on corporate reporting: An exploration of the interaction between WWF-Australia and the Australian minerals industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 343-372.
    34. Spence, Crawford & Husillos, Javier & Correa-Ruiz, Carmen, 2010. "Cargo cult science and the death of politics: A critical review of social and environmental accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 76-89.
    35. Wei Qian & Roger Burritt & Gary Monroe, 2011. "Environmental management accounting in local government," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(1), pages 93-128, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Esposito & Gianluca Antonucci, 2022. "NGOs, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development trajectories in a new reformative spectrum: ‘New wine in old bottles or old wine in new bottles?’," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 609-619, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leanne Johnstone, 2021. "Facilitating sustainability control in SMEs through the implementation of an environmental management system," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 559-605, December.
    2. Leanne Johnstone, 2019. "Theorising and conceptualising the sustainability control system for effective sustainability management," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 25-64, April.
    3. Binh Bui & Carolyn Fowler, 2022. "Carbon controls in a New Zealand electricity utility: An application of theoretical triangulation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4423-4451, December.
    4. Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy & Abeer Hassan & Suman Lodh & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2022. "Corporate Accountability Towards Species Extinction Protection: Insights from Ecologically Forward-Thinking Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 571-595, July.
    5. Huang, Xiaobei “Beryl†& Watson, Luke, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility research in accounting," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Irene Eleonora Lisi, 2018. "Determinants and Performance Effects of Social Performance Measurement Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 225-251, September.
    7. Charles H. Cho & Jonathan Maurice & Emmanuelle Nègre & Marie-Anne Verdier, 2016. "Is environmental disclosure good for the environment? A meta-analysis and research agenda," Post-Print halshs-01369422, HAL.
    8. Bongani Munkuli & Renee Horne, 2018. "Financial Markets Value Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – A Study of the South African Mining Sector," Africagrowth Agenda, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 17-22.
    9. Michelon, Giovanna & Pilonato, Silvia & Ricceri, Federica, 2015. "CSR reporting practices and the quality of disclosure: An empirical analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 59-78.
    10. Yves Fassin, 2012. "Stakeholder Management, Reciprocity and Stakeholder Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 83-96, August.
    11. Bouten, Lies & Everaert, Patricia, 2015. "Social and environmental reporting in Belgium: ‘Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés’," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 24-43.
    12. Lueg, Rainer & Radlach, Ronny, 2016. "Managing sustainable development with management control systems: A literature review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 158-171.
    13. Sergiy D. Dmytriyev & R. Edward Freeman & Jacob Hörisch, 2021. "The Relationship between Stakeholder Theory and Corporate Social Responsibility: Differences, Similarities, and Implications for Social Issues in Management," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(6), pages 1441-1470, September.
    14. Mohamed Chelli & Sylvain Durocher & Anne Fortin, 2018. "Normativity in Environmental Reporting: A Comparison of Three Regimes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 285-311, May.
    15. Minga Negash & Tesfaye T. Lemma, 2020. "Institutional pressures and the accounting and reporting of environmental liabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1941-1960, July.
    16. Clément Feger & Laurent Mermet, 2017. "A blueprint towards accounting for the management of ecosystems," Post-Print hal-01930913, HAL.
    17. Mallika Tamvada, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and accountability: a new theoretical foundation for regulating CSR," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Michael S Lin & Yeasun K Chung, 2019. "Understanding the impacts of corporate social responsibility and brand attributes on brand equity in the restaurant industry," Tourism Economics, , vol. 25(4), pages 639-658, June.
    19. Abeer Mohamed Hassan & Lee Roberts & Jill Atkins, 2020. "Exploring factors relating to extinction disclosures: What motivates companies to report on biodiversity and species protection?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1419-1436, March.
    20. Katharina Hombach & Thorsten Sellhorn, 2019. "Shaping Corporate Actions Through Targeted Transparency Regulation: A Framework and Review of Extant Evidence," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 71(2), pages 137-168, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:6:p:1212-1222. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.