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Social and environmental accounting research manifests varying levels of awareness of critical global problems and the need to develop alternative approaches to dealing with economy and society. This paper explores Buddhist thought and, specifically, Buddhist economics as a means to informing this debate. We draw on and expand Schumacher's ideas about ‘Buddhist economics’, first articulated in the 1960s. Our analysis centres on Buddhism's Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and associated Buddhist teachings. The examination includes assumptions, means and ends of Buddhist approaches to economics; these are compared and contrasted with conventional economics.To consider how thought and practice may be bridged, we examine a practical application of Buddhism's Middle Way, in the form of Thailand's current work with ‘Sufficiency Economy’.Throughout the paper, we explore the implications for the development of social accounting, looking for mutual interactions between Buddhism and social accounting thought and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between spirituality and corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a Buddhist perspective. The paper addresses critical issues in CSR and highlights how the concept of Buddhist skilful means can be applied to tackle such issues. Skilful means is highlighted among various Buddhist concepts because it represents a context-sensitive and practical approach that can be effectively applied in CSR practice.

The paper reviews scholarly conversations on the challenges faced by CSR in contemporary business management and justifies the application of Buddhist principles, especially skilful means, to tackle such issues. The paper draws upon a wide range of Buddhist teachings and Sutras to propose a Buddhist skilful means approach to CSR.

Studies show that CSR is a highly contextualised term. Its definition and implementation differ in various contexts. Buddhism is set apart from other religions by its flexibility in practice and contextualisation. Further, the non-attachment that sits at the heart of the skilful means allows the exploration of different CSR practices to respond effectively to local contexts.

The paper proposes practical means for CSR practices adopted from a number of Buddhist qualities and principles in response to challenges for the practice of CSR.

Buddhist concepts have yet to be discovered or included in major scholarly conversations because of their contradiction of some well-known Western concepts and theories. Skilful means, including the principle of non-attachment, is a Buddhist approach. This paper argues that skilful means is a good fit with CSR as it has practical applications that can address issues identified in relation to CSR and organisational management practices.

The purpose of this paper is to examine “(Buddhist economics)” in urban reform Buddhism in Thailand. In the West, Buddhist economics is often perceived as a specific economic system, but understanding the sustainable development debate in Buddhist countries requires recognition that there are many versions.

The authors organize the discussion about Buddhist economics into a framework used in the sustainability debate. Current literature, largely from Thai writers, is analyzed to understand their positions on economy and environment.

Four representative movements are discussed which show substantial differences. Status quo Wat Dhammakaya feels that Buddhist economics is mainly about improving individual moral behavior within the current capitalist system, and needs little systemic change. Santi Asoke is explicitly anti-capitalist, and its most serious adherents live simple lifestyles in collectivist agricultural communities. “(Reform-from-within)” seeks a mixed economy containing both capitalist and socialist elements. Kuan Im is also between the extremes, largely small business capitalist and wanting some restraints on perceived predatory big business.

Buddhist perspectives are just beginning to enter mainstream western discussion on sustainability. The most common understanding of Buddhist economics in the west is incomplete, assuming only one form of Buddhist economics. In fact, Buddhist societies, represented here by Thailand, cover the whole range of thinking on sustainability.

Buddhism, a globalizing religion, offers a remarkable opportunity to test different hypotheses and models coined in the field of “economics of religion.” Since their foundation over 25 centuries ago, Buddhist ethics have always epitomized extra-worldly and noneconomic philosophies of renunciation. And in the context of globalization, contemporary Buddhist voices praise resistance to the human-engineered damage caused by expansive capitalism. Buddhist traditions have, however, always followed commercial routes and have been involved, although indirectly, in economic affairs. The globalization of Buddhism perpetuates this tendency but also uncovers the rise of “new” relationships between Asian tradition and (capitalistic) economy, in the realm of religious values, behaviors, and organization. This chapter aims at differentiating three models: Buddhism and economy, Buddhist economics, and the economics of Buddhism. It raises questions about the relevance of the “economic”-inspired conceptualization of Buddhist forms and dynamics.

Based on ethnographic data and a textual analysis, this chapter highlights the process of “therapization” of Buddhism in Western countries, with a specific emphasis on Tibetan Buddhism in France. Referring to the paradigm of “political economy of health”, as developed in recent medical anthropology, it attempts to explore the relationships between two concepts – economics and health – that had previously been considered separately, in the context of Western Buddhism. Further, this chapter's aim is to expose a potential application of theoretical economic models in an anthropological approach of Buddhist diffusion and appropriation in the West.

The paper aims to identify the form and significance of the influence of Buddhism upon the nature of past and future national economic change. It is divided to address two major tasks. The first section analyses the world view and behavioural prescriptions of Buddhism and examines their compatibility with the requirements commonly presumed for economic development. This analysis suggests that, contrary to conventional views, Buddhism has many positive features consistent with processes and change leading to growth in economic welfare (especially under the modern ecologically sustainable development framework). The second section consists of an empirical analysis of comparative social, economic and environmental indicators across nations where Buddhism is likely to have had a substantial influence. Although few regularities are identified across the entire group of nations, some internal similarities are noted together with discussion of the importance of historical factors and development potentiality linked to the influence of Buddhism. The analysis provides a useful overview of relative conditions and trends in Buddhist‐influenced nations on a diverse range of social, economic and environmental indicators.

This paper aims to understand how accountants in Sri Lanka perceive the effect of religiosity on ethical decision-making. Sri Lanka is a highly religious country, but it also has a high level of corruption, so understanding ethical decision-making in this context is important for the accounting profession.

Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 40 accountants in Sri Lanka with decision-making roles. Virtue ethics theory and content analysis were used to analyse the interview data and categorise accountants' responses into themes using an interpretive methodology.

This paper identifies three ways in which religiosity can influence accountants’ ethical decision-making. Firstly, through a faith in the beliefs of their religion; secondly, through awareness of religious prescriptions and virtues; and thirdly, through a commitment towards religious practices and rituals. However, the findings show that religiosity does not always influence the ethical decision-making of accountants because of pervasive corruption, which is a cultural norm in contemporary Sri Lanka. Thus, it is evident that there is an interrelationship between religious and cultural environments which can influence ethical decision-making.

While the religiosity of accountants can support ethical decision-making, the findings of this paper show that the cultural norm of corruption can mediate this connection as the evidence shows that accountants with a strong religious background, irrespective of their religion, may still act unethically when corruption is a cultural norm.

The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual framework for elucidating cross‐cultural paradoxes in dispute resolution and present a case study of a hybrid process that combines aspects of interest‐based mediation and indigenous dispute resolution in order to inform the design of conflict management systems in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach utilizing participant observation and informant feedback is used to present an organizational intervention in the Sri Lankan subsidiary of a European MNE. Discussion of the case is framed by theories of culture and conflict and a literature review of indigenous dispute resolution in Sri Lanka. Findings – The case illustrates how one MNE developed a culturally appropriate conflict management system in its subsidiary by crafting an innovative, informal channel for managing conflict and systematically embedding it into the organization alongside its formal conflict management process. Research limitations/implications – The case study approach limits the generalizability of the results. Future research should include a larger sample of countries, organizations, and dispute resolution practices, and incorporate feedback from employees to better assess the efficacy of the intervention. Practical implications – MNEs have an untapped opportunity to develop innovative approaches for managing conflict in their subsidiaries by melding interest‐based and indigenous mediation processes to develop culturally appropriate conflict management systems. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literatures on cross‐cultural conflict management and conflict management systems design by presenting an innovative approach to the application of hybrid dispute resolution mechanisms in MNEs. This study provides valuable insights for international managers, conflict systems design practitioners, and cross‐cultural conflict scholars.

In recognition of the potential for Buddhism to advance sustainability, this paper aims to investigate whether Buddhism appears to be informing the sustainability practices of corporations within a particular national context. Corporate sustainability reports are used as a site of analysis.

Sixteen corporate sustainability reports from a set of sustainability award-winning corporations in Sri Lanka, a country with a strong Buddhist presence, are analysed. Evidence of Buddhist principles and values related to sustainability is sought to ascertain the extent to which Buddhism is evident in disclosures within the reports. The influence of global institutions is also considered.

Analysis reveals surprisingly little evidence of Buddhist principles and values in the corporate sustainability reports of these award-winning corporations. Sustainability reporting practices are revealed to be highly institutionalised by global influences, with the majority of the reports examined explicitly embracing global standardisation. The standardisation of corporate sustainability reporting through the pursuit of globally accepted reporting frameworks is argued to have caused a disconnect between Buddhism as a prevalent institutional force in the local culture and context and the corporate representations evident in such reporting. Potential consequences of this disconnect in relation to the ability for Buddhism to inform sustainability practices at the organisational level are considered.

The paper contributes to the literature on corporate sustainability reporting through considering whether local cultural context is represented within such reports and possible reasons and consequences.

The purpose of this paper is to present selected Buddhist concepts that are useful to leaders of business and to those that want to increase the performance of their businesses and of their organisations implementing practical wisdom from a Buddhist perspective.

The design is to present relevant Buddhist concepts and their application. The methodology used is to consider their logic and rationality, the experiences of Buddhist business leaders in Taiwan and Thailand, and my experience of explaining and applying the concepts. The approach is to present the concepts such a way that the reader can determine if these concept merit further study and trying them out.

Finding Buddhist wisdom concepts that can be applied to management development often require reformulation from the original texts. The original information is vast and requires selection to those concepts that can be readily understood by non-Buddhists.

At a high level of abstraction core Buddhist concepts are the same but not in detail. In the paper two types of Buddhism have beeb referred to, Theravada and Tibetan traditions, and not for example Zen.

Special emphasis is placed on how to see to it that the values a company describes in its mission, values and business principles statements are practiced. There is always a gap between intentions and results. Where is the gap, how big is it, what can be done about it?

Buddhism like all spiritual traditions aims to increase the well-being of all. Buddhist concepts can contribute to reduce conflicts and increase happiness by influencing healthy motivations and intentions, and strengthening self-discipline.

The Buddhist wisdom concepts have been selected together with the scholarly monk Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, with profound knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism and with the scholarly monk and abbot of the Nyanavesakavan temple, P.A. Payutto, one of the most brilliant Buddhist scholars in the Thai Buddhist history.