Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the technical, social and moral aspects of accounting through the implementation of a novel balanced scorecard (BSC) that addresses the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation – within the Portuguese water utilities sector.

A novel research design is adopted, using actor network theory (ANT) as a broad approach to frame the study. ANT emphasizes the importance of ever-evolving networks of relationships and how concepts such as the BSC are just as important in structuring social practice. A set of expert interviews was conducted with stakeholders in the water utilities sector in Portugal, which led to the iterative development of a context-relevant BSC proposal and associated indicators.

A novel BSC architecture to achieve UN SDG 6 is proposed through a unique engagement between professionals and academics. The BSC, and the specific definition of indicators for an entire sector (water), contribute to bridging business processes with the common good to improve life and planetary conditions. Ultimately, the study discusses how the technical aspects of accounting can be enhanced to achieve social and moral imperatives. The paper also reflects on the limitations of broadening existing technical practices.

There is a burgeoning literature on how organizations are engaging with the UN SDG agenda. However, there is a dearth of studies on how management control systems are currently addressing, or can potentially contribute to measuring and managing specific UN SDGs such as Clean Water and Sanitation. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by developing a novel BSC solution to SDG 6 measurement and management using a novel practitioner-led approach. Ultimately, our study highlights how accounting can be broadened to enhance technical practices while also serving a moral and social purpose.

Given the importance of interdisciplinary research in addressing wicked problems, this paper aims to explore the development of and prospects for interdisciplinary research through evidence gained from academic accountants in Australia.

Extant literature is complemented with interviews of accounting academics in Australia to reveal the challenges and opportunities facing interdisciplinary researchers and reimagine prospects for the future.

Evidence indicates that accounting academics hold diverse views toward interdisciplinarity. There is also confusion between multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in the journals in which academic accountants publish. Further, there is mixed messaging among Deans, disciplinary leaders and emerging scholars about the importance of interdisciplinary research to, on the one hand, publish track records and, on the other, secure grants from government and industry. Finally, there are differing perceptions about the disciplines to be encouraged or accepted in the cross-fertilisation of ideas.

This paper is novel in gathering first-hand data about the opportunities, challenges and tensions accounting academics face in collaborating with others in interdisciplinary research. It confirms a discouraging pressure for emerging scholars between the academic research outputs required to publish in journals, prepare reports for industry and secure research funding, with little guidance for how these tensions might be managed.

The purpose of the this study is to discover the impact of practices of knowledge management, intellectual property protection and management innovation on entrepreneurial leadership, which in turn leads to sustainable growth in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The data was collected from 292 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the USA using a cross-sectional survey. To evaluate the study hypotheses and analyse the data, structural equation modelling was used. SMART-PLS software was used for both confirmatory factor analysis and structural analysis.

The work has significantly contributed in revealing that knowledge management practices, management innovation and intellectual property protection have a substantial and constructive impact on entrepreneurial leadership, which in turn leads to sustainable growth in SMEs.

The study findings recommend that SMEs must focus on knowledge management practices, intellectual property protection and management innovation to nurture entrepreneurial leadership, which can lead to sustainable growth. SMEs can benefit from investing in knowledge management practices, protecting their intellectual property and innovating their management practices to achieve sustainable growth. Also, the absorptive capacity of an SME can help it to aggravate the impact of the above factors and lead them to sustainable growth faster.

The current work studies the association between knowledge management practices, intellectual property protection, management innovation, entrepreneurial leadership and sustainable growth in SMEs, thus contributing to the literature. The study provides insights into the factors that can nurture entrepreneurial leadership and contribute to sustainable growth in SMEs, which can inform policy and practice in the field of entrepreneurship.

This paper aims to clarify how business education has and should incorporate more resources, policies and stakeholder engagement towards the incorporation of sustainability, by conducting a literature review on sustainability in business and international business education and proposing future opportunities for researchers and practitioners.

The authors take a systematic, qualitative analysis approach to evaluate multidisciplinary literatures on sustainability in business education. The authors identify 192 qualifying papers published in 68 journals between 2015 and 2023.

The authors propose five categories of education solutions. Four of them are integrated, in two macro–micro levels: university (stakeholders and shared-mindset change) and student (pedagogical methods and curriculum); and one at meso level: international business (holistic integration) serving to unify the university and student levels.

The review highlights the value of applying a holistic approach and interdisciplinary pedagogical methods in future research on sustainability education in business school to effectively prepare future business leaders to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Insights from this review can usefully guide scholars and programme directors in their future research and administrative efforts towards business curriculum design, stakeholder management and policy-making.

The findings highlight how by embracing holistic perspectives, proper policies and self-awareness, business education shapes the mindsets and skill sets of the next generation of socially conscious practitioners.

The review stands out as one of the few that offers a forward-looking trajectory for the adaptation of international business education in response to sustainability challenges, through a holistic perspective.

The aim of this paper is to propose a basis upon which accounting reporting can be developed to reflect real values and the real economy. It aims to address the environmental considerations discussed in the UN debate (Bebbington and Unerman, 2020) and the concern for a “better life-world”, which is the theme of this special issue.

Addressing the task involves the application of the philosophy of pragmatic constructivism (which explains how people can relate to their reality in ways that lead to successful action) and the philosophical concept of the “good life” (which establishes the values to be pursued through action and so defines action success). Also, it outlines the necessary characteristics of measurement frameworks if they are to be effective in the development and control of human practices to achieve desired values.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for guiding the measurement of how a sustainable good life has improved and/or deteriorated as a result of organisational activities. It outlines a system of concepts on basic and instrumental values for analysing the condition of maintaining a sustainable good life in real terms. This is related to the financial results and societal regulations to analyse and adjust controls according to the real economic goals. Also, it provides a system of value measurands to produce valid information about the development of a sustainable good life. The measurand makes accounting reporting reflect the conditions of the good life that constitute the real economy instead of merely the financial economy driven by shareholder capitalism. Providing tools to analyse whether the existing practices of business and social regulations promote or counteract the real economic goals of producing a sustainable good life means the measurement system proposed makes the invisible hand of the market visible.

The mechanism proposed to enable accounting reporting to reflect real values and the real economy is a new conceptual framework that will allow accounting to more fully realise its potential to contribute to a “better world”. In aiming to serve a sustainable good life, accounting reporting will inherently foster ethical social practices.

This paper aims to examine the mediating role of employees’ intrinsic motivation in the relationship between perceived ambidextrous organizational culture and innovative behaviour among information technology (IT) sector employees.

The study used a quantitative research methodology, using a questionnaire to gather data from a sample of 510 employees across a range of IT organizations and various roles in the Indian IT sector. Smart partial least squares structural equation modeling Version 3 was used for the analysis and interpretation of the study.

The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between perceived ambidextrous organizational culture and employees’ innovative behaviour in the Indian IT sector. Moreover, the study established that employees’ intrinsic motivation played a significant mediating role in this relationship.

This study stands out for its exploration into how employees’ intrinsic motivation mediates the relationship between ambidextrous organizational culture and innovative behaviour. It offers valuable insights for enhancing organizational creativity by understanding the critical role of intrinsic motivation.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how management accountants can become relevant business partners out of respect for existing locally developed accounts of economic performance for decision-making.

The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with local business actors, in this case, families from seven financially successful Danish dairy farms. The casework and the analysis have been informed by pragmatic constructivism.

The local business actors do not use the official accounting system for ongoing cost-management-related decision-making. Instead, they use several epistemic methods that include locally developed decision models, experiences, rules of thumb and intuition. The farmers use these vernacular accountings to compensate for the cost management illusion that the formal accounting system tends to create. What the study suggests is that when management accountants engage as business partners, they are likely to enter a space where accounting is already present.

This paper argues that local business actors practice epistemic methods where they develop and use vernacular accountings to support their managerial practice, also in the absence of a professional management accountant. These vernacular accountings may lead the local actors into an illusion because the vernacular accountings do not necessarily have an inherent economic logic and theoretical reliability. The role of the management accountant in such a setting is hence to understand, support and advance local epistemic methods. Becoming a business partner requires a combination of management accounting analytical skills and a sense of empathy and sensitivity regarding what is already at play and how this can become an object of discussion without violating the values of the other.

Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.

This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).

The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.

Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.

This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of PhD students in India regarding research ethics and institutional review boards (IRBs), assess awareness levels, identify training gaps, examine ethical priorities and understand challenges in the IRB application process.

A quantitative approach was used, and a self-evaluator questionnaire was distributed electronically to PhD students. Data collection occurred between 1 March 1 and 30 March 2024, with analysis conducted using SPSS software.

The study reveals a significant gap in formal training on IRB procedures within PhD programs and challenges in completing IRB applications despite recognising ethical priorities such as informed consent and confidentiality.

This study provides insights into PhD students’ perspectives on research ethics and IRBs in India, highlighting the need for enhanced education and awareness initiatives to promote responsible conduct and safeguard research participants.

The ambition of human rights-based research is to generate an evidence base aligned to specific rights and rights holders. This chapter addresses the question ‘How does the ethical communication of research evidence support the achievement of this ambition?’ It outlines a Communication of Evidence For Impact (CEFI) approach that is focused on the realisation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). CEFI proposes that human rights-based communication is: a public good; a legal imperative in States that have ratified CRPD, and a moral imperative in States yet to sign or ratify; a core research competency and ethical requirement; participatory; and grounded in a culture of inclusion, intersectionality, and allyship. This chapter explores how five actors – States, research ethics committees, researchers, funders, and publishers – can each contribute to ethical communication. Recommendations are made for including and futureproofing CEFI in a disability research ethics framework.