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This study explores the social conditions for sustainability practices, addressing the processes whereby associational gardening practices in a highly segregated context may or may not create connections and capacities across urban social divides.

Based on organizational ethnographic fieldwork, the article explores urban gardens as potential meeting places in a segregated city, Gothenburg, focusing on collectively organized gardening projects in different socioeconomic and socio-spatial settings.

The study identifies the unintentional encounters embedded in the immaterial act of gardening, that is, digging, planting and actual gardening practices regardless of the harvest. Such practices were found to be important for social sustainability practices beyond the continuous reproduction of silos, at least in multicultural settings. Nevertheless, many urban gardeners create a green living room for themselves and their neighbours, and engagement with those outside their silos often becomes more of a symbolic act of global solidarity, especially in more culturally homogeneous areas.

The article fills a gap in the research by focusing on the social conditions for sustainability practices in urban segregated areas. By showing how gardening practices often reproduce cultural similarity, the study highlights the importance of revealing practices and places that facilitate unintentional social “bonus” interactions that nonetheless occur in two of the gardening environments studied. Unintentional encounters are identified as important dimensions of social sustainability practices.

This study conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) on social inclusion within upstream supply chains, targeting a notable literature gap in modern SCM discourse. By delving into this critical, yet underexamined, domain, this study spotlights the pressing need to incorporate social inclusion practices, particularly as global supply chains face increased scrutiny over their social ramifications. It examines social inclusion’s intricacies, offering practical insights for industry professionals to adopt, so that trustworthy social inclusion practices can proliferate across their upstream supply chains, thereby making a substantial contribution to both theoretical understanding and practical application.

Employing five search queries across two leading academic databases, this investigation reviewed 86 articles that examined social issues related to social inclusion in the upstream supply chain. Via content analysis, this study aims to answer essential research questions and employs statistical bibliometric analyses to investigate the collected data further.

This study’s findings establish a definition of social inclusion within the upstream supply chain and present a conceptual framework delineating levers and indicators for evaluating such practices. Through rigorous analysis, it becomes apparent that mechanisms such as supplier compliance, collaboration and development are crucial for promoting social inclusion; however, their importance differs at various levels of suppliers in multi-tiered supply chains. Furthermore, a methodological matrix is introduced for assessing social inclusion practices’ efficacy, equipping practitioners with a roadmap for developing and executing strategies that extend social inclusion efforts throughout the supply chain, as well as emphasising these levers through monitoring, assessment and application of six specified indicators.

This study contributes to the dialogue surrounding upstream supply chain management by spotlighting social inclusion practices, addressing the literature gap in comprehending how social inclusion dynamics operate within upstream supply chains and outlining a distinct direction for forthcoming research. By highlighting the pressing importance of enhancing social inclusion practices, this study not only enriches the theoretical landscape but also lays the groundwork for subsequent empirical studies aimed at deciphering the complexities and practical hurdles associated with the efficient execution of these practices.

This study aims to examine the effect of social responsibility practices on competitive advantage. It focuses on analyzing how strategic initiatives addressing social responsibility practices influence banks’ competitive advantage (CA).

Data were collected from 463 customers of selected commercial banks in Ethiopia. Self-administrative questionnaire was used to collect data. The study was a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2023. The study used a structural equation model to test relationships between variables.

This study’s empirical findings show that social responsibility practices positively affect CA. This suggests that banks actively engaging in social responsibility practices can boost their CA.

The study only targeted customers as respondents and did not include other stakeholders such as employees and the community. This recommended that future research should include these stakeholders. This study relied solely on quantitative data. Future studies could consider incorporating qualitative data to complement the quantitative findings. The study’s sample was limited to Ethiopia’s banking sector. Other service sectors and manufacturing sectors will be considered in future studies to examine the relationship between social responsibility practices and CA.

This study provides insights for banks operating in dynamic markets by providing the strategic implications of social responsibility. Banks can strategically leverage social responsibility practices to gain an advantage in a competitive market. Banks should continuously innovate and adapt their social responsibility strategies to address evolving societal needs and emerging challenges and consider social responsibility an integral component of their strategic planning. The findings of this study can enhance managers’ understanding and enable them to better oversee their social responsibility initiatives to attain a sustainable CA.

This study highlights businesses’ pivotal role in society beyond profit generation. The research findings emphasize the interconnectedness of business success and social responsibility. By integrating social responsibility practices into their operations, companies enhance their CA and contribute to society’s greater good. This underscores the importance of promoting a corporate culture that values social responsibility as a cornerstone of business success.

Empirically examining the relationship between social responsibility practices and CA contributes to the overview of the conceptual and practical base of social responsibility practices into strategic importance. The study provides insight into the importance of social responsibility practices in enhancing CA in developing country’s contexts.

This paper aims to investigate the role of field-configuring events (FCEs) and situational context in the institutionalisation of sustainability reporting (SR) in Pakistan.

This paper uses insights from the institutional logics perspective and qualitative research design to analyse the interplay of the institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency for the institutionalisation of SR among leading corporations in Pakistan. A total of 28 semi-structured interviews were carried out and were supplemented by analysis of secondary data including reports, newspaper articles and books.

The emerging field of SR in Pakistan is shaped by societal institutions, where key social actors (regulators, enablers and reporters) were involved in the institutionalisation of SR through FCEs. FCEs provided space for agency and were intentionally designed by key social actors to promote SR in Pakistan. The situational context connected the case organisations with FCEs and field-level institutional logics that shaped their decision to initiate SR. Overall, intricate interplay of institutional logics, FCEs, situational context and social actors’ agency has contributed to the institutionalisation of SR in Pakistan. Corporate managers navigated institutional logics based on situational context and initiated SR that is aligned with corporate goals and stakeholder expectations.

For corporate managers, this paper highlights the role of active agency in navigating and integrating institutional logics and stakeholders’ expectations in their decision-making process. For practitioners and policymakers, this paper highlights the importance of FCEs and situational context in the emergence and institutionalisation of SR in developing countries. From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

From a societal point of view, dominance of business actors in FCEs highlights the need for non-business actors to participate in FCEs to shape logics and practice of SR for wider societal benefits.

This paper focuses on the role of FCEs and situational context as key social mechanisms for explaining the institutionalisation of SR.

The purpose of this study is to examine how formal and informal institutions play a role in the Iranian context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices.

Using a multiple case-study approach combining comparative and cross-sectional methods with semi-structured interviews, primary data was collected from eight corporations that actively participated in CSR activities in Iran. A microanalysis approach was used to examine the meanings and dynamics in the data. Through thematic analysis and pattern-matching techniques, the authors separately examined the roles of formal and informal institutions. Cross-case analysis was used to highlight the cases’ similarities and differences.

This study demonstrates that both formal and informal institutional structures exist in Iran and that both types influence CSR. This study also shows that informal institutions (such as personal values, culture, religion, traditions, charity and philanthropy) play a more explicit role than formal institutions (such as legal regulations and laws) in shaping CSR adoption policies and practices. The results indicate that, among institutions linked to CSR, formal and informal institutions are complementary and potentiate each other in Iran. Nevertheless, compared to formal ones, informal institutions play a more prominent role in shaping CSR policies and practices.

The authors recognize that, although the eight corporations are large, and although they interviewed their key personnel, they do not claim that these findings are generalizable, owing to the qualitative nature of the study and the small number of selected corporations.

This study makes relevant theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it contributes to the growing body of CSR literature that highlights the necessity of linking informal and formal institutions. Although the CSR literature lacks research on informal institutions in developing economies, researchers have yet to push forward and explore how the CSR adoption process works in developing economies that have influential informal institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why multi-tier apparel suppliers integrate social sustainability practices into their supply chains and what barriers these suppliers encounter while embedding social sustainability practices.

This study employs a qualitative research design, drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with 46 owners and managers from 33 multi-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, an important outsourcing hub for the global apparel industry. To corroborate research findings, the views of owners and managers were triangulated by further interviewing 11 key representatives of institutional actors such as third-party auditors, a donor agency, industry associations, regulatory agencies and a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

The authors' findings suggest a range of divergent institutional drivers and barriers – coercive, mimetic and normative – that determine the implementation of multi-tier suppliers' social sustainability practices. The key reported drivers were buyers' requirements, external stakeholders' expectations, top management commitment and competition. Conversely, cost and resource concerns and gaps in the regulatory framework were identified as key social sustainability implementation barriers. In particular, owners and managers of second-tier and third-tier supplier firms experienced more internal barriers such as cost and resource concerns than external barriers such as gaps in values, learning and commitment (i.e. compromise for mutual benefit and non-disclosure of non-compliance) that impeded effective social sustainability implementation.

Social sustainability in supply chain management has received significant attention from academics, business practitioners, governments, NGOs and supranational organisations. However, limited attention has been paid to investigating the drivers and barriers for social sustainability implementation from a developing country's multi-tier supplier perspective. The authors' research has addressed this knowledge gap.

The evidence from the authors' study provides robust support for key assumptions of institutional theory and has useful implications for both managers and policy-makers.

The authors' study contributes to the embryonic research stream of socially sustainable multi-tier supply chain management by connecting it to the application of institutional theory in a challenging institutional context.

This study aims to investigate accounting practices within a non-Western (Indigenous) context and provide insights into alternative accounting approaches and perspectives.

This study adopts an interpretive research approach to gain an in-depth insight into the functioning of accounting in Solomon Islands’ unique cultural and social-political context. In-depth interviews were conducted to gain insights into the perceptions and meanings held by participants concerning Western accounting practices and their limitations.

The findings provide unique insights into different interpretations of accounting and accountability through two distinct cultural lenses – Western and non-Western. The complementary and rival explanations on what accounting and accountability are doing and what accounting and accountability should be doing will help close the gap in knowledge and contribute to shaping a better world for Indigenous people.

Implications for practice involve fostering collaborative efforts among individuals, communities, leaders and institutions to harness cultural strengths through accounting. Additionally, continuous capacity building and education are essential to develop accounting skills, enhance financial literacy, promote professional expertise and build a pool of skilled accountants with local knowledge to support Indigenous communities.

This study is original and provides novel insights supporting the need for accounting to recognise the importance of Indigenous perspectives, adapt to cultural sensitivity and integrate cultural norms and values into accounting practices to make an impact and achieve greater social and moral accountability.

The primary objective of this study was to understand the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Green Behavior, examining the mediating role played by Green Human Resource Management Practices and the moderating influence of Employee Green Culture.

To accomplish this, a careful research approach was taken, using a thoughtfully designed random sampling method to encompass 300 banking employees, ensuring a robust representation of the diverse workforce in the banking sector.

The empirical findings identified green human resource management practices as a pivotal mediator and employee green culture as a significant moderator. It elucidated how the strategic implementation of green human resource management practices can act as an amplifier, strengthening the positive effects of corporate social responsibility on employee green behavior. This insight underscores the strategic importance of aligning human resource practices with sustainability goals to further enhance the environmental consciousness of employees. It was revealed that the presence of a nurturing organizational culture, one that encourages and supports environmentally responsible behaviors can significantly bolster the association between corporate social responsibility and green behavior among employees.

These findings underscore the essential role of organizational culture as a catalyst for the successful implementation of corporate social responsibility initiatives and the cultivation of a sustainable corporate ethos. This comprehensive research underscores the profound significance of corporate social responsibility, green human resource management practices and employee green culture in fostering and promoting environmentally responsible behaviors within the banking industry. These findings hold substantial implications not only for businesses but also for policymakers.

The objective is to contribute to the development of strategies through the identification of sustainability practices. Thus, the research has a twofold objective: to unveil sustainability practices integrated into last-mile logistics activities by e-commerce retailers, analyze the interrelations among these practices and categorize them based on their significance for small Brazilian e-commerce retailers.

A literature mapping was conducted to identify sustainability practices in last-mile activities adopted by e-retailers, leading to the proposal of a meta-model. A total of 67 articles are part of the final sample. Subsequently, the study applied the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) multicriteria decision-making technique to structure the research problem through cause-and-effect analysis among practices, aiming to prioritize critical practices.

The results indicate a strong dependence on economic practices to enable sustainability in last-mile logistics. In the economic dimension of sustainability, operating costs and quality of services are effect variables and achieved the highest relation concerning the other practices.

The article provides theoretical contributions by addressing two complementary areas of knowledge: Stakeholder Theory and Sustainability, also aligning with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. In practical terms, it stands out for offering valuable insights into the implementation of sustainable strategies by identifying economic, environmental and social practices in last-mile logistics, particularly within the context of small businesses in the e-retail segment.

The results help e-retailers re-evaluate last-mile logistics processes from a sustainability perspective. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap in the current literature on adopting sustainable practices in small e-commerce retail firms.

Considering that one of the pillars of sustainability is a commitment to social development, this study contributes to understanding the view of small e-retailers on the independent goods delivery workers responsible for the delivery of goods.

The originality of this research lies in identifying economic, social and environmental sustainability practices adopted by e-retailers in last-mile logistics processes. Additionally, the study focuses on the small-scale e-commerce retail segment, an area that has been little explored in the Brazilian context. Lastly, the proposed meta-model contributes to addressing practices from the perspective of Stakeholder Theory and the Sustainability approach.

El objetivo es contribuir al desarrollo de estrategias mediante la identificación de prácticas sostenibles. Por lo tanto, la investigación tiene un doble objetivo: revelar las prácticas de sostenibilidad integradas en las actividades logísticas de última milla de minoristas de comercio electrónico, analizar las interrelaciones entre estas prácticas y categorizarlas según su importancia para los pequeños minoristas de comercio electrónico en Brasil.

Se llevó a cabo un mapeo de la literatura para identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad en las actividades de última milla adoptadas por minoristas en línea, lo que llevó a la propuesta de un metamodelo. Un total de 67 artículos forman parte de la muestra final. Posteriormente, el estudio aplicó la técnica de toma de decisiones multicriterio Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) para estructurar el problema de investigación mediante análisis de causa y efecto entre las prácticas, con el objetivo de priorizar las prácticas críticas.

El resultado indica una fuerte dependencia de prácticas económicas para implementar la sostenibilidad en la logística de última milla. En la dimensión económica de la sostenibilidad, los costes operacionales y la calidad de los servicios son variables de efecto y presentan una fuerte correlación.

La originalidad de esta investigación radica en identificar prácticas de sostenibilidad económica, social y ambiental adoptadas por minoristas en línea en los procesos logísticos de última milla. Además, el estudio se centra en el segmento minorista de comercio electrónico a pequeña escala, un área poco explorada en el contexto brasileño. Por último, el metamodelo propuesto contribuye a abordar prácticas desde la perspectiva de la Teoría de los Stakeholders y el enfoque de Sostenibilidad.

El artículo proporciona contribuciones teóricas al abordar dos áreas complementarias de conocimiento: la Teoría de los Stakeholders y la Sostenibilidad, alineándose también con las directrices de la Iniciativa de Reporte Global (GRI). En términos prácticos, destaca al ofrecer ideas valiosas sobre la implementación de estrategias sostenibles al identificar prácticas económicas, ambientales y sociales en la logística de última milla, particularmente en el contexto de las pequeñas empresas en el segmento minorista en línea.

Los resultados ayudan a los minoristas electrónicos a reevaluar los procesos logísticos de última milla desde una perspectiva de sostenibilidad. Este estudio pretende contribuir el avance del conocimiento de la literatura actual sobre la adopción de prácticas sostenibles en pequeñas empresas de comercio electrónico.

Teniendo en cuenta que uno de los pilares de la sostenibilidad es el compromiso con el desarrollo social, este estudio contribuye a comprender la visión de los pequeños minoristas electrónicos sobre los trabajadores independientes encargados de la entrega de mercancías.

This article centres on the pertinence of redefining accounting for tomorrow, particularly for facilitating the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, thereby, for shaping a better world. In aspiring for accounting to reach its full potential as a multidimensional technical, social and moral practice, this paper aims to focus on ideas, initiatives and proposals for realising accounting’s future potential and responsibilities.

The study deploys a further developed “strategic implementation framework”, initially proposed by Carnegie et al. (2023), with an emphasis on accounting serving “the public interest” so as “to enable the flourishing of organisations, people and nature” (Carnegie et al., 2021a, p. 69; 2021b). It depicts strategies towards the future of accounting and the world.

Significant opportunities are identified for accounting and accountants, working closely with a diversity of stakeholders, to become alert to and cognisant of the nature, roles, uses and impacts of accounting. The evidence presented notes a predominant inattention of accounting and accountants to the SDGs despite the deteriorating state of our social and natural environment.

Whilst this article examines other articles in this special issue (SI), there is no substitute for carefully reading, reflecting on and deliberating upon these articles individually.

The time for accounting to focus on creating a better world can no longer be extended. Accounting’s full potential will not be realised by remaining in a narrow and complacent, technicist state.