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Environmental management decisions in CSR‐based accounting research
Author(s) -
Johnstone Leanne
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
corporate social responsibility and environmental management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.519
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1535-3966
pISSN - 1535-3958
DOI - 10.1002/csr.1632
Subject(s) - corporate social responsibility , business , accounting , environmental accounting , legitimacy , stakeholder engagement , stakeholder , realm , stakeholder theory , management accounting , institutional theory , public relations , political science , economics , politics , management , law
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 CSR 1 (responsibility), CSR 2 (responsiveness) and CSR 3 (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.