The use of institutional theory in social and environmental accounting research: a critical review

In this paper, we review and critique the use of institutional theory in social and environmental accounting (SEA) research. Particular attention is paid to how SEA scholars have used institutional theory and whether this has helped or hindered in furthering the SEA project as a critical research programme that is concerned with questions of power and the possibilities of emancipation. This research focus is warranted in the light of broader debates within institutional theory as well as the SEA literature. Insofar as institutional theory is concerned, there are disagreements as to whether this theory can be imbued with critical intent or whether it is trapped in a normal science tradition of constantly extending and refining theory that detracts from such intent. By contrast, within the SEA literature, we find a largely inverse criticism suggesting that much of it suffers from a lack of theoretical sophistication and that it is this lack of conceptual development that has diminished its critical potential. We evaluate these seemingly competing arguments by reviewing 86 studies published in eleven accounting journals since the early 2000s and conclude that most institutional research on SEA has not advanced research in a critical direction. Our analysis suggests that this has little to do with the normal science ideal underpinning institutional theory but that it is rather due to the failure of SEA scholars to keep up with key conceptual developments aimed at crystallising its critical potential. We thus find stronger support for the argument that SEA scholars have failed to realise the critical potential of institutional theory than the notion that there is an intractable conflict between this imperative and the ambition to constantly extend and refine this theory. We outline a research agenda that may address these shortcomings and turn institutional research on SEA into a more critical research programme while simultaneously developing institutional theory conceptually.