To Örebro University

Previous studies of macroeconomic accounting have focused on the conceptual and political development of national accounts and how such theoretical concepts generate economic reality. By turning focus to the calculative practices of macroeconomic accounting, studying the Norwegian Quarterly National Accounts (QNA), the present work underlines that the national economy is not only constituted in the political discourse of growth and within international classifications, but also within the everyday processes of calculating the numbers. It shows how the QNA team struggles to adhere to the formal classifications and find reliable empirical accounts that matches them. In such situations, epistemic strategies are employed to handle the “gaps” and misalignments between the formal classifications and the everyday calculative practice. By theorizing the validation and support of weak numbers within a calculative culture shaped by the handling of second-order measurements and interrupted representations, the present study contributes to an emerging accounting literature on interrupted and hyperreal representations.

The food sector has been targeted as a potential site for the implementation of circular economy strategies. Food packaging, in particular, has caused concern due to its high production volume, short usage time, and problems related to waste management and littering. Circular economy strategies could potentially address these concerns if there is consumer acceptance and participation in circular systems. The present review seeks to inform future studies of the need for further research in this area by reviewing current knowledge of consumer behavior in relation to circular food packaging. When doing so, the study finds that studies have primarily focused on recycling, foremost in the European and American setting. However, less is known about consumers and circular packaging in developing countries. While reuse strategies were more prevalent in studies from the 1970–1980s, the review finds that such initiatives are yet again researched, which is promising given their generally favorable environmental footprint.

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to explore the opportunities and challenges that early-career researchers (ECRs) face when they seek to contribute to academic knowledge production through research activities “other than” those directly focused on making progress with their own, to-be-published, research papers in a context associated with the “publish or perish” (PoP) mentality.

Design/methodology/approach: Drawing broadly on the notion of technologies of humility (Jasanoff, 2003), this reflective essay develops upon the experiences of the authors in organizing and participating in a series of nine workshops undertaken between June 2013 and April 2021, as well as the arduous process of writing this paper itself. Retrospective accounts, workshop materials, email exchanges and surveys of workshop participants provide the key data sources for the analysis presented in the paper.

Findings: The paper shows how the organization of the workshops is intertwined with the building of a small community of ECRs and exploration of how to address the perceived limitations of a “gap-spotting” approach to developing research ideas and questions. The analysis foregrounds how the workshops provide a seemingly valuable research experience that is not without contradictions. Workshop participation reveals tensions between engagement in activities “other than” working on papers for publication and institutionalized pressures to produce publication outputs, between the (weak) perceived status of ECRs in the field and the aspiration to make a scholarly contribution, and between the desire to develop a personally satisfying intellectual journey and the pressure to respond to requirements that allow access to a wider community of scholars.

Originality/value: Our analysis contributes to debates about the ways in which seemingly valuable outputs are produced in academia despite a pervasive “publish or perish” mentality. The analysis also shows how reflexive writing can help to better understand the opportunities and challenges of pursuing activities that might be considered “unproductive” because they are not directly related to to-be-published papers.

Regulatory intermediaries—organizations that operate between regulators (public and private) and target groups—perform a range of important functions. While most previous research has focused on intermediaries that have been delegated official authority, in this paper we focus on unofficial and informal intermediary functions aiming to advance the governance of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals. Chemical pollution is a growing environmental and health concern, leading to both public and private regulatory initiatives. By studying a particular segment—paperboard food packaging in Sweden—the study generates insights into critical functions performed by unofficial intermediaries (Svenskt Vatten and ChemSec) in this regulatory regime, which extend and expand regulatory reach in various ways. The study also shows the importance of different types of intermediaries that interact in dynamic ways, and the role of material artifacts in processes of intermediation. These unofficial functions are arguably important for the functioning of complex, hybrid forms of governance, but they also prompt critical questions about the effectiveness, legitimacy, and role of intermediaries in generating needed transformative change.

In the literature on the relationship between learning environments and students' approaches to learning, much attention has been directed to aspects that foster a deep approach. Considerably less attention has been directed to aspects that result in the opposite, namely a surface approach. Indeed, there is a small literature focusing on how learning environments can frustrate the basic psychological needs of individuals and, as a result, foster a surface approach. However, hitherto, this stream has focused on controlling elements in learning environments. We add to this latter literature, through focusing on learning-environment uncertainty. This notion emerged from a qualitative study of 19 students at a Swedish university, where we identified three types of learning-environment uncertainty, related to the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The findings suggest that a surface approach to learning can be understood as a coping strategy that students adopt to reduce such uncertainties.

Organising waste disposal to achieve waste recovery, i.e. circular solutions, requires the active participation of citizens (Hänninen, 1995). For this purpose, schemes are put in place to “make up”, and shape, circular consumers who will return waste. These schemes tend to rely on calculative mechanisms to influence individuals’ decision-making in the desired direction. The present work studies one such government-mandated scheme, the Swedish deposit-refund system for beverage containers. The deposit-refund incentive requires customers purchasing a beverage to pay a deposit which is refunded if/when the beverage container is handed in for recycling. Using focus groups to study Swedish young adults subject to the scheme, the study aims to expand academic knowledge of the role of accounting, and particularly personal accounting, within circular schemes. The study finds that the official scheme rarely succeeds in imposing its deposit-refund accounting categories. Instead, there are plentiful examples of what Zelizer (1994) calls “counter earmarking”, i.e. personal accounting at odds with the official scheme. Exploring the young adults’ counter earmarking practices, the study shows the difficulty of imposing an accounting ideology onto individuals. 

The food sector is a potential site for the implementation of circular economy strategies. Food packaging cause concern due to high production volume, short usage, problems of waste management and littering. Circular economy strategies could address these concerns if there is consumer acceptance and participation in systems with food packaging. We seek to review current knowledge of consumer behavior in relation to circular food packaging. The study finds that circular economy in terms of the recycling strategy, are found foremost in European and American setting. While reuse strategies were more prevalent in studies from 1970-80s, such initiatives have been renewed.  

Denna rapport delger lärdomar och kunskap förvärvad inom ett ettårigt Vinnovaprojekt (diarienummer 2018-04685) som sökt beskriva och analysera möjligheter och hinder för en omställning till en cirkulär ekonomi utifrån ett företagsekonomiskt perspektiv. I detta samverkansprojekt har tre huvudaktörer drivit arbetet; forskare från Handelshögskolan vid Örebro universitet och dess Centrum för hållbart företagande (CSB), den ideella föreningen CradleNet som syftar till att accelerera den cirkulära ekonomin samt det privata företaget Econova  med mångårig erfarenhet inom återvinning och återanvändning av restmaterial och avfall. I projektet har vi arrangerat fyra interaktiva kunskapsmoduler där aktörer med intresse för en övergång till cirkulär ekonomi samlats och tillsammans diskuterat nuvarande praktiker samt vägar framåt. I projektet har vi arbetat med en bred definition av cirkulär ekonomi; definitionen inbegriper hantering av material med målet att minimera avfall, samt en materialhantering som är miljömässigt, socialt och ekonomiskt ansvarstagande. Rapporten summerar de viktigaste lärdomarna från projektet och beskriver olika sätt som företag –tillsammans med andra – kan påbörja resan mot en cirkulär ekonomi.

Öppnar cirkulär ekonomi möjligheter för förnyat hållbarhetstänkande och produktivitet inom planetens gränser?