To Örebro University

PurposeIn times that challenge businesses, requiring them to make strategic and operational changes due to downturns in the economy or environmental requirements, governments may initiate business renewal nets (BRNs) to foster development among firms. Knowledge is central to such initiatives. Drawing on a knowledge perspective, this paper aims to explain how the knowledge created and exchanged in BRNs is used and developed by the involved firms beyond the nets' temporal and spatial boundaries.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study approach of two BRNs in Sweden was adopted, drawing on interviews, observations, documents and informal meetings with net participants and governmental bodies.FindingsThe paper finds that knowledge use and development beyond the net are conditional on the (1) within-net knowledge arrangement; (2) relative knowledge distance between the nets' participating parties; (3) parties' engagement in the cause; and (4) involvement of these parties in within-net knowledge exchange and creation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper helps explain the characteristics of knowledge exchange and creation that contribute to knowledge use and development beyond nets. It theorises four dimensions to explain whether knowledge is used or developed beyond the net. These are knowledge arrangement, knowledge distance, knowledge engagement and knowledge contingency.Practical implicationsThe paper provides strategic advice for those establishing BRNs to ensure that aims are met.Originality/valueAdopting a knowledge perspective in the interorganisational context, the paper contributes to past research on net initiatives by linking beyond-net knowledge use and development with the within-net circumstances, offering propositions for BRN success.

Purpose: This study aims to better understand the role of institutions for sustainability integration within organisations and the broader debate on whether the integration of sustainability with existing systems of management accounting and control should be pursued.

Design/methodology/approach: A longitudinal case study (2017-2023) of a large European logistics company, based on 23 interviews, site visits and other secondary data sources, was conducted. An institutional framework was used to frame two analytical levels of integration (i.e. strategic and tactical/operational) and institutions (i.e. external and internal) over time.

Findings: There is resistance to integration along organisational, technical and cognitive dimensions. Sustainability roles and functions remain decoupled from financial ones, and cognitive integration remains limited to tactical levels and sustainability personnel. Meanwhile, the rules of existing accounting systems have not changed, while the informal routines associated with them have, in response to broader institutional demands, particularly for environmental information.

Research limitations/implications: Beyond contributing to the sustainability integration concept, the study adds to institutional research on management accounting change by suggesting that changes in system use, rather than system design, are important for sustainability issues.

Practical implications: Managers in large organisations should focus on the technical and cognitive aspects of integration to develop common calculation infrastructures and shared mindsets around sustainability. Meanwhile, specialised personnel still appear necessary to coordinate and control sustainability efforts.

Originality/value: The study provides a nuanced understanding of the integration concept and the role of institutions in the integration process - particularly the degree of integration across different levels and dimensions, as well as the various, parallel integration pathways.

The number of socio-ecological incidents involving multinational enterprises (MNEs) is increasing. While there is growing research attention on the role of MNEs in being corporately responsible actors, less is known about how the aftermath of negative socio-ecological incidents can help shape (more) sustainable futures for such businesses and the industries that they exist within. This paper addresses the positive strategic implications for MNEs in the aftermath of well-known social and environmental incidents. Using institutional theory and drawing from three real-life case vignettes, the paper elaborates on the types and role of institutions for (re)gaining legitimacy in MNEs and industries implicated in socio-ecological incidents through the development of a conceptual model that elaborates on common features of institutional change. A new type of institutional pressure, social isomorphism, is revealed, which both strengthens and helps explain the more formalised coercive and normative institutional pressures as a positive force for change in the MNEs and industries implicated in negative socio-ecological incidents such as those described. The paper offers clear strategic advice for managers in MNEs implicated in negative socio-ecological incidents. The paper puts forward a conceptual model that presents some common features of institutional change (types, pathways and relationships) for the international business context in the aftermath of negative socio-ecological incidents. Its theoretical contribution regards putting forward the concept of social isomorphism for neo-institutional theory in international fields.

While social and environmental accounting studies often focus on organisational-level motivations to engage in sustainability, less is known about how controls are designed to motivate individuals (managers and non-managers) to engage in sustainable workplace behaviours that align with organisational goals and, ultimately, wider planetary concerns. Drawing on the concept of motivation and its relation to control, this study aims to deepen the understanding of the role of sustainability controls for behavioural alignment across different contexts. This is achieved through the production of a conceptual typology that elaborates: What, when and how should controls be used to motivate organisational and individual behaviours that align for sustainability performance? Drawing on (1) the classification types of organisational-level ethical motivations and (2) the regulatory styles and processes of the self-determination continuum, examples are provided from two independent case studies to illustrate the types of controls that can be used by organisations to motivate the sustainable behaviours of their employees; behaviours that extend beyond the workplace into the personal sphere. The typology has analytical potential for future sustainability control research as well as practical implications in that managers can assess organisational and employee positions and then design controls accordingly to support behavioural alignment. It is important for understanding the behavioural alignment function of control by elaborating different types of incentives that can motivate sustainable behaviour. Finally, this approach may help reduce tensions in management control by connecting individual, organisational and, ultimately, planetary levels in sustainability efforts.

This chapter elaborates on the connections between organisational and individual-level accountabilities for sustainability control purposes. This aim is achieved through a conceptual study that draws on accountability as the theoretical lens and some recent sustainability control works in different contexts to highlight potential research avenues for scholars conducting research into sustainability management, accounting, and/or control. The chapter finds that building on the individual level of accountability and socialising accountability form is important to incorporate into sustainability control studies given that such research is often conceptualised at the organisational level of external accounts. For practitioners, the chapter suggests that formalised control system design is not enough to ensure that sustainable performance outcomes are achieved in practice, and that managers in different types of organisational forms should integrate the views, perspectives, and beliefs systems of other (non-managerial) employees into their daily sustainability work.

Purpose: Growing research attention has been given to both the circular economy and digitalisation in accounting research in recent years, but there are few studies exploring how digital tools are used to develop, analyse and respond to information for circular decision-making in industrial organisations. Therefore, this paper addresses how the data from digital technologies are leveraged in the aftermarket of an industrial firm for circular control.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper develops an analytical framework that is then used to frame the findings through a single case study of an international heavy equipment manufacturer for circular control.

Findings: The case provides examples of how digital technologies are used for circular control, framed within the analytical model as the key contribution. The study illustrates the different ways through which the accounting information from such technologies supports the service marketing function through circular control and the types of controls needed for this.

Practical implications: Managers in large industrial organisations should ensure customer-facing staff have adequate digital competences and knowledge of circular products and services for marketing, product design improvements and material recovery that can help decrease costs and improve customer satisfaction. The digital systems need to be integrated with upstream and downstream partners.

Social implications: Understanding the transition towards increasingly circular product-servicesystems in industrial firms is important for current and future generations.

Originality/value: The originality lies in providing an empirical example of how digital technologies can be used to facilitate circular control and support the service marketing function in the aftermarket of an industrial firm.