The Development of Social and Environmental Reporting Research on Bangladeshi Organizations: A Postcolonial Critique

Abstract

This article depicts the chronological development of research on social and environmental accounting practices of the companies of a developing country – Bangladesh. The research identifies that research on social and environmental accounting from Bangladeshi perspective started in 1996. Form then up to 2006, the researches were mostly small scale and methodologically simple. It is mainly from 2007 the researchers having Western university affiliation became interested in conducting research on Bangladesh. From then a development in terms of content and methodology can be noticed. The article concluded that the main contributors in the development of research in this area are the scholars affiliated with the Western universities. Local Bangladeshi researchers, because of their ‘colonized’ mentality, just followed and imitated the Westerners in terms of the methodologies and other aspects of research.