Stakeholder Theory and Accounting

Abstract

This chapter reviews the extent to which stakeholder theory has been applied to, and adopted within, the academic accounting literature. The influence of stakeholder theory on accounting is growing but lags behind other business disciplines. This is due to the prevailing dominance of the shareholder primacy paradigm and a lack of convergence between the epistemological structure and socio-cultural characteristics of accounting, with university and professional education lagging behind contemporary thinking. This chapter starts with a discussion of these factors to provide context.