{"title":"Green Accolades and Oil-Soaked Mermaids: A Sociology of Worth Perspective on BP's Sustainability Reporting and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster*","authors":"Oluwasegun Popoola, Esther R. Maier","doi":"10.1111/1911-3838.12356","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sustainability reporting was originally intended to improve accountability by providing more transparency around the ecological impact of organizational action. However, as sustainability reports are increasingly used as a tool for legitimacy and a source of information by financial stakeholders, environmental concerns are being framed in economic terms. This paper draws on Boltanski and Thévenot's (2006, <i>On Justification: Economies of Worth</i>, Princeton University Press) sociology of worth framework to explore how the prioritization of market values facilitates the disconnect between sustainability reporting and the environment. We use the Deepwater Horizon disaster as an extreme case to illustrate how the one-sided “compromises” with market values subjugate the values associated with social and environmental stewardship. We suggest that the integration of different conceptions of the common good can provide a more nuanced understanding of the relations between economic and environmental values.</p>","PeriodicalId":43435,"journal":{"name":"Accounting Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1911-3838.12356","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounting Perspectives","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1911-3838.12356","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sustainability reporting was originally intended to improve accountability by providing more transparency around the ecological impact of organizational action. However, as sustainability reports are increasingly used as a tool for legitimacy and a source of information by financial stakeholders, environmental concerns are being framed in economic terms. This paper draws on Boltanski and Thévenot's (2006, On Justification: Economies of Worth, Princeton University Press) sociology of worth framework to explore how the prioritization of market values facilitates the disconnect between sustainability reporting and the environment. We use the Deepwater Horizon disaster as an extreme case to illustrate how the one-sided “compromises” with market values subjugate the values associated with social and environmental stewardship. We suggest that the integration of different conceptions of the common good can provide a more nuanced understanding of the relations between economic and environmental values.
期刊介绍:
Accounting Perspectives provides a forum for peer-reviewed applied research, analysis, synthesis and commentary on issues of interest to academics, practitioners, financial analysts, financial executives, regulators, accounting policy makers and accounting students. Articles are sought from academics and practitioners that address relevant issues in any and all areas of accounting and related fields, including financial accounting and reporting, auditing and other assurance services, management accounting and performance measurement, information systems and related technologies, tax policy and practice, professional ethics, accounting education, and related topics. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing.