What's the Holdup? Sustainability Reporting's Uneven Push into Areas of “Old Guard” Traditional Accounting: A Bibliometric Analysis*

Abstract

Sustainability accounting has encountered strong headwinds while advancing into “old guard” traditional accounting. To understand the status of sustainability accounting with regard to public interest, in this paper we examine the peer-reviewed accounting literature of the last 10 years using a robust bibliometric approach. Through co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-word analysis, we find that despite the “old guard” headwinds, sustainability accounting has been progressing into traditional accounting. Disciplines that appear to intersect with sustainability accounting include assurance, taxation, marketing, and supply chain management; conversely, disciplines that lag behind include financial and management accounting. Compared to sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility, environmental, social, and governance is less researched. The journal with the largest number of sustainability accounting articles is Meditari Accountancy Research, while Critical Perspectives on Accounting has garnered the most citations among the journals. Jan Bebbington is the author with the highest citation count. The findings of this bibliometric analysis reveal not only the status of sustainability accounting but also the “big picture” patterns in accounting research.