Accounting for sustainable business models: current trends and future directions

Roberta Ciccola, Marco Montemari, Maria Serena Chiucchi and Marco Giuliani

Chapter 6 in Research Handbook on Accounting and Organizational Change, 2025, pp 161-186 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Since around 2015, several emerging environmental, social, and economic challenges have raised corporate awareness about the importance of adopting sustainable production and consumption practices. In response, an increasing number of organizations have begun redesigning and innovating their business models to promote sustainable development. Accounting tools can play a crucial role in designing and operationalizing sustainable business models by providing data to minimize environmental harm and enhance social well-being, thus supporting informed decision-making. While substantial research has examined the relationships between accounting and traditional business models, studies addressing the role of accounting in sustainable business models remain fragmented. The purpose of this chapter is to review the current state of the art on the intersections between sustainable business models and accounting to delineate how research is progressing and identify future research avenues. By adopting a grounded theory literature review method, the chapter categorizes existing research into four interconnected and interdependent themes, offering future research directions within each thematic area.

Keywords: Sustainable business models; Sustainability; Accounting; Measurement; KPIs; Literature review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803928906
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