Push and Pull Contingency Variables - A Model for Environmental Management Accounting

Abstract

Environmental Accounting has increased in importance during the last few decades as a topic of research and thus also the amount of literature has grown enormously. However, Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) has only advanced slightly as researchers mainly focus on sustainability reporting and regulation topics. This may be one reason why EMA is not yet defined in a standardised way. In order to further develop the theoretical basis of EMA, the contingency theory is used in this paper to explain the initial implementation and design of EMA. Nine variables have been identified to impact EMA either via push or pull mechanisms. A model of these pull and push factors is the outcome of two triangulated case studies that were conducted with the Borealis Group and Puma SE. Interviews with sustainability representatives and a discourse analysis of related press and media releases are included in the case study design. All the collected data was coded into these nine variables. They have been identified in a meta-analysis of current cases that dealt with contingency theory in the discipline of environmental accounting. The following factors have a push influence on EMA: location, interdependence, availability of resources, ownership and control as well as uncertainty. On the other hand, only three variables pull EMA into an organisation: size, history and the organisation’s strategy.