The path towards sustainability: The role of internal stakeholders and management accounting in a dialogic perspective

Abstract

This research investigates the conditions under which an international organisation has adopted a successful approach to sustainability, focusing on the engagement (and perceptions) of internal actors at the operational level and on the management accounting tools that enhance and support a dialogic approach to sustainability. This study is based on an in‐depth analysis of CNH Industrial, a leading company in sustainability commitment. Data were collected through document analysis and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with operational managers, thus using primary and secondary data. The study reveals how the internal stakeholders' dialogue is conducted and how stakeholders' engagement is built while implementing a strategy based on sustainability, highlighting the circular top‐down and bottom‐up attitude, based on a ‘convergence approach’. In this context, management accounting systems act as dialogic accounting tools. The research pays attention to internal stakeholders, analysing the creation of dialogue even through management accounting tools, which paves the way to new sustainable opportunities with a convergence approach, and drawing a picture of the relevant factors in the path to sustainability.