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The purpose of this paper is to develop a concept of engaged research that promotes research on matters that matter. Engaged research comes to the fore at the margins of accounting where issues are often ill-structured and less well studied. This study empirically illustrates how the principles of engaged research are embodied in practice at the borders of accounting.

The authors first consider engaged research conceptually, by articulating the philosophical principles upon which such research is grounded. This study argues that engaged research comes to the fore in settings where accounting practices are emergent and uncertainty high. The authors illustrate the “doing” of engaged research by exploring accounting for the financial effects of climate change. The authors conclude by highlighting the integrated form and purpose of engagement and by making suggestions for engaged research of the future.

Engaged research is characterised by an ontology of becoming, an epistemology of cross-cultural travel and a methodology of co-production. It is enacted through multilingualism, a reflexive dialogue that enables self-others to travel into and experience alternative worlds, as well as through the mediation of knowledge and associated artefacts. Its intent is to promote dialogue and knowledge sharing. This study argues and shows how engaged research is an active entanglement of metatheory, theory, artefacts and the lives of self and others.

This paper reflects on engaged research at the margins of accounting, as well as on how such research is a “becoming”, sociomaterial, co-produced entanglement.

Within the emergent professional field of carbon accounting, we analyse the institutional work that gives birth to a nascent profession in a multi-actor arena. We therefore contribute to enhancing our understanding of the birth of professions – in their very first steps and infancy.

This study employs a qualitative approach. We collected data from 1999 to 2015 and conducted 15 semi-structured interviews. One of the researchers was active in the field for two years and participated in carbon accounting events in France as a “participant observer”.

Our research contributes to an understanding of the dynamic professionalization process in which the different actors mobilize both creative work and sabotage work. We further theorize how nascent professions structure their project around knowledge, identity and boundary work. At the same time, we develop the notion of sabotage work, which is comprised of two sub-categories of institutional work: counter-work and the absence of work.

To our knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to analyse the birth of an environmental accounting profession. We emphasize both creative work and sabotage work in the professionalization project. We conclude on further research that could be performed on environmental accounting professions.

This chapter examines the adoption of online recruitment — both corporate websites and commercial jobs boards — within the United Kingdom and the possible reasons behind its adoption. The chapter also reports on the development of a structured model explaining the factors that may affect an employer's decision of whether or not to adopt online recruitment methods, using Rogers (2003) diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory as a framework. The chapter draws conclusions as to why organizations adopt online recruitment, as well as discussing the use of DOI theory for the study of e-HRM in general.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the agri-food sector are continuously transforming their global value chains (GVCs) to address sustainable development challenges of food security (SDG2) and climate change (SDG13). However, the central role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in (re)creating GVCs across multilevel stakeholders through innovative approaches to solve sustainability challenges remains under investigated. This explorative study investigates how international NGOs influence the transformation of large-scale industrial animal agriculture to a more sustainable (cell-based) agri-food GVC. The authors conducted a case study on the Good Food Institute (GFI), an international NGO, that has been an active player in the transition to alternative sources of protein to solve animal-based agriculture sustainability issues. The results show that an international NGO can contribute to the transition to a more sustainable GVC and can enhance the GVC’s innovation capabilities.

Human resource management (HRM) processes are increasingly artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, and HRM supports the general digital transformation of companies' viable competitiveness. This paper points out possible positive and negative effects on HRM, workplaces and workers’ organizations along the HR processes and its potential for competitive advantage in regard to managerial decisions on AI implementation regarding augmentation and automation of work.

A systematic literature review that includes 62 international journals across different disciplines and contains top-tier academic and German practitioner journals was conducted. The literature analysis applies the resource-based view (RBV) as a lens through which to explore AI-driven HRM as a potential source of organizational capabilities.

The analysis shows four ambiguities for AI-driven HRM that might support sustainable company development or might prevent AI application: job design, transparency, performance and data ambiguity. A limited scholarly discussion with very few empirical studies can be stated. To date, research has mainly focused on HRM in general, recruiting and HR analytics in particular.

The four ambiguities' context-specific potential for capability building in firms is indicated, and research avenues are developed.

This paper critically explores AI-driven HRM and structures context-specific potential for capability building along four ambiguities that must be addressed by HRM to strategically contribute to an organization's competitive advantage.

There is great interest in blockchain in the supply chain yet there is little empirical research to support the consideration of the technology. Ferdows (2018) calls for research aimed at learning from pioneers in the field and Gartner points out that the interest in blockchain holds similarities to the interest surrounding RFID 15 years ago. As a result, there may be opportunities to leverage insights from RFID research to inform the consideration of blockchain. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Reyes et al. (2016) framework for the implementation of RFID may inform the consideration of blockchain in the supply chain.

A two-stage approach is used to explore RFID implementation considerations from the Reyes et al. (2016) RFID implementation framework, using an initial exploration of managers interested in blockchain using a focus group and a survey and to more in depth explore three case companies pioneering blockchain.

Several RFID implementation considerations can inform the consideration of blockchain but there are also differences in considering blockchain. A framework is developed that details considerations found to be relevant by implementation stage.

This paper adds to the limited amount of empirical research on blockchain in the supply chain and advances research beyond the consideration of use cases into the exploration of actual implementation of blockchain in the supply chain. The decision framework developed both leverages and nuances findings from RFID research and can inform managerial decision making. It also adds to research a multi-stage approach to implementation and uncovers rich opportunity to further learn from pioneers.