Actor-Network Theory: A Briefing Note and Possibilities for Social and Environmental Accounting Research

Abstract

Actor-network theory (ANT) has been increasingly utilised within the accounting and management literature (Justesen and Mouritsen, 2011) and is argued to be useful because it includes both the human and the non-human in its analytical frame. ANT bypasses a nature/society dualism and, as such, it may help to develop organisational theories that can promote ecologically and socially sustainable development (Gladwin et al., 1995). This article outlines the central commitments of ANT, its language, how it has been applied and its critiques. The article then discusses how ANT may contribute to social and environmental accounting research and the examination of what is social and what is environment. As such, this paper is an ANT 'primer' which aims to support social and environmental accountants in the exploration of new directions and the enabling of more ecologically and socially sustainable practices to come forward.