Developing an Analytical Tool for Classifying the Social and environmental accounting research literature

This paper utilises a matrix structure to categorise the contribution to social accounting research literature as suggested by Mathews (2004) but adds a further dimension of time and nation of origin to the model.The matrix model developed by Mathews (2004) builds on an earlier framework(Mathews 1997a) to organise the social and environmental literature by combining the underlying research philosophies, from critical theories to the 'Business Case', with the nature of the research, extending across empirical studies to regulatory frameworks and other reviews.The inclusion of time and nation of origin, as quasi measures of the underlying social, economic and political forces, as additional dimensions, presents an opportunity to gain a greater appreciation of the drivers of social accounting research and thus to assist newcomers in the field to classify the research with which they are attempting to engage.Selected examples have been drawn from the literature in order to illustrate the application of this extension and not in an attempt to use the framework for empirical research in pursuit of any theoretical basis or to develop a predictive model.