Unraveling role of accountants’ professional identity toward sustainable development: Does inclusive leadership make a difference?

This study sets its sight on investigating the relationship between accountants’ professional identities (PIA) and sustainable development performance (SDP) in small and medium enterprises (SME). Additionally, it aims to study how PIA and SDP are connected through the mediation mechanism of non-financial reporting (NFR). Uniquely, it attempts to explore whether the relationships between PIA, NFR, and SDP differ with the exact degree of inclusive leadership (IL). The SME sector has been widely recognized as the cornerstone of the Vietnamese economy. This paper focused on SMEs located in Vietnam. The present study’s statistical data come from three years’ worth of cross-sectional surveys of accountants working for SMEs. The two-step process uses structural equation modeling in relation to a covariance-based strategy to weigh measurement and structural models, to bring forth the hypothesized relationships. The findings provided support for the hypothesis that PIA and SDP were significantly and positively related. All the while, NFR acted as a mediator in this relationship. The current study also showed that IL moderated the relationships between PIA, NFR, and SDP. Practitioners seeking long-term solutions can benefit from the study’s conclusions and ideas. Additionally, policymakers could gain new insights from the observations, which could lead to the implementation of NFR-related legislation and regulations and the development of targeted strategies for the accounting profession and accounting practices.