Exposing Students to Environmental Sustainability in Accounting: An Analysis of Its Impacts in a US Setting

In this study, we examine whether the introduction of two different forms of an environmental sustainability intervention into differing sections of an introductory-level managerial accounting course at a US university induces changes in students’ environmental intentions and behaviors. Based on attributes from Ajzen’s [1991. “The Theory of Planned Behavior.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50: 179–211; 2002. “Perceived Behavioral Control, Self-efficacy, Locus of Control, and the Theory of Planned Behavior.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32 (4): 665–683] theory of planned behaviour, results show that, in comparison to a control group with no intervention, students exhibited higher levels of attitude, perceived behavioural control, intentions, and behaviour following the interventions. However, the positive results were limited to students undergoing an experiential learning assignment beyond the basic reading, lecture, and discussion intervention. The findings provide some support for claims that bringing sustainability issues into the accounting curriculum can lead to positive student outcomes. But, given the increased efforts necessary to find and use experiential projects, they also suggest that inducing accounting faculty, at least in the US, to pursue such pedagogical approaches will require that more be done by those organisations calling for such efforts in terms of support, materials, and reward structures.