Exploring the Sustainability Accounting Education Literature Through a Systematic Review: Toward a Circular Interpretive Framework

With the growing relevance of sustainable accounting education (SAEd), gaining insights into its developments and challenges through existing knowledge is essential. To this end, we explored and organized current SAEd studies using a four-phase systematic literature review. The final dataset includes 65 articles, analyzed through content analysis and coded based on the input–output step(s) of an input–output model on which the articles thematically focus on, namely: A (input context), B (implementation of educational strategies and practices), and C (output context). Three clusters of single-focus articles and three of multi-focus articles emerged. Overall, B-focused articles prevail (80%). Contents related to each focus were organized around recurring themes, including common AEd categories. Finally, we proposed a more advanced model: a SAEd Framework grounded in a circular perspective. Here, the initial (A: factors influencing SAEd) and final (C: impacts generated by SAEd) stages converge within a shared sustainability context (D: the transformative context). Thus, B-focus topics, including SAEd strategies and practices, are framed as an intermediate step in a broader circular process involving multiple actors. In addition to offering the first conceptual SAEd framework based on a circular model, the chapter highlights key theoretical and practical implications for accounting education research.