Why does the Talk of Positive Environmental Values not match the Walk of Environmental Accountability in Shanghai?

Most research in corporate environmental management and environmental accounting indicate a substantial gap between the espoused environmental attitudes of business leaders and the actual practices of their companies. In this paper, we apply institutional theory in an effort to explain this gap. In exploring the emerging embryonic stage of China’s environmental management issues and more specifically, in attempting to explain the scanty corporate environmental reporting phenomena in discharging accountability in Chinese enterprises, cognitive dissonance model is being employed from an institutional theoretical perspective. The environmental problems created by China’s unbridled economic boom now threaten the nation’s fragile social, political and economic infrastructure. Accounting and business operations have key roles in contributing to the careful environmental management of balancing between the short-term economic growth and long-term sustainability of the eco-system. Social and environmental accounting commands a pivotal role in the “greening” of business accountability.