The Role of Boundary Objects in the Development of an Environmental Accounting Innovation

Drawing on a longitudinal case study of the development process of an environmental accounting innovation (EAI), we analyze the process by which it came to birth, building on the concept of boundary objects and knowledge boundaries, and exploring the role of the different actors in the process. Extending the work of Carlisle (2002, 2004), Briers and Chua (2001) and Arena et al. (2017) on the role of boundary objects in innovations, we demonstrate how boundary objects can play both an enabling and inhibitory role, either sequentially or simultaneously. Our study sheds light on the role played by the plasticity of boundary objects, and their portfolio effect. By doing so, the paper also aims to elaborate on the specific nature of EAIs and the difficulty of “accounting for water”