A common complaint by academics and practitioners is that the application of international accountability standards (IAS) does not lead to significant improvements in an organization's social responsibility. When organizations espouse their commitment to IAS but do not put forth the effort...

Although accountability standards (e.g. the Global Reporting Initiative and SA 8000) have made their way on to the agendas of managers and researchers, a model to compare and analyze these tools in a systematic way is a conspicuous omission. This paper aims to develop such a model. First, we...

This article assesses the proliferation of international accountability standards (IAS) in the recent past. We provide a comprehensive overview about the different types of standards and discus their role as part of a new institutional infrastructure for corporate responsibility. Based on this,...