Purpose –The purpose of this paper is threefold. To clarify what is meant by “pragmatism” as a philosophy for social and environmental accountability (SEA) research, to survey its use within this research field and to explore how a further pursuit of pragmatism may extend this research...

Purpose – This paper aims to respond to recent calls to rethink the concept of managerial capture as it has been used to date to explore and explain the limited impacts of new forms of stakeholder engagement. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the grounding of views of...

Purpose: The authors critique Modell's proposition that critical realism is useful in elucidating and creating possibilities for emancipation. Design/methodology/approach: The authors begin by outlining Modell's conception of enabling structures. If ‘activated’ by reflexive individuals,...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to advance a critical realist perspective on performativity and use it to examine how novel conceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have performative effects. Design/methodology/approach: To illustrate how the authors’ critical realist...