Challenging assumptions in supply chain management accounting and reporting: a metamodern sustainability transformation

Purpose This paper aims to use a metamodern approach and a problematization lens to challenge the assumption that transparency driven accounting of historical social and environmental harms is sufficient to achieve the scale of sustainability transformation of supply chains required by scientific evidence. It argues that sustainability measurement, accounting and reporting must also encompass future orientated, positive and absolute sustainability contributions enabled by transformative product, business model and supply chain redesign. Design/methodology/approach A metamodern approach is introduced and used in the paper. Drawing on metamodernism, the paper develops a framework for oscillating between incremental, transparency-based measurement and more fundamental assessments of business development. Through problematization of existing literature, it identifies limiting assumptions and advances accounting and reporting for sustainable supply chain transformations. Findings The analysis reveals four dominant assumptions in sustainability accounting and reporting that constrain sufficiently far-reaching sustainability transformations of supply chains: backward looking transparency, supplier assessment logics, harm reduction framing and incremental improvements. The proposed metamodern framework broadens the role of accounting by integrating multiple intelligence sources to support monitoring of existing supply chains and identification of redesign opportunities aligned with planetary boundaries and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Research limitations/implications The paper provides a metamodern foundation for future empirical development and testing of transformative sustainability measurement and accounting that embraces different intelligence sources. Practical implications Measurement and accounting informed by metamodern theory oscillates between different intelligence sources, comprising data, information and knowledge, to support both monitoring of existing supply chain relationships and identification of transformative redesign opportunities. Social implications The argument supports development of supply chain strategies and designs capable of addressing the easing of social and environmental harms as well as development of transformative sustainability opportunities. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to apply a metamodern lens to sustainability accounting and reporting for supply chain management. It shows how oscillation between modernist and postmodern logics opens new pathways for theorizing transformative measurement and positions accounting information as a catalyst for strategic redesign rather than incremental optimization.