The course introduces students into research in sustainability accounting with a particular focus on empirical accounting research. The course starts with a brief introduction into the field including an overview of the main research paradigms that have shaped the development of the field. This introduction provides students with the basis for contextualizing the academic literature in this area. Next, seminal papers are assigned to the students that are then presented and discussed in the plenum. By this means, students obtain an overview of important research themes and questions in sustainability accounting. In the discussions, we will particularly focus on the research-design choices and the contribution of the papers to the literature.

Students who complete this course have gained a general understanding of the field, including the role of different research paradigms in this field. Further, students have gained the ability to contextualize research in the field, critically reflect on specific research designs and evaluate the contribution of papers in this field. Students can use this knowledge for their own research projects when identifying research ideas and designing empirical analyses.

Students must attend at least 80 percent of the sessions to pass the course.

The course is conducted using a seminar format. Thus, students are expected to take an active part in discussing and evaluating the assigned readings. Depending on the number of participants and the length of the papers, 1-2 papers are assigned to each student who then acts as discussion leader. All students need to be familiar with the required readings. The discussion leader will prepare a two-page summary before the course starts. In addition, the task of a discussion leader consists of summarizing the paper, highlighting the contribution, and pointing out/discussing some critical research design choices. The course language is English.

In preparation of the course, students are asked to:

- Carefully work through the required readings

- Prepare a two-page summary and a presentation on the assigned papers

- Lead the class discussion of the assigned paper

- Contribute to class discussions

Each student has to hand in a report summarizing and discussing the assigned papers before class and present the assigned papers in class. All students are expected to read the required papers and participate in the class discussions.

• In-class participation: 20%
• Summary report: 40%
• Presentation: 40%

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