Looking within: cultivating compassion for shaping sustainable mindsets in accounting education

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore the role of individual inner dimensions in fostering sustainable mindsets in accounting students and graduates. Individual inner dimensions such as compassion shape our behaviour and responses to sustainability challenges. Consideration of inner dimensions, in conjunction with sustainability knowledge and skill development, is needed for reshaping the accounting profession towards achieving sustainable futures. Design/methodology/approach The authors explore the role of individual inner dimensions in accounting and how approaches to cultivating compassion in other disciplinary educational settings could be applied to cultivate and facilitate compassion within accounting education. Approaches to cultivating compassion for human and non-human species within accounting education are presented, highlighting their relevance to accounting decisions and organisational accountability. Findings Cultivating compassion for human and non-human species within accounting education aligns with the broader role of accounting in social and environmental issues. Embedding compassionate approaches with a problem-solving focus within accounting pedagogies and curricula design could contribute to shaping behaviour and reorienting the mindsets of future accounting professionals. Social implications Cultivating compassion within accounting students enhances connections across species, encourages students to recognise the role of compassion in sustainable decision-making and promotes a sustainable mindset. Enhanced compassion in accounting graduates could provide the motivational force for action-oriented responses from the accounting profession to the unprecedented ecological crisis. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents a first step in exploring potential approaches to cultivating and facilitating compassion within accounting pedagogies and curricula design. This paper extends sustainability accounting education literature by considering individual inner dimensions in shifting mindsets of accounting students, graduates and educators towards sustainability.

Advancing Sustainability through Higher Education: Student Teachers Integrate Inner Development Goals (IDG) and Future-Oriented Methodologies

“…The thematic analysis [52,53] shed light on transgressive learning and a transition in sustainability mindset (cf. [58]) integrating inner development goals [26,42]. Consequently, the five following categories of descriptions appeared.…”

“…(Student Teacher 4) Such student reflections indicated a need for a "new philosophy" and alternative formats in sustainability didactic modeling for the development of both compassion and critical knowledge capabilities toward sustainability commitment (cf. [49,58,73]). Despite the numerous shortcomings highlighted by many students, constructive aspects of these complex relationships were also evident, and certain advantages were conveyed:…”