Research sweet-spot
My research explores the space of intersection space of two streams (a) stream-1: keywords- "emergence, evolution, complexity, philosophy" AND (b) stream-2: keywords-"future of capitalism, resilience, global governance, policy, sustainability, social and environmental accounting"
Research Attitude
My research interest is governed by a problem-centered approach. I do not find myself motivated to engage in research if I don't see a problem to be solved. Since the world is full of problems, it should be easy to find motivation to do research. But on the contrary, I find it difficult to describe problems, because everything is connected in my world-view. So every problem, whether it's a small problem of thinking about x or not, becomes a matter of translation, conversion, and ultimately seeing the problem in connection with our biological reality, where all living systems are relationally connected as part of Earth System Network. This led me to embrace the holistic research attitude guided by Einstein's Philosophy of Science. As per which, I intentionally constrain, to the best of my knowledge, every solution I try to develop with univocality (U), theoretical holism (T), logical empiricism (L), irrefutability (even in absence of some information at microscales) (I), and simplicity (S). One can also guess that such approach turns me into a "forever-wanna be" interdisciplinary researcher, because to every problem I intend to resolve, first I have to go through the locally distinct ontologies, followed by its mapping to natural science based universal ontologies (mainly thermodynamic-information based physical reality of our life), which ultimately culminates in the building of holistic (non-reductionist) solutions to the problems. Further, this defines my preferred choice of research methodologies embedded in epistemology centered Systems Science (e.g. system dynamics modelling, agent based modelling, network analysis etc.)
Research Agenda (problem I am interested in solving)
At the core, I want to explicate (A) the meaning of humanities collective goals (B) how each of us can be guided to work towards those collective goals? (C) what modern life will actually mean when humanity collectively works towards collective goals?
During my PhD, I have completely answered (A) and partially answered (B). Now, I am in the process of extending and communicating the same, with aims of ultimately reaching towards the answer of (C) that will lead to creation and implementation of transformative systems
Research Output
Manuscripts
Vij, Saurabh & Chopra, Shauhrat S. (2024) (Research Article, Under review)
Network-Centric Scientific Theory of Existence (NSTE) : A causal-descriptive-predictive study on the Guided Evolution of Collective Humanity [A,B]
Network-Centric Scientific Theory of Existence (NSTE) provides a conceptual basis for the evolutionary system design towards a sustainable future, where all forms of life flourish. By embracing Einstein's philosophy of science-inspired research attitude, NSTE amalgamates thermodynamics, information theory in Ecology, and Autopoiesis theory to create a visual and imagistic dynamic holistic model of the Earth system network. Operationalization and analysis of which has revealed two key points: (a) the only choice available for human society to truly achieve sustainability on planet Earth is to accept the collective goals of humanity, that includes diversity of living systems and distribution of development capacity among living systems; and (b) this can only be achieved by humans by implementing the principle of non-violence. The implications of these findings are discussed to provoke pragmatic possibilities of extending game theory under the setting where cooperation is not a choice for participants, but a common background against which all human-human and human-non human conflicts seek reinterpretation. As a first step towards this, a proposal for establishing an Earth System Constitution is made. Moreover, proposed theory causal-descriptive power (i.e. internal validity) has been established by extensive quality assurance testing of NSTE model, while its external validity has been established via triangulation with the theory of Panarchy and the success and failure of Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement.
Conference Attendance and Presentations
Vij, Saurabh, & Chopra, Shauhrat (2022). In search of the “final cause” of Accounting for Sustainability [C]. Paper presented in a talk at GECAMB 2022- 9th Conference on Environmental Management and Accounting, after a double-blind review process, Portuguese CSEAR Conference
Various calls for innovation in accounting for sustainability (AFS) have been made. However, limited progress has been made. To this end, we are backcasting a vision for AFS by searching for a societal end-state that is enabled and explained through view of AFS. Backcasting is enacted utilizing social theories that reveal the holistic, “functionalist” view of the social system, and that is further expressed through images of causal feedback loops, and keeps the view of AFS in center. The concluding argument that emerged in the process of backcasting is that the goal of reducing manifest injustice is inadequate and needs to be complemented with the goal of reducing conflicts. This view is expressed with the notion of “contradictory society”, in which the “final cause” of AFS is discovered. Literature within and beyond social and environmental accounting scholarship is referred, and pointers for future research, along with limitations of the study, are provided.
Keywords
Accounting for sustainability, Sustainability Accounting, Sustainable development, Social and Environmental Accounting, Conflicts
Introduction:
There is a convergence of sustainable development issues across the world. In this pretext of a society that values common outcomes, what kind of conflicts may arise, and how acknowledgment of such conflicts can shape our understanding of a new social order that is more “just” in nature, is the subject of our study. In this paper, we argue that if common values such as those reflected via UN SDGs are universally embraced at all scales of units (i.e. individuals, organizations, governments), along with a negative connotation, then utilizing collective intelligence systems theory, governing systems for sustainable transformations can be designed. Such reflexive systems can provide the required balance between “conflicts” that arise from the notion of freedom -to do and to be- and “order” of providing justice for all, while ensuring that negatively connotated outcomes of unsustainability (as derived from SDGs) continually reduce. The theoretical basis for such systems under the title “Theory of Common Conflicts” is proposed.
Methods:
Study is conceptualized by performing a thought experiment utilizing Ajzen’s “Theory of Planned Behavior” to identify a list of common conflict types for sustainability issues that are modeled using simulation and scenario development method.
Results:
The resulting model and the conflict types provide a normative basis, under which constructive conflict resolution approaches can be developed that can lead to cooperation and trust between societal members towards SD issues of common interest.
Conclusions:
Calls for further research inquiries in the design of collective intelligence systems to support consistent sustainable outcomes achievement while settling of conflicts through constructive resolution are made. Also, policy implications of adopting the connotation of negative outcomes for SDGs, spatial scales as a basis to understand negative outcomes, and unification of all types of impact generating units (i.e. organizations, individuals, families) under one type of unit are proposed.
Vij, Saurabh & Chopra, Shauhrat (2021). Discovering specifications of "Well-being" focused Integrated Accounting Systems to counteract the contemporary flaws of Corporate Sustainability Reporting [C]. Presentation done at the Environmental Social and Governance for Sustainability Conference (online), Victoria University Melbourne, Australia on 29th October 2021
In the context of rising environmental and social challenges of the early 21st century, the design and relevance of traditional financial accounting system to support our societal transformation from the focus of “wealth” to “People and Planetary well-being” remains unclear. This issue becomes more significant if we notice that, despite a global increase in ESG regulatory requirements and the availability of various sustainability reporting standards, the credibility and usefulness of voluntary corporate ESG disclosures for societal benefit remains largely questionable. The purpose of this study is to develop a perspective towards future course of path for ESG narrative to migrate from Green Growth space to the space of Sustainable development with inclination towards the notion of common good. We identify the potential of accounting scholarship for such transformation, within which, we present six key levers, which, if leveraged to develop accounting systems for sustainable development, can counteract the categorically identified contemporary challenges of the ESG disclosure arena, and form the basis for a socially, environmentally, economically sustainable just and equitable society. These counteracting levers include financial integration, externally derived materiality (answering what to account), general system of methodological rules (answering how to account), technology (for transparency), audits (to counteract greenwashing) and governance (answering how to manage universal integrated accounting systems). In addition, the discussion leads to the identification of interdisciplinary topics for future research, which are required for effective integration of non-financial topics to traditional accounting systems framework for transformation.