Management accounting and the paradox of embedded agency: A framework for analyzing sources of structural change

In recent years there has been a large and growing stream of management accounting research focusing on the theoretical puzzle often referred to as the paradox of embedded agency. That is, how can embedded agents come to (un-)intentionally change social structures when their interpretations, intentions, and rationalities are all shaped by these very structures? As a means of addressing this paradox we elaborate on how six qualities of social structures may work as sources of embedded agency, namely their Generality, Inadequacy, Ambiguity, Multiplicity, Embeddedness, and Reflexivity. This so-called GIAMER framework is then used to analytically disentangle common ways of explaining the paradox within the management accounting area and to propose ideas for future research. We close the editorial by presenting the three papers included in this Special Issue.