From Divergence to Convergence: Mapping the Hybrid Evolution of Smart, POP, and Dialogic Accounting through Bibliometric and Semantic Lenses

This study examines the academic development and interconnections among Smart Accounting, POP Accounting, and Dialogic Accounting from 2010 to 2025. Despite each paradigm embracing digitization, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability from different perspectives, the literature remains fragmented across separate research streams. The paper argues that a systematic, integrated perspective is required to trace conceptual overlaps and identify research gaps among these emerging approaches. To this end, a bibliometric and semantic analysis was conducted on 222 peer-reviewed articles with the support of Biblioshiny and Leximancer. The articles were selected using a Boolean search strategy targeting digital, participatory, and sustainability-oriented accounting models. The analysis centered on publication trends, co-citation networks, keyword co-occurrence, thematic clusters, and semantic trajectories. The results illuminate a growing, yet theoretically and geographically uneven and fragmented, academic debate. Smart Accounting is driven by technological disruption, particularly through Artificial Intelligence (AI), blockchain, and cloud computing, which enable real-time automation and transparency. POP Accounting advances inclusive governance by integrating financial and ESG indicators through stakeholder-centric models. Dialogic Accounting emphasizes deliberative engagement but faces challenges in practical implementation. Although there is increasing conceptual overlap, mainly in applications within the public sector, significant gaps in theoretical convergence and geographic coverage persist, especially in emerging economies. Moreover, the decline in citation trends over the period suggests a thematic specialization and decentralization of scholarly attention. Ultimately, the research highlights the potential of hybrid accounting systems that integrate digital technologies, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability to support organizations in addressing the challenges of digital and sustainable transitions.