The investigation of digital platforms and accounting metrics in social sustainability

Purpose: This paper aims to examine relationships between organisational strategic change, institutionalised accounting platforms, and customer satisfaction metrics in shaping the trajectory of social sustainability in organisational fields. <br/><br/>Design/methodology/approach: Empirical data came from field research conducted in a not-for-profit organisation charged with the collective transport of passengers by bus at the regional level in South-West Finland. The qualitative and quantitative data cover a period of 12 years (2012-2024). Data analysis combined chronological thematic coding with a critically constructive approach aiming to understand rival explanations. <br/><br/>Findings: Research findings show that the case organisation institutionalised a strategic change in mid-2014, moving from zone-based variable bus fares to a flat fare and a zone-free setting. This led to competitive tendering to outsource the best digital accounting platforms and private bus operators. The institutionalised platforms provide accounting-based metrics representing organisational performance in a feed-forward, and value-for-money trajectory. However, quantitative social metrics are based on continuous passenger satisfaction surveys and multiple bus travel quality inspection data. At the organisational field level, the case organisation uses its dominant procurement power to reward and punish the best/worst performing bus operators based on quantitative social sustainability metrics of each operator three times a year. The institutionalised social sustainability framework and digitally based accounting rationalities play instrumental roles in organisational decision-making and actions. <br/><br/>Originality/value: The paper contributes to a growing body of digital accounting platforms by adding a social sustainability ecosystem combining accounting metrics with the self-reported satisfaction of the end-users.<br/><br/>Keywords: accounting metrics, digital platform, institutionalisation, social sustainability, Finland<br/>