In this study we provide evidence on how accounting disclosures can motivate social movement organizations (SMOs) to create a new source of normativity in an organizational field, to impact upon firms through identity, image and culture. The source of normativity, the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW), was created as a means of accounting for farm animal welfare by food companies. Working at the intersection of theories relating to organizational fields, social movements and organizational identity, we investigate how the SMOs create the conditions for change through their framing of farm animal welfare, collective action and the mobilization of resources. Ideas such as institutional agency and institutional control are introduced to explain the power dynamics that enable change. By interpreting the organizational field as a relational space, identity, self-interest and intermittently-active fields provide further constructs to explain behaviour. Evidence from BBFAW reports and publications demonstrates how the NGOs employed a multi-period strategy to effect change. A longitudinal company case study provides an illustration of the cascade of the movement, demonstrating that there is more than an alignment of accounting disclosures. New business opportunities arise, requiring a realignment of strategy, a redesign of organizational architecture and participation of stakeholders. We illustrate our findings through the creation of a framework which could be employed more widely to study of sources of normativity in a relational field. This paper shows that accounting disclosures have a role to play in creating a new normativity that generates social change.

在这项研究中，我们提供了关于会计披露如何激励社会运动组织 (SMO) 在组织领域创造新的规范性来源，通过身份、形象和文化影响公司的证据。规范性的来源，农场动物福利商业基准（BBFAW），是食品公司作为衡量农场动物福利的一种手段而创建的。我们在与组织领域、社会运动和组织认同相关的理论交叉工作，研究 SMO 如何通过其农场动物福利、集体行动和资源动员的框架为变革创造条件。引入制度代理和制度控制等思想来解释促成变革的权力动态。通过将组织领域解释为一个关系空间，身份、自我利益和间歇性活动领域提供了进一步的结构来解释行为。BBFAW 报告和出版物中的证据表明，非政府组织如何采用多时期战略来实现变革。纵向公司案例研究提供了该运动的级联的说明，表明会计披露不仅仅是一致的。新的商机出现了，需要重新调整战略、重新设计组织架构和利益相关者的参与。我们通过创建一个框架来说明我们的发现，该框架可以更广泛地用于研究关系领域的规范性来源。