What is normal now was not always so. People used to smoke in bars and offices; junk food used to be advertised during children’s TV programmes; drivers and passengers used to travel in cars without seatbelts – but not now, and for some people it feels it has always been this way.

Professor Carlos Larrinaga, from the University of Burgos, talks us through the process by which new ideas spread and become norms – both with and without regulation in place.

With a focus around Carlos’s expertise on sustainability reporting, we look at how voluntary actions start to feel compulsory; and why it is that entrepreneurial heroes and their efforts to force change can take the focus away from important mundane advances that take place in the background.

We ask why some regulations and laws do not change actions and attitudes; why companies can converge on a new behaviour and turn it into a norm without regulation; and how an understanding of accounting history helps Carlos with his work.

Carlos explains how norms can differ from companies’ core values, how behaviours can change to align with new requirements, and whether some companies only comply with reporting in a symbolic way.

And, as Jan and Carlos try to out-humble each other in an argument over who know more than the other, why does everyone want sausages for their dinner?

Find out more about Carlos and his work here: https://investigacion.ubu.es/investigadores/35281/detalle

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