Domain theory and method theory revisited: a reply to Lowe, De Loo and Nama

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Lukka ◽  
Eija Vinnari
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Previous Article ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Previous Argument

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to the commentary of Lowe, De Loo and Nama concerning the authors’ previous article, which was published in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Volume 27 Number 8. Design/methodology/approach – The authors address the main points of the commentary by Lowe et al. Findings – In addressing each of these issues, the authors point out a few misunderstandings included in the critique as well as make an attempt to further clarify the previous argument. Originality/value – The authors maintain that distinguishing between domain theory and method theory in accounting research will be of help to researchers in several ways.

Domain theory and method theory in management accounting research

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1308-1338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Lukka ◽  
Eija Vinnari
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Conceptual Clarification

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to distinguish two roles of theories, domain theory and method theory, and examine their relationships in management accounting research. Are these two roles explicitly distinguished in management accounting studies? Can this be achieved in an unambiguous manner? Where do ambitions for theoretical contribution lie in management accounting studies that employ method theories? Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a conceptual framework for analysing possible relationships between domain theories and method theories in studies and illustrate the theoretical arguments with examples from management accounting studies employing Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as their method theory. Findings – There can be various types of relationships between domain theories and method theories, and the theoretical ambition of the analysed studies typically focused on domain theories. However, ambiguity can exist with regard to the location of a study's theoretical ambition. Both domain theories and method theories tend to be moving fields, and their interaction can add to this feature. Research limitations/implications – The suggested conceptual clarification assists in the reconciliation of extreme perspectives that relate to management accounting and theory. It will also help researchers to systematically design their own work and evaluate that of others. An increased understanding of how a field develops as a result of interaction with method theories might perhaps alleviate concerns regarding the value of mobilizing the latter. Originality/value – The analysis contributes to the on-going debate on the value and effects of employing method theories, or theoretical lenses, in management accounting research.

Qualitative generalising in accounting research: concepts and strategies

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1100-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee D. Parker ◽  
Deryl Northcott
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
General Applicability ◽  
Information Systems Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Quality Of Research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and articulate concepts and approaches to qualitative generalisation that will offer qualitative accounting researchers avenues for enhancing and justifying the general applicability of their research findings and conclusions. Design/methodology/approach – The study and arguments draw from multidisciplinary approaches to this issue. The analysis and theorising is based on published qualitative research literatures from the fields of education, health sciences, sociology, information systems, management and marketing, as well as accounting. Findings – The paper develops two overarching generalisation concepts for application by qualitative accounting researchers. These are built upon a number of qualitative generalisation concepts that have emerged in the multidisciplinary literatures. It also articulates strategies for enhancing the generalisability of qualitative accounting research findings. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides qualitative accounting researchers with understandings, arguments and justifications for the generalisability of their research and the related potential for wider accounting and societal contributions. It also articulates the key factors that impact on the quality of research generalisation that qualitative researchers can offer. Originality/value – This paper presents the most comprehensively sourced and developed approach to the concepts, strategies and unique deliverables of qualitative generalising hitherto available in the accounting research literature.

Accounting for the “uncounted” workers: a dialectical view of accounting through Rancière

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1627-1655
Author(s):  
Da Yang ◽  
John Dumay ◽  
Dale Tweedie
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Worker Resistance ◽  
Conceptual Work ◽  
Case Based ◽  
Established Order

PurposeThis paper examines how accounting either contributes to or undermines worker resistance to unfair pay, thereby enhancing our current understanding of the emancipatory potential of accounting.Design/methodology/approachWe apply Jacques Rancière's concept of politics and build on recent calls to introduce Rancière's work to accounting by analysing a case based on workers in an Australian supermarket chain who challenged their employer Coles over wage underpayments.FindingsWe find that in this case, accounting is, in part, a means to politics and a part of the police in Rancière's sense. More specifically, accounting operated within the established order to constrain the workers, but also provided workers with a resource for their political acts that enabled change.Originality/valueThis empirical research adds to Li and McKernan (2016) and Brown and Tregidga (2017) conceptual work on Rancière. It also contributes more broadly to emancipatory accounting research by identifying radical possibilities for workers' accounting to bring about change.

Using critical realism in critical accounting research – a commentary by two ANTs

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 655-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Baxter ◽  
Wai Fong Chua
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Critical Realist ◽  
The Social

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to respond to Modell’s arguments regarding the relative usefulness of critical realist philosophy in relation to actor-network theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors outline the challenges in applying critical realism to critical accounting. The authors then consider Modell’s criticisms of actor-network theory, providing a counterargument highlighting the methodological choices distinguishing actor-network theory from critical realism.FindingsThe authors argue that critical realism, whilst providing an interesting addition to the critical accounting research project, confronts challenges disentangling intransitive and transitive forms of knowledge. Actor-network theory is presented as a way of examining accounting practices as local associations, providing practical opportunities to study (the assembly of) “the social”.Research limitations/implicationsMethodological diversity is to be explored, acknowledging the ontological politics of our choices.Originality/valueThis paper is an original commentary contributing to critical accounting research.

scholarly journals What is accounting? The “being” and “be-ings” of the accounting phenomenon and its critical appreciation

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1414-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nihel Chabrak ◽  
Jim Haslam ◽  
Helen Oakes
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Interpretive Research ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Critical Orientation ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
The Usa

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reflect a critical perspective drawing from phenomenology, especially informed by a reading of Heidegger, to enhance and extend appreciation of the need to question accounting’s meaning or delineation and how research might be undertaken into the accounting phenomenon and related areas. Design/methodology/approach To illustrate and clarify argumentation in terms of accounting mobilization and the domain of accounting research, the mainstream and strongly positivistic accounting perspective adopted in the USA is critically assessed. At the same time, the authors elaborate how much of interpretive research (including much of that labeled critical) is also lacking in terms of the perspective articulated here. Findings The paper stresses the case for questioning the taken-for-granted and conventional. It promotes reflexivity, cautious pragmatism, attentiveness to the value of the existing, responsibility to difference and otherness and openness to new possibilities as part of a deeper critical orientation. Originality/value The paper draws from phenomenology, especially in Heideggerian terms to open-up new conversational domain to debate accounting.

Reactions on reading “The withering of criticism”;

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Scapens
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Lost Opportunity

PurposeThe paper outlines my reactions on reading Tony Tinker's paper: “The withering of criticism”.Design/methodology/approachIt describes how I read the paper with increasing feelings of frustration.FindingsIn the end I was quite negative about the prospects for critical accounting research and feel that this is unfortunately a lost opportunity.Originality/valueI point out that Tinker's paper contains a number of new avenues to be explored and new insights which can be gained, but these are in danger of being lost amid continuing internecine strife.

Historiography for accounting

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry D. Carnegie
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
English Language ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Accounting History ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Topical Diversity ◽  
Research Studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the historiographic writings for accounting concerned with the craft of researching and writing history, published in the English-language, across a period of 30 years from 1983 to 2012. The study's aim is three-fold: first, to review the literature pertaining to the writing of accounting history and to identify key developments and trends; second, to identify the contributors to this literature and their publication outlets and third, to analyze citations to identify individuals or groups who have gained traction in accounting historiography. Design/methodology/approach – An essay focusing on developments in the accounting historiography literature as well as a review of some key thoughts or issues in present-day accounting historiography. Findings – The study shows that a key development in the accounting historiography literature during this period has been the advent of new accounting history, which has contributed much theoretical and topical diversity in historical accounting research and an acceptance of the role of oral history as a means of expanding the archive. Research limitations/implications – The present study, with its focus on contributions on the craft of researching and writing history, does not itself examine actual research studies which have been undertaken on accounting's past across the same period of time. Originality/value – The study may assist in making the contributions examined more generally assessable and comprehensible to researchers to both explore and re-explore and may even contribute to the development of further contributions on accounting historiography to guide the approaches to, and direction of, historical accounting research in future.

Addressing directions in interdisciplinary accounting research

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1218-1226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee D. Parker ◽  
James Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Growth And Development ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Current State ◽  
Performance Measurement Systems ◽  
University Performance ◽  
Institutional Actors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address and critique the current state and trajectory of the interdisciplinary accounting movement. Design/methodology/approach – An interdisciplinary literature sourced analysis and critique of the movement's positioning and trajectory. Findings – It observes the creeping currency of the financial economics-based accounting research tradition, with its attendant limitations in scope and policy/practice relevance of its subject matter and findings. The paper reveals the persistent growth and development of an interdisciplinary accounting community despite the pressures of careerist research score-based goal displacement produced by government and university performance measurement systems. Originality/value – The interdisciplinary movement is seen as offering issues focused and innovation-driven research that aims to engage with the complexities of the organisational and institutional actors’ worlds. This remit remains essential to the challenge of the accounting academy's pursuit of issues of societal significance.

A dream deferred: interdisciplinary accounting in the US

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 1265-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Fogarty
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The North ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to set out to examine and critique the current state and future trajectory of interdisciplinary accounting research in the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on the author's involvement in and research into accounting research and publication contexts, drivers and patterns in the accounting discipline. Findings – In all likelihood, research will continue established traditions that prevent the explorations of economics and finance from material broadening. This paper identifies how that which everyone believes to be such a good idea cannot bear fruit. Research limitations/implications – Conventional economics-based accounting research has proliferated in volume but has largely exhausted its potential for significant contributions to knowledge. Failure to embrace broadened interdisciplinary perspectives risks a crisis of accounting research contribution to policy, practice, and society. Originality/value – This critique reveals the serious weaknesses and serious risks to international accounting scholarship of the continuance and global mimicking of the North American pursuit of an exclusively economic accounting research perspective.

Narrating the narrative turn in narrative accounting research:

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Research Context ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
Substantial Change

Purpose This paper aims to analyse the nature and extent of convergence within the literature of the narrative turn in narrative accounting research. Design/methodology/approach The paper offers an actor–network–theoretic perspective drawing on Latour’s theory of citation and Shwed and Bearman’s development of that theory to analyse patterns of convergence. Findings The paper finds that across the exemplars of narrative turn research examined, there is only a limited level of epistemic engagement so that exemplars achieve their status without undergoing trials of strength. Research limitations/implications The paper argues that the resources of the relevant academic community are spread so thinly that each seam – each research question, methodology or method and research context – is mined by no more than a small handful of researchers unable to generate a meaningful volume of contestation. Steps are suggested to better focus research activity. Originality/value The use of Latour’s theory of citation to analyse patterns of convergence in accounting research is innovative. The paper proposes a substantial change in the community’s approach to narrative turn research on accounting narratives.

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