John C DumayMacquarie University · Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance
John C Dumay
PhD, MA. MBA, GC, GC
About
218
Publications
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Introduction
Dr John Dumay is Professor of Accounting at Macquarie University. John researches intellectual capital, knowledge management, corporate reporting and disclosures, research methodologies and academic writing. John has written over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and edited books, and is highly cited in Scopus and Google Scholar. He is the Associate Editor of the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, and Meditari Accountancy Research and Deputy Editor of Accounting & Finance.
Additional affiliations
December 2013 - present
December 2008 - November 2013
Publications
Publications (218)
This paper reviews the field of integrated reporting ( ) to develop insights into how research is developing, offer a critique of the research to date, and outline future research opportunities. We find that most published research presents normative arguments for and there is little research examining practice. Thus, we call for more research that...
The literature on accounting for intellectual capital (IC) and, in particular, IC reporting suggests a preoccupation with measurement. While foundational for a calculative practice, this may eclipse the socially embedded facets of this accounting technology. The consequences include bringing into question the usefulness of IC reporting. Accordingly...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a method for a structured literature review (SLR). An SLR is a method for examining a corpus of scholarly literature, to develop insights, critical reflections, future research paths and research questions. SLRs are common in scientific disciplines dominated by quantitative approaches, but they can...
Abstract: Competing actor interpretations of Intellectual Capital Statements
(ICS) may explain diverse opinions on their effectiveness in practice. Adopting
Callon’s (1986) moments of translation, we find that actors in our case study adapt
ICS numbers and narrative to create specific inscriptions, privileging one over the
other to suit their inter...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to offer a personal critical reflection on the future of intellectual capital (IC) based on my experience as an IC researcher, author, editor, teacher and practitioner.
Design/methodology/approach
– Offers a first-hand reflection on the future of IC, using evidence collected from IC in the field and the autho...
Given that the aim of corporate social and environmental disclosure mandates is to improve corporate social and environmental performance, this study investigates the impact of such mandates on performance. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examine trends in corporate social and environmental performance before and after the introducti...
Purpose
In 2000, Cañibano et al . published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also discuss the intervening developments in scholarly research, standard setting and practice over the past 20+ years to outline the future challenges for research i...
Given that the aim of corporate social and environmental disclosure mandates is to improve corporate social and environmental performance, this study investigates the impact of such mandates on performance. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examine trends in corporate social and environmental performance before and after the introducti...
Purpose
This research aims to examine and understand the rationales and modalities behind the use of disclosure before, during and after a corporate governance scandal involving CPA Australia (CPAA).
Design/methodology/approach
Data beyond CPAA's annual reports were collected, such as news articles, media releases, an independent review panel (IRP...
Purpose
New Space activities offer benefits for human progress and life beyond the Earth. However, there is a risk that the New Space Economy may develop according to an anthropocentric mindset favouring human progress and survival at the expense of all other species and the environment. This mindset raises concerns over the social and environmenta...
Purpose
Inspired by leadership research, this paper aims to further the literature on management controls (MCs) by highlighting two managerial capabilities that cultivate dynamic tension. More specifically, we explore how countervailing MCs can be designed and used to create a coordinated and adaptable organisation. These capabilities reveal key in...
In 2013, the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) released the integrated reporting (IR) framework to become the corporate reporting norm. Ten years later, IR has not been diffused globally, with two notable exceptions – South Africa and Japan. IR in South Africa has been the subject of comprehensive research, but we know little about...
Purpose
This study aims to explore the serendipitous discovery of integrated reporting (IR) by Alpha, an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). Alpha piqued the curiosity when the authors discovered that it experimented with IR alongside other management accounting practices, such as the Balanced Scorecard. As the authors reflected on Alp...
Purpose
This study is an analysis that aims to understand the rationale behind the concept of value creation contained in the integrated reporting (IR) framework. As such, the authors examined the quality of the disclosures made in integrated reports by measuring the level to which the six capitals (6Cs) have been integrated into disclosures on val...
Purpose
This study aims to provide a critical assessment of developments in the field of voluntary corporate non-financial and sustainability reporting and disclosure (VRD). The assessment is grounded in the empirical material of a three-year research project on integrated reporting (IR).
Design/methodology/approach
Alvesson and Deetz’s (2021) cri...
The purpose of scientometric portraits is to recognize prominent scholars, inspire others, and guide those who dedicate their lives to scientific advancement. This study presents the results of a structured literature review of 110 publications that developed scientometric portraits of 91 recognized scientists. Findings indicate that scientometric...
Purpose
This study aims to present an overview of topics addressed in the papers appearing in this AAAJ special issue: Blockchain in accounting, accountability and assurance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present a review focussing on the papers published in this special issue. The authors imported the eight accepted papers into NVivo, c...
In recent years, financial accounting has seen a trend toward reporting in the form of narratives, while sustainability disclosures are increasingly falling under the influence of numerical reductionism. An all-pervasive mantra of succinctness and investor-oriented messaging is dominating communications on sustainability through all but a few of th...
First Nations peoples' idea of Land custodianship implies that Land cannot be offered, taken, sold, lost or abandoned. This concept does not align with the Anglo-Saxon view of land as an asset which can be owned, sold or transferred between people. A team of researchers from Macquarie University, Southern Cross University and CQ University explore...
Modern slavery presents a complex risk for organisations worldwide, with perpetrators continually adapting practices to maintain a veil of secrecy. While management controls may reduce modern slavery risks, little is known about how they optimally function across industries and organisational forms. To advance the state of knowledge, we examine an...
We study 50 Australian entrepreneurs who have collectively founded more than 120 digital start-ups and enfold entrepreneurship and digital technologies literature in order to explain how the characteristics and affordances of digital technologies impact digital entrepreneurship. We explore the process of how founders enter venturing and create (and...
In this paper we review the main evolution of intellectual capital (IC) research after 20 years from the first article published by Leif Edvinsson on the topic. In developing the paper, we highlight the main concerns that were stimulating the debate at the time. The paper employs a conceptual review starting from the questions raised in one of the...
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are driving corporate strategy and performance. However, does this mean more ESG reporting is being done? If so, is the quality of ESG reports improving? And what about ESG performance? In this paper, we examine these three trends in ESG reporting—quantity, quality and corporate ESG performance. Wit...
Purpose
This paper provides a structured literature review of blockchain in accounting. The authors identify current trends, analyse and critique the key topics of research and discuss the future of this nascent field of inquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
This study’s analysis combined a structured literature review with citation analysis, topic...
The debate about whether corporate reports should focus on numbers or narrative is long-standing. The recent push for business model information to be included in corporate reports has revitalised the debate. Many scholars suggest this constitutes a move towards narrative-based reporting. This study aims to investigate the debate and draws a compar...
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the extent of shareholder engagement and satisfaction with corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports of a Chinese-owned company compared to an Australian-owned company in the Australian mining industry. The study is motivated by the speed, extent and nature of Chinese foreign direct investment in Australia...
Legal scholarship in Australia is under-researched. Without detailed empirical investigation, it is difficult to understand the characteristics of the scholarship in terms of topics and method/approach. Legal scholarship, like all scholarship, claims to make a contribution to knowledge. To understand and evaluate the scholarship, this article adopt...
Purpose
The authors unpack the critical role of rhetoric in developing and justifying the New Zealand (NZ) government's coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Green's (2004) theory of rhetorical diffusion, the authors analysed government documents and media releases before, during and after the loc...
Purpose - In scholarly publications, citations play an essential epistemic role in creating and disseminating knowledge. Conversely, the use of problematic citations impedes the growth of knowledge, contaminates the knowledge base and disserves science. This study investigates the presence of problematic citations in the works of business ethics sc...
Purpose: This paper shows the accounting, accountability and calculative practices associated with emergency food allocations by the City of Turin through a program to feed the vulnerable during COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach: This is a single case study framed by Foucault's concept of governmentality. The data was collected through intervi...
This article presents the results of a systematic literature review on intangibles and intellectual capital (IC) focusing on articles published in the top 20 accounting journals between 2000 and 2020. We find that North American accounting scholarship during this period has predominantly focused on identifiable intangibles and how these appear in t...
Purpose:
In 2015, one university student in KC – a small town in regional Australia – unknowingly launched a resistance movement and national debate on modern wage theft. We apply labour process theory to analyse accounting's role in this case.
Design/methodology/approach:
We study multiple instances of wage theft in one Australian town. This case...
Accounting for the Circular Economy within Cities
Call for papers for: Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
Guest Editors:
Cristiana Parisi, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, cp.om@cbs.dk
Johannes Dumay, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Australia, john.dumay@mq.edu.au
James Hazelton, Macquarie Business School, Macquar...
Purpose
This paper introduces the special issue “Rebuilding trust: Sustainability and non-financial reporting, and the European Union regulation”. Inspired by the studies published in the special issue, this study aims to examine the concept of accountability within the context of the European Union (EU) Directive on non-financial disclosure (herea...
Purpose
This 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/approach
We apply Jacques Rancière's concept of politics and build on recent calls to introduce Rancière's work to accounting by...
Purpose
Motivated by claims that the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IRF) can be used to comply with Directive 2014/95/EU (the EU Directive) on non-financial and diversity disclosure, the purpose of this study is to examine whether companies can comply with corporate reporting laws using de facto standards or frameworks.
Design/metho...
Demand for chocolate is at an all-time high. However, producing chocolate comes with some sticky social, environmental and economic problems. This paper focuses on the issues of child labour, forced child labour and unsustainable farming practice within the chocolate industry, and specifically on the discourse about Nestlé’s Ivory Coast cocoa suppl...
As we finalise this paper, political and economic
conditions in Australian society are still being
challenged by the health impacts of the COVID-19
pandemic. Like other countries around the world,
Australia has taken unprecedented steps to balance
public health and economic risks in response to
coronavirus. As a geographically distant island nation...
Today, knowledge management (KM) is mainly directed towards solving tame organisational problems. But I argue, in this personal essay, that KM can move beyond organisational boundaries to address the “wicked” social problems impacting our globe. As KM researchers and practitioners, we need to reconceptualise KM as a technology for improving society...
The coronavirus might make Easter celebrations a little subdued this year, but that doesn’t mean going without chocolate eggs. In fact, South Australia’s chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier reportedly said people should partake in the Easter treats “to cheer ourselves up … I’ve certainly got a good supply of chocolate eggs already”.
But be...
In 2020, intellectual capital (IC) accounting research has advanced beyond its original strategic focus on measuring, managing, and reporting IC. In our introduction, we define IC as the collection of intangible resources, knowledge, experience, and intellectual property an organisation, community, country or society has and uses to create economic...
Purpose
In 2001, the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal ( AAAJ ) published a special issue entitled “Managing, measuring and reporting intellectual capital for the new millennium”. After 20 years, we revisit the eight articles in this special issue to trace early developments in interdisciplinary intellectual capital (IC) accounting rese...
The governance of shared resources through collective actions to prevent “the tragedy of the commons” has long been a controversial topic in management studies. Hampered by a lack of formal organisational structures, small locally-governed commons are usually managed through informal networks and, hence, largely studied in this context. However, It...
Purpose
Privacy concerns and data security are changing the risks for businesses and organisations. This indicates that the accountability of all governance participants changes. This paper aims to investigate the role of external auditors within data protection practices and how their role is evolving due to the current digital ecosystem.
Design/...
This paper provides a structured literature review of digital entrepreneurship to generate insights into recent developments in the field, critique the research to date, and identify opportunities for future research. We have applied the three aspects of critical research – insight, critique, and transformative redefinition – to analyse and synthes...
This paper investigates the rhetoric deployed by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) to legitimise itself and Integrated Reporting ( ) and establish its ideology. We draw on Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals – ethos, logos, and pathos – and the rhetorical theory of diffusion to conduct a rhetorical analysis of the IIRC’s initial docu...
This special issue dedicated to qualitative accounting research shows the commitment of Accounting & Finance to support and publish qualitative research. This introductory piece explains the rationale behind this commitment and recounts the process followed with this special issue, before introducing the papers published in it. The first paper in t...
This article deals with some common misconceptions about qualitative research. Qualitative studies are well suited to studying complex interconnections and relationships without reducing the complexity to simple numbers or variables. Rather than excluding outliers from a dataset, qualitative researchers are interested in these exceptions and often...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the focus and changing nature of measuring academic accounting research quality. The paper addresses contemporary changes in academic publishing, metrics for determining research quality and the possible impacts on accounting scholars. These are considered in relation to the core values of interd...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate why entrepreneurial universities choose a particular business strategy focussing on diversification and multi-nationalisation, and the role of intellectual capital (IC) in supporting such strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The research question is answered through an exploratory case study o...
Purpose – This paper aims to analyse “how”, “why” and “where” authors use citations of
Robert Yin’s classic text, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, to determine the
application of methodological transparency in published case study research.
Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is conducted using a structured literature
review meth...
This research investigates how non-financial information is assured in the context of the Integrated Reporting Framework. In particular, we try to understand, through the lens of the legitimacy theory, whether the assurance process is a tool that enhances user trust.
This research explores the evolution of reporting in a financial institution and examines whether implementing the Integrated Reporting Framework enhanced the quality of those disclosures. Research goals are explored through a case study on the sustainability reporting and practices of CBD, a financial services company based in Australia, and its j...
Integrated reporting ( ) is currently a hot topic for academic research because of the practical challenges businesses encounter when implementing it. Motivated by the results from the IIRC’s call for feedback on the International Framework ( ) implementation, this chapter focuses on the challenges of integrated thinking and examines the extant aca...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a new learning and growth perspective for the balanced scorecard (BSC) that includes more specific measures of integrated thinking and value creation to help improve integrated reporting ( ). Practical, relevant definitions of these historically vague concepts may improve intangible asset disclosures...
While much has been written about the investment criteria of business angels, few studies explore why these particular criteria are important to them. The Australian context has a diverse range of actors along with complex jurisdictional arrangements, making for an interesting background for investigation of the angel finance phenomenon. We examine...
Purpose
This paper examines the gap between reporting and managers’ behaviour to challenge the current theoretical underpinnings of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure practice and research. The authors explore how the key features from IC and integrated reporting can be combined to develop an extended model for companies to comply with EU Directi...
Purpose
To present the continuation of a case study by Beck et al. (2017) on an Australian bank (CBD) during the period 2004–2013 by examining whether integrated reporting affects relational capital and helps to repair an organisations’ reputation. Both studies examine how a bank rocked by a major scandal in 2004 has attempted to repair its legitim...
This article provides a research program for the field of business models. It focusses specifically on 4th stage research, which is concerned with the performative notions of business models to which six conceptual avenues for further research are depicted.
Questions
Questions (4)
Now that <IR> has entered into its new "Breaking Through" strategic phase, many scholars and practitioners wonder if the IIRC ever achieved it previous strategic goals. With financial support of the IIRC Network falling and a lack of take-up in key strategic markets, is the IIRC doomed to fail as Flower (2015) predicted from the onset, or do we see a new strategic revival?
I know why you are trying to do this, but asking the same question six times or more is not good.
I am interested in what you see as the future for integrated reporting and why?
I am thinking about updating this paper. Please answer me with suggestions about what issues you would be interested in exploring?