No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
What counts as 'theory' in qualitative management and accounting research? Introducing five levels of theorizing
... social institutions, culture, class, hierarchies and the distribution of power and resources)." Llewellyn (2003) informs my theoretical themes, as she offers a new perspective of what counts as theory. My theoretical approach focuses on a binary meta-theoretical classification of the 65 articles based on their expressed objective(s) and findings, as focused on exclusion or inclusion. ...
... My theoretical approach focuses on a binary meta-theoretical classification of the 65 articles based on their expressed objective(s) and findings, as focused on exclusion or inclusion. Llewellyn (2003) is apt because even if a paper does not clearly define a theoretical framework in the traditional sense (i.e., level 4 or 5), her expanded understanding of what constitutes theory allows me to deduce theory. Specifically, if the objective and findings of the paper are more focused on highlighting marginalization or exclusion, the article is classified as belonging to the sociology of exclusion. ...
... Although I review some of the same articles as Llewellyn (2003) (e.g., Greer & Patel, 2000), I do not attempt a theoretical or methodological reconciliation of the articles I review with the articles she reviews. For example, Llewellyn (2003) classifies Greer and Patel (2000) as a level 1 conceptualization because they treat "yin and yang" as a metaphor. By contrast, I classify the same article as adopting a feminist approach, which ultimately highlights the incongruence between Western and Indigenous values and reveals the negative impacts of Western accounting approaches on Indigenous peoples. ...
The ways in which accountancy (accounting, accountability, and accountants) has been a device of imperialism, colonialism, and postcolonialism, and therefore has had deleterious effects on Indigenous peoples in former colonies and continues to negatively impact immigrants in postcolonial OECD countries, is under‐researched. This structured literature review synthesizes studies in the accounting literature that have investigated imperialism, colonialism, and postcolonialism and identifies opportunities for future research. This study is part of a broader research project that reviewed 161 articles on accounting and discrimination. This article, based on 65 of the articles reviewed for the broader project, discusses existing knowledge on imperialism, colonialism, and postcolonialism. The author finds that the exclusion of Indigenous peoples in colonial times is shaped by perpetual oppressive relations. In the postcolonial United States and Old Commonwealth countries (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), these power relations are sustained by professions through the continuing exclusion of racialized people and immigrants, many from previous colonies. This study proposes future research directions to advance the decolonization of accounting research by foregrounding alternative perspectives of Indigeneity—such as Black Indigeneity—and enabling accounting scholars to confront the various subthemes of imperialism and postcolonialism in accounting, including Western accounting and accountability, professionalization, emancipatory accounting, and Indigenous knowledge and accounts.
... In contrast, accounting historians increasingly aim to locate their research writings within a social science framework (including management studies), with a growing demand for accounting history research studies to 'make a theoretical contribution'. As theory can be used in many different ways, what may be involved in making a theoretical contribution is problematic and in the following sub-sections, we briefly explain two different approaches, that of Llewellyn (2003) and Maclean et al. (2016). Llewellyn's (2003) approach to applying theory to research Carnegie, McBride et al. (2020) summarise how different approaches to theory have contributed to the flourishing of historical accounting research since the 1980s. ...
... As theory can be used in many different ways, what may be involved in making a theoretical contribution is problematic and in the following sub-sections, we briefly explain two different approaches, that of Llewellyn (2003) and Maclean et al. (2016). Llewellyn's (2003) approach to applying theory to research Carnegie, McBride et al. (2020) summarise how different approaches to theory have contributed to the flourishing of historical accounting research since the 1980s. They draw on the 'levels of theory' developed by Llewellyn (2003): (1) theory as metaphor; (2) theory as differentiation; (3) theory as conceptualisation; (4) context-bound theories of settings; and (5) context-independent 'grand' theories. ...
... Llewellyn's (2003) approach to applying theory to research Carnegie, McBride et al. (2020) summarise how different approaches to theory have contributed to the flourishing of historical accounting research since the 1980s. They draw on the 'levels of theory' developed by Llewellyn (2003): (1) theory as metaphor; (2) theory as differentiation; (3) theory as conceptualisation; (4) context-bound theories of settings; and (5) context-independent 'grand' theories. Analysing a selection of articles studying accounting within organisations, Carnegie, McBride et al. (2020) find that the most common use of theory is to present a 'conceptual framework' of higher-order ideas and their relationships, which is then used to structure a narrative based on the archival sources. ...
The world is facing difficult, uncertain and challenging times, which have consequences for accounting practice, education and research. This new and uncertain environment may lead us to conclude that accounting research should focus on the present and develop answers to be implemented in the future. Does this mean that accounting history must be put aside for the moment? We start from the position that accounting history continues to matter and that accounting history researchers have developed their perspectives and methodological and theoretical approaches considerably since the early 1990s in terms of diverse fields and topics of research. This article aims to explore how accounting history research can expand by seeking innovation in theories, sources, methodologies and writing. It demonstrates that accounting history is not static and researchers can contribute to its further recognition and dissemination. Through the innovative study of the past, researchers may continue to contribute to new and informed ways for the world to be managed and governed.
... This study is set in the field research, in line with some of these studies (namely Parker, 2001bParker, , 2002aParker, , 2003 and also further interpretive accounting studies (Ferreira & Merchant, 1992;Humphrey & Scapens, 1996;Otley & Berry, 1994). The methodological choices are in line with Llewellyn (2003). In the context of theorising and theory, ...
... Concepts develop based on comparisons with other concepts. For example, an important differentiation is the objective-subjective distinction which has led to many challenging discussions on the topic (Llewellyn, 2003). Theorising through concepts takes place by creating new concepts in order to explain expriences. ...
... Theorising through concepts takes place by creating new concepts in order to explain expriences. Meaning and significance is created by connecting subjective and objective experiences (Llewellyn, 2003). Llewellyn (2003) provides as an example of level three theorising Giddens' structuration theory. ...
p>This study investigates the processes of strategic management accounting and their meaning to participants in a British University context. No study investigating current practices regarding the Higher Education sector was found. The adopted methodology is grounded theory according to Glaser (1978, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2004), which has not been explicitly applied in recent accounting research. The study is based on data collected in an “old”, research – a dedicated Higher Education organisation which has gone through recent structuring changes.
Participants’ stance towards strategic management accounting and what is perceived as strategic activities emerged to play an important role in the organisational context. The core concept of the strategising mindset encapsulates the institutional, divisional and individual stances, which reflects a duality in the core, a paired opposite code. The strategising mindset is understood as the belief system that is adopted with regard to strategic management accounting, which is divided into a bureaucratic and an entrepreneurial mindset. The mindset and its adoption emerged to correspond to Bourdieu’s habitus, meaning that the field’s beliefs about strategic management accounting are incorporated and at the same time form the field. The strategising mindset is set within the context of the institutional conception and the academic conception, and has been given importance by external impacts, such as the governmental funding agenda. The perception of accounting for strategic management and performance management is according to the respective mindset, as expressed in the consequential categories of strategised management accounting and strategised performing. However, the management accounting and financial management conception can impact upon the mindset and alter the consequences. Vice versa the mindset can influence the management accounting conception as they have an inter-related association.</p
... social institutions, culture, class, hierarchies and the distribution of power and resources)." Llewellyn (2003) informs our theoretical themes, as she offers a new perspective of what counts as theory. Our theoretical approach focuses on a binary meta-theoretical classification of the 65 articles based on their expressed objective(s) and findings, as focused on exclusion or inclusion. ...
... Our theoretical approach focuses on a binary meta-theoretical classification of the 65 articles based on their expressed objective(s) and findings, as focused on exclusion or inclusion. Llewellyn (2003) is apt because even if a paper does not clearly define a theoretical framework in the traditional sense (i.e., level 4 or 5), her expanded understanding of what constitutes theory allows us to deduce theory. Specifically, if the objective and findings of the paper are more focused on highlighting marginalization or exclusion, the article is classified as belonging to the sociology of exclusion. ...
... Although we review some of the same articles as Llewellyn (2003) (e.g., Greer and Patel 2000), we do not attempt a theoretical or methodological reconciliation of the articles we review with the articles she reviews. For example, Llewellyn (2003) classifies Greer and Patel (2000) as a level-1 conceptualization because they treat "Yin and Yang" as a metaphor. By contrast, we classify the same article as adopting a feminist approach, which ultimately highlights the incongruence between Western and Indigenous values and reveals the negative impacts of Western accounting approaches on Indigenous peoples. ...
... Kualitatif bertujuan untuk pembuktian dan pengembangan teori (Strauss & Corbin dalam Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). Teori merefleksikan makna terkait interaksi praktisi pada kehidupan sosial dan entitas (Llewelyn, 2003). ...
... Teknik pengumpulan data itu melibatkan interaksi. Hubungan antara peneliti serta praktisi ini bertujuan untuk mengungkapkan realitas melalui pembentukan konseptual (Llewelyn, 2003). Pada penelitian ini, konseptualisasi yang didukung reflektif dipergunakan menjadi alat analisis. ...
The purpose of this study is to examine how important strategic management accounting is in advancing cooperatives. This study uses a qualitative method through a case study approach. Data were collected through interviews, observation, and literature study. The object of the research is the application of strategic management accounting in cooperatives. The findings of this study are management accounting strategies contribute to advancing cooperatives, but there are still few cooperatives that apply strategic management accounting strategies due to constraints on understanding the roles and functions of cooperative elements, recruiting members and selecting cooperative management, capital, systems and technology, and commitment. These obstacles can be overcome by implementing strategic management accounting which stimulates to collect information, analyze, interpret, recommend solution strategies, and communicate to cooperative management so that they can be used as considerations related to decision making in planning, controlling, evaluating, and continual improvement.
... The financial accounting's results are shown in financial reports and used by firm leadership. Also, the information of financial accounting can be used by individuals and organizations outside, such as tax authority, statistical offices… (Llewellyn, 2003). ...
... Information systems improve the quality of firms' management report and financial statement systems, thus increasing the close linkage between financial accounting and management accounting. Owing to the speed of improvement and the accuracy in the course of handling accounting information, minimizing human calculations, information systems contribute to improving the quality of linking between financial accounting and management accounting in firms (Llewellyn, 2003). ...
This paper analyzes the role of information system in linking management accounting (MA) and financial accounting (FA). We employ a survey by focusing on Vietnam firms applying information systems to their accounting activities. The findings indicate eight roles of information system such (1) as facilitator, (2) as catalyst, (3) as motivator, (4) as enabler of linking MA and FA, (5) by decreasing the linkage costs, (6) improving the linkage quality, (7) enhancing accountant’s the role, and (8) controlling the linkage between MA and FA. For managerial implications, we propose some recommendations for improving the role of information system in linking MA and FA. In the coming time, Vietnam firms should drastically improve information systems by using accounting software and enhancing their accountants’ qualification.
... While Bourdieu's praxeology is complex and entails multiple concepts and relationships between them (Golsorkhi & Huault, 2006;Golsorkhi et al., 2009;Malsch et al., 2011), for this paper, we mobilize the concept of habitus. Therefore, we do not employ Bourdieu as a theory or "network of concepts" (Llewellyn, 2003) but instead draw on the richness of the habitus concept. Llewellyn (2003) argued that when practices are the central concern of research, such as in our case, "the power of concepts in theorizing is enormous" since "concepts theorize through explicating practice" (p. ...
... Therefore, we do not employ Bourdieu as a theory or "network of concepts" (Llewellyn, 2003) but instead draw on the richness of the habitus concept. Llewellyn (2003) argued that when practices are the central concern of research, such as in our case, "the power of concepts in theorizing is enormous" since "concepts theorize through explicating practice" (p. 674). ...
We investigate how local actors in the Romanian financial reporting field mobilize their indigeneity to enact and operationalize transnational financial reporting models in a context where neoliberal ideas represent a substantive change in respect to the past. We mobilize interviews with local key actors, evidence from multiple data sources, and Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to investigate how inertia and change are intertwined. We explain how the Romanian state continues to draw on and reproduce the local accounting inclinations inherited from communist times. At the macro level, the state’s actions (through the role of financial reporting regulator) suggest a strong agency exerted in the backstage, paralleling the appearance of accepting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the frontstage. At the micro level, where rules are operationalized, indigenous professionals deal with their historically created habitus and with various destabilizing influences from newcomers to the financial reporting field, which reflects diverse relationships and power imbalances between nascent actors of a market economy. We show that habitus is critical in understanding the complicated dynamics of inertia and change in accounting practices. Our results illustrate a web of improvisation, imitation, hybridization, and reinterpretation of both locally traditional and Western principles as local accounting rules and practices become global and remain local.
... Theories are composed of a structure of inter-related concepts as well as propositions as to what they tell us about the matter of interest. Importantly, theories should by no means be limited to just "grand" theorization of settings and structures, but can also occur at a lower level through the theorization of metaphors, differentiation or concepts (Llewellyn, 2003) [9]. ...
... It is quite likely that different approaches to research on the "performativity thesis" will continue to evolve and be deployed to different research tasks depending on the purpose at hand. Such fragmentation of research practice is not necessarily a problem and is, in some ways, compatible with the commitment to heterogeneity and pluralism in the broader inter-disciplinary accounting project (Lukka and Mouritsen, 2002;Baxter and Chua, 2003;Llewellyn, 2003). However, for accounting scholars who wish to remain entirely consistent with the epistemological principles of "classic ANT", it implies a need for greater awareness of how far their knowledge claims can be stretched than what is evident in our analysis. ...
Purpose
This paper examines the influence of the normal science tradition, epitomized by the notion that “theory is king”, on contemporary accounting research and the epistemological tensions that may emerge as this idea is applied to particular ways of studying accounting. For illustrative purposes, the authors focus on research informed by actor-network theory (ANT) which can be seen as an “extreme case” in the sense that it is, in principle, difficult to reconcile with the normal science aspirations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper offers an analysis based on a close reading of how accounting scholars, using ANT, theorize, and if they do engage in explicit theorizing, how they deal with the tensions that might emerge from the need to reconcile its epistemological underpinnings with those of the normal science tradition.
Findings
The findings of this paper show that the tensions between normal science thinking and the epistemological principles of ANT have, in a few cases, been avoided, as researchers stay relatively faithful to ANT and largely refrain from further theory development. However, in most cases, the tensions have ostensibly been ignored as researchers blend the epistemology of ANT and that of normal science without reflecting on the implications of doing so.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to emerging debates on the role of the normal science tradition in contemporary accounting research, and also extends recent discussions on the role of theory in accounting research inspired by ANT. The paper proposes three reasons for the observed blending of epistemologies: unawareness of tensions, epistemological eclecticism and various political considerations.
... Governance theories were used to categorize dichotomies and were chosen for their utility in explaining partial realities of organizational accountability phenomena in the nonprofit context. This article contributes to accountability theory through the use of dichotomies as a state of differentiation, and Llewelyn's (2003) level two conceptual framing of categorization in which meaning is given through paired terms that are interlocked and ''in contradiction to each other'' (p. 670). ...
... Typologies of accountability are useful ''because they can help us to understand the nature of accountability challenges that nonprofit organizations face'' (Tacon et al., 2017, p. 687). In this regard, the article contributes to accountability theory through the use of dichotomies as a state of differentiation, and Llewelyn's (2003) level two conceptual framing of categorization. ...
Nonprofit accountability research has garnered much attention in recent years, greatly expanding our understanding of the field. Yet, this focus has resulted in a complex and oftentimes fragmented body of research, which has made it difficult to navigate and effectively study nonprofit accountability. To address this concern, this article uses characteristics of accountability and articulates the dynamic interaction between the various accountability dichotomies found in the literature through a theory-based typology. In summary, this article argues that a narrow conception of accountability, focused on resource dependence, public interest and agency theories, can be seen as a functional process (“how”) to meet the imposed requirements (“for what”) of upward principals (“to whom”). In contrast, a broad conception of accountability, focused on stewardship, democratic, and stakeholder theories, can be seen as a strategic process (“how”) to provide information that is based on felt responsibility (“for what”) to downward stakeholders (“to whom”).
... Figure 7 presents the key theoretical perspectives adopted in the reviewed studies. Llewelyn (2003) identifies different levels of theorisation ranging from grand theories to concepts and ideas can provide a framework of analysis. Interestingly, 22 articles had no 'abstract schema', meaning that they were not based on an explicit formal theory or paradigm (Llewelyn, 2003). ...
... Llewelyn (2003) identifies different levels of theorisation ranging from grand theories to concepts and ideas can provide a framework of analysis. Interestingly, 22 articles had no 'abstract schema', meaning that they were not based on an explicit formal theory or paradigm (Llewelyn, 2003). The main conceptual references in papers were NPM (n = 15), institutional theory (n = 13), principal-agent theory (n = 12) and accountability as a pragmatic form of theorisation (n = 10). ...
Performance auditing (PA) has undergone relevant evolutions in recent decades, attracting considerable interest from academics and practitioners alike, in terms of its emergence, evolution, transformation, and outcomes in various international contexts. Through a systematic review of the literature published over the past five decades, totaling 125 papers, this study maps the existing knowledge on PA and recommends avenues for future research. Based on the analysis of the selected articles, the paper identifies and discusses the main themes emerging from the literature, including the scope and evolution of PA; the two faces of PA (accountability and performance improvement); the tensions and contradictions of influence and independence of PA; and unintended consequences and conflicts of PA. Considering the synthesis of the literature and current issues in public administration, the paper highlights themes that warrant further research, including the PA implications of digitalization and emerging technologies, the potential for widening accountability, PA's connections with media, and the relevance of PA in a risk management perspective. The paper also offers insights into the potential of international and comparative approaches to research on PA issues.
... Recently, some scholars used a theoretical framework from metaphor theory (Cornelissen, 2005;Walters-York, 1996) as Carlsson-Wall and al, (2016) who investigated how metaphorical representations of accounting were introduced and used by a newly recruited home help unit manager. Their results suggest that future studies of the role of accounting in intended organizational change processes would benefit from a more micro-oriented perspective (Llewelyn, (2003) on how accounting works more subtly through verbal communications between managers and subordinates. ...
... Nevertheless, we do know that accountability culture (Löning, in Berland and Simon, 2011), defined here as a result-based culture, is currently spreading very slowly through financial and extra financial indicators in the public sphere in France, including sectors that could appear saved like culture, health or education (Bessire and al., 2012 For that, we must bear in mind that a contingency approach is needed in terms of goals intended by public managers. Metaphor, seen as the lower level of theorization in qualitative empirical research (Llewelyn, 2003), can create meaning and significance through picturing or imaging the ground. The author emphasizes that metaphors are underutilized as a theoritical tool in qualitative accounting research. ...
After presenting the literature on metaphors used in the field of management control (MC), mainly focused on a functionalist positioning and conveying a biased vision of management control practices, we will present some works based on the iceberg metaphor. These works have put forward MC research particularly in the public sector. By semi structured interviews with principals of French secondary public schools and other high state employees, we shape an understanding of performance indicators as they are used through a discourse analysis. We try to draw a global pattern of such a use by combining two metaphors: that of the machine and that of the iceberg. We discuss a possible ultimate step of the process of performance indicators used by the principals as a "learning machine". We conclude by a possible passage from an in vitro MC (as a machine) to an in vivo MC one as a man-machine interface through a "learning machine".
... Det innebär att målet är poängrika tolkningar (Asplund, 1970) som grundar sig i en omfattande empirisk studie. Ambitionen är att skapa en bättre förståelse för fenomenet genom att begreppsliggöra det (Llewelyn, 2003), vilket inte ska misstas för att intresset handlar om att kvantifiera omfattning eller utbredning. Både urvalet och den empiriska framställningen har skett med målet om att söka nyanser och bredden i hur fenomenet uppfattas i Göteborgs Stad. ...
... In the case of the laws identified above, widespread personal experience has either demonstrated the soundness of the prediction (law, theory) or that, as careless experimenters, we failed to follow the instruction manual su(iciently conscientiously! Finally, how does this perspective on theory apply in case of the social sciences, which during the past half century have evidenced a continued move away the methodology of positivism and a growing emphasis on qualitative enquiry (Llewellyn, 2003)? Many of the observations o(ered in the remainder of the paper are informed by this fundamental question. ...
During the past quarter of a century the academic business and management literature has placed an increased premium on incorporating theory within contributions to it. Coincidentally this is the same time period during which the study of the business model domain has occurred. For the most part, despite an evident richness of content and practical utility, the evolving business model literature has exhibited a relatively limited focus on matters of theory. The purpose of this short paper is to identify several directions that colleagues attracted to addressing the current theory-lite nature of the business model domain might consider exploring. Much of the thinking underlying the paper emanates from the realms of the social sciences rather than the more familiar natural sciences. The paper reflects the authors’ respective journeys to the business model domain together with their continuing work both within and beyond it.
... Our observations corroborate the importance of directing future analysis towards the emergence of and shifts in values, rather than taking values as starting points. Our contribution to the literature on hybrids is twofold: first, based on our theoretical approach and specific empirical circumstances, we contribute by differentiating and elaborating concepts, and second, by "concept theorisation" (Llewelyn, 2003) when elaborating on the relation between concepts, enhancing our understanding of the dynamics of hybridisation. ...
The aim of this paper is to add to the discussion on hybrids and valuing. We argue that more dynamic theorising is needed to understand hybridity. The aim is thus to further the discussion and to nuance the theorisation of hybrids and values by focusing on their emergence and shifts. The study is qualitative, and the empirical base is the handling of the pandemic in a Swedish county council and a municipality. The research question is: How and why did values emerge and shift in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic? Our first contribution is the development of concepts whereby we centre hybridisation, purification, and re-hybridisation, as well as the concepts of first- and second-order dissonance. The second contribution is the enhancement of our understanding of the dynamics of hybrids. Our theorising adds to studies indicating the risk of hybrid settings collapsing and then reverting to pure states because of what we call second-order dissonance. Pure states, however, are always at risk of first-order dissonance and of exploding into hybrid states. Our observations advance research into both valuing and accounting, which tends to focus on specific established values, or on how accounting for a value emerges.
... Per analizzare gli approcci metodologici adottati negli articoli oggetto di studio, il framework analitico ha preso in esame quattro diversi criteri, quali il Metodo (D), il Framework/modello (E), il Processo di analisi (F) e lo Scopo della ricerca (G) (Hoque, 2018;Llewelyn, 2003). Con riferimento al Metodo, i sotto-criteri tenuti in considerazione sono i seguenti: Concettuale (D1); Analisi documentale (D2); Etnografia (D3); Esperimento (D4); Sondaggio (D5); Metanalisi (D6); Analisi statistica (D7). ...
Le contingenze economiche, gli sviluppi sociali e i mutamenti ambientali degli ultimi dieci anni hanno contribuito a porre maggiore enfasi sul tema dell'etica negli studi economico-aziendali e, in particolare, di contabilità. Il presente lavoro muove dall'importanza e dalla necessità di esplorare e riassumere la ricerca esistente sul concetto di etica negli studi di contabilità, con gli obiettivi di identificare come la letteratura sia evoluta fino ad ora, offrire una critica dello stato dell'arte attuale e delineare future opportunità di ricerca. A tal fine, è condotta una Revisione Strutturata della Letteratura (RSL). I risultati evidenziano come l'etica contabile rappresenti un filone di ricerca trasversale, che si pone a supporto della disamina di diversi temi negli studi contabili. Inoltre, si osserva una spiccata focalizzazione della letteratura sul contesto nordamericano e, quindi, sulle determinanti comportamentali afferenti a quella cultura. Da un punto di vista metodologico, viene rilevata la predominanza di studi a carattere deduttivo che fanno leva sull'analisi statistica di grandi quantità di dati. Infine, si riscontra una totale assenza di studi incentrati sulle specificità delle aziende ed amministrazioni pubbliche. Il riscontro di tali caratteristiche della conoscenza prodotta finora consente di delineare percorsi di ricerca cui la letteratura sull'etica contabile potrà-probabilmente o auspicabilmente-tendere nel prossimo futuro.
... Penggunaan kerangka pemikiran yang berasal dari teori lazim diimplementasikan dalam penelitian kualitatif (Kamayanti, 2016b). Bahkan, adanya theorical lens tersebut justru akan memberikan nilai tambah terhadap suatu penelitian kualitatif (Llewelyn, 2003). Teori institutional work dikembangkan pertama kali oleh Lawrence dan Suddaby (2006). ...
Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk memahami lebih jauh mengenai dinamika yang terjadi terkait implementasi standar akuntansi keuangan untuk entitas nirlaba sebagai dasar penyusunan laporan keuangan pada masjid yang berada dibawah naungan yayasan. Yang menjadi fokus utama dalam penelitian ini adalah untuk mengupas upaya yang dilakukan seorang aktor yang hendak menerapkan praktik baru dalam organisasi tempat dia bernaung dengan menjelaskan tentang tekanan eksternal apa saja yang melatarbelakangi usahanya, apa motif utama dari tindakan aktor tersebut, serta cara dia mempengaruhi kebijakan organisasi. Metode penelitian yang diterapkan adalah observasi partisipan selama kurun waktu Oktober 2018 s.d. Maret 2019 dan wawancara tidak terstruktur terhadap beberapa informan yang terlibat dalam proses pengambilan keputusan. Teori institutional work digunakan sebagai theoretical lens untuk memotret fenomena yang terjadi dalam rangka memenuhi fokus penelitian. Pada akhirnya, penelitian ini berhasil mengungkap fakta mengenai terjadinya tekanan koersif dalam penyusunan laporan keuangan masjid serta praktik advocacy, educating, dan mimicry yang dilakukan oleh aktor utama yang mengusung implementasi standar akuntansi entitas nirlaba dalam penyusunan laporan keuangan masjid. Hasil penelitian ini dapat menjadi acuan bagi para pengurus masjid maupun entitas nirlaba lainnya untuk mengetahui tentang langkah dan praktik penerapan standar akuntansi entitas nirlaba pada pelaporan keuangan masjid.
... This made narratives helpful in constructing a coherent story of accountingisation in terms of the actors identified and their roles in describing these processes in each case study. Efforts were thus made to apprehend narratives (Czarniawska, 2004) and counternarratives (Laine & Vinnari, 2020) through the actors describing the phenomena that collectively provided framing for the concept of accountingisation (Power & Laughlin, 1992) for further theorisation (Llewelyn, 2003). ...
Abstract
This thesis explores the practice of calculations and their consequences in different professional contexts. Specifically, it aims to extend the discussion on the relationship between accounting and public sector professionals by elaborating on the concept of accountingisation using a performative approach. Accountingisation has been discussed in the literature in terms of the colonising and transformative effects of accounting on professionals. This concurs with observations that expansion of calculative practices in public sector organisations brings about economisation and the perception of accounting as performative. This is a one-sided depiction of accountingisation. However, a gap remains in that professionals’ agency has been overlooked in this relationship. Such a gap consequently necessitates further research in order to refine the argument that accountingisation is not only a one- way effect of accounting on professionals per se, but rather rooted within the mutual relationship between them. This thesis attempts to fill such a gap by focusing on the concepts of performativity and accountingisation in a range of professional contexts. Empirically, the study consists of four case studies illustrating calculative practices unfolding between accounting and professionals in each individual context. These are (I) pay determination for teachers in Swedish schools, (II) performance measurements within an emergency unit in a Swedish hospital, (III) cost-benefit analyses in a social care organisation in a Swedish municipality, and (IV) medical professionals’ reactions in pandemic initiatives in Turkey. In these studies, data has been collected from interviews, observations, and documents, and analyses have been conducted qualitatively by focusing on (counter-) narratives framing descriptions of the empirical phenomena. Based on the findings of these individual studies, this thesis draws its conclusions that (1) accounting can be both performative and counter-performative in shaping professional organisations, and such differentiation depends on the way in which the constellation between professional and accounting calculations is organised; (2) professions are found to be performative in relation to accounting in their shaping of the ways that things are done through their own calculations, such as professional standards measuring and assuring the quality of work, and ethics and norms valuing the good/bad conduct of work; and (3) accounting is not always necessarily imposed on the professional contexts, but professionals may also voluntarily engage in its construction by bringing forth (counter-) accounts. (4) A final finding shows that accountingisation manifests differently in terms of the different organisation of professional and accounting calculations in different professional contexts. In the light of these findings, this thesis extends the overall discussion of accountingisation by shifting focus from considering it as a one-way effect of accounting on professionals and public sector organisations to diverse and mutual performative relations between professionals and accounting.
Parts of work
I. Fırtın, C. E., & Kastberg, G. (2020). Calculating pay in Swedish schools: Accounting, performativity, and misfires. Financial Accountability & Management, 36(4), 420-438. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd: DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12236
II. Fırtın, C. E., & Karlsson, T. (2020). (Re)descriptions of medical professional work: exploring accounting as a performative device within an emergency unit health-care context. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 32(2), 159-176. Published by Emerald Publishing Ltd: DOI: http://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-05-2019-0084
III. Fırtın, C. E. (2022) Accountingisation of social care: The multiplicity and embeddedness of calculations and valuations in costing and caring practices. Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, (ahead-of-print). Published by Emerald Publishing Ltd: DOI: http://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-03-2021-0048
IV. Fırtın, C. E., Tekin Bilbil, E. & Kastberg Weichselberger, G. (Submitted) Accounting and counter-accounting in the midst of a crisis.
... The concept of accountability is grounded in agency theory (Broadbent et al., 1996). Llewelyn (2003) describes the need for responsibility (of an agent) to and for others, in addition to the organizational structure with the goal of holding its agents accountable. It has to be noted that the concept of accountability also has its roots in NPM (Hood, 1995(Hood, , 1998. ...
“Stretching the Public Purse: Budgetary Responses to a Global Pandemic” is the title of the special issue of the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management that was compiled in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas the special issue looked at the pandemic from a budgetary perspective, the aim of this chapter is to look at the issues from a government accounting perspective and asks what government accounting can contribute to the financial analysis.KeywordsAccountabilityAustraliaCOVID-19Financial statementsGermanyNew ZealandUnited States
... The four editorials mainly summarise the research included in various special calls for papers (see discussion above) while offering epistemological insights for moving forward; however, none of these editorials introduced CIT to the accounting literature. Among the three research papers, is grounded in Lehman's (1992) gender research, while Irvine & Deo (2006) is grounded in Llewelyn's (2003) five levels of theorising. McNicholas & Barrett (2005) is the most closely aligned with the tenets of CIT as they discuss Maori research methodologies to highlight the development of decolonising methodologies emerging in the global context, through which Indigenous Peoples seek to develop research questions that they believe will lead to positive outcomes for themselves. ...
Research exploring the intersection of accounting and Indigenous Peoples took off in the 1990s. We introduce principles of critical Indigenous theory into this field. We suggest that Indigenous understandings of ontology, epistemology, axiology, and methodology should form the basis of more future research into accounting and Indigenous Peoples. Before this can be done, however, a clear understanding of recent research on accounting and Indigenous Peoples is needed. We synthesise research in this area through a systematic literature review that identifies 72 relevant articles from 1979–2020. We undertake both content and thematic analysis of these articles. We find existing literature is largely grounded in Western understandings of ontology, epistemology, axiology, and methodology. We identify opportunities for insights from CIT to inform future accounting research with Indigenous Peoples as a step towards building relationships, respect, and reconciliation.
... Interestingly, these studies have been accused of using "grand theories" that do not better understand the profound relationship between IC components and performance (Edvinsson et al., 2022). A definition of grand theories is given by Llewelyn (2003), who clarifies how such theories have a high degree of generality, and they are formulated by thinking through issues and relationships in a very abstract way than gathered through empirical or practical experiences. ...
The paper aims at understanding how small and medium accounting practices micromanage their Intellectual Capital (IC) for sustaining their performance in a constantly changing environment, starting from the CAOS framework. The paper employs a quantitative methodology based on a questionnaire developed with the Italian Chartered Accounting Association endorsement. 3,002 questionnaires obtained by solo owners of firms with less than 50 employees were analyzed using a Structural Equation Model (SEM). The findings highlight that IC is a complex concept where entrepreneurial and organizational aspects interact together. A micro-level approach could be used to explain IC development. CEO’s entrepreneurial orientation can support organizations in building knowledge management tools, as well as developing relational capital. CEOs who are more willing to take risks and innovate can better foster IC development, affecting firm's performance.
... This paper relies first on the qualitative research approach because the goal is to understand, identify and classify the factors creating the value of football sports clubs from the stakeholders' perspective. The approach chosen for the research leads to a more holistic understanding of value creation and measurement within its context, noting that a similar approach was taken by accounting and performance management researchers (Llewelyn, 2003;Hopper and Hoque, 2006). As a result, the paper develops methods related to enterprise valuation theory and the theory of enterprise value management based on the case of sports clubs, which determines the cognitive nature of the research. ...
Purpose: The presented study aims to identify and classify the value factors that influence the value of football clubs from the stakeholder perspective, while also discussing how these factors can affect the choice of valuation methods. The paper considers how value should be measured from the perspective of stakeholders. Research focuses on clubs embedded deeply in a wide interrelated network of stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach: A mixed research approach was established in order to obtain a more holistic understanding of value creation, value factors and measurement. The research builds on observational study with a mix of retrospective longitudinal study of Polish men's football clubs and interviews with stakeholders, which are then triangulated as part of a critical discussion on valuation methods.
Findings: The results show the most significant value factors determined by the stakeholders. The study discusses which performance and value measures should be used to measure value for the stakeholders of football clubs. Intellectual capital methods and asset-based methods should definitely be relied on as part of measuring the performance of football clubs within the stakeholders' network. All findings suggest the use of the multivariate valuation method in accordance with previous research.
Originality/value: The classified key value factors enable the management of football clubs to properly manage stakeholder relationships and address various stakeholders' concerns in a sustainable way. The paper proposes a research process, which may also be implemented in other studies in the non-profit sector and contributes to the literature in the fields of sports management.
... Sonhaji (2017), in analyzing the data and including it in the structure of the ShMACF used the metaphorical method of the "mosque pulpit," which is parallel to the ShMACF construction, which is also used to help to construct the structure. Metaphors are commonly used to elaborate phenomena or theoretical thinking and analysis in research to connect something unfamiliar to the familiar (Llewelyn, 2003). It is for this reason that the metaphorical method is used. ...
There is an idea to build sharia management accounting starting from constructing the sharia management accounting conceptual framework. The framework has been developed, one of which contains the objectives of sharia management accounting information reporting. This article aims to develop further the objectives of sharia management accounting information reporting to find the value and characteristics of sharia management accounting information. Qualitative research is used in this study. The data in the form of text were analyzed using the reflective method. The analysis uses a quadrant that articulates the objectives of sharia management accounting information reporting with the management hierarchy and the network of value-creating activities. The study found the nature, type, and value of information that should be presented by a sharia management accounting information system.
... The identification of intangible assets and the communication of their value seem to be viewed as a key competitive driver (Eustace, 2000). These studies are usually based on "Grand Theory" (Dumay, 2012;Llewelyn, 2003). This theory states that ICD is important for investors because it improves their decision making and it disciplines management and boards with positive economic rewards (Andriessen, 2004;Zarowin & Lev, 1999). ...
Nowadays the fourth industrial revolution, called “Industry 4.0” (I4.0) is profoundly changing the entire systems of production, management, and governance. Emerging smart technologies are the key enabling technologies involved in the I4.0. In this chapter we briefly examine, through a systematic literature review, the state of the art in the area of I4.0. Specifically, we investigate the scientific knowledge about the smart technologies that are at the forefront of I4.0 development, such as additive manufacturing, augmented reality, cloud computing, 5G communication and chatbot. Then, we investigate the most promising application of smart technologies in the business environment, that is the smart factory. We analysed 92 academic articles identifying technical potential, business prospects and industry applications of these new relevant smart technologies and provides distinct perspectives on smart technologies within the sphere of smart factory. Our findings reveal some interesting insights regarding the future for research on smart technologies in the field of business and management, offering hints for thought to both organizations as well as academics.
... Financial resources as a "connector" may be used by officers to assess the performance of comprehensive responsibility in respect to "powerful" stakeholders or "less powerful" stakeholders. Therefore, accountability links are seen as having either an objective sense of control aiming towards hierarchical upward responsibility or a subjective reality intended to benefit groups of stakeholders (Llewelyn, 2003). To ensure that their organization's objectives and the "development" goal of poverty reduction are met, non-governmental organization executives are increasingly being held responsible to a broad range of stakeholders. ...
Accountability is a critical notion in social policy because it underpins a government or private actor's efforts to deliver services to client groups and execute social programs. Over the last few decades, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become an integral part of most countries' organizational landscape which plays an intermediary role between donors and beneficiaries. To ensure the efficient utilization of resources, NGOs are required to be accountable to the two main stakeholders they serve: donors and beneficiaries. There are challenges in evaluating performance criteria, particularly when it comes to measurable effect indicators. The argument is that the impact of other variables on NGOs renders interpretative and strategic responsibility difficult. This article explains the forms and how accountability is practiced in Non-Governmental Organizations in Ghana. This paper focuses on exploring how accountability is influenced by the organizational missions and values. The study adopted an in-depth interpretive case study approach using two selected organizations in the Central Region of Ghana. Data was gathered by way of interviews and documentary review. In total, 10 interviews were conducted in the selected organizations. The study revealed that the accountability systems were both upward and downward towards donors. The study therefore proposes that donors should show a much greater commitment to accountability, and actively involve beneficiaries in the process of accountability in obtaining genuine benefits.
... All the data provided during the daily conferences between 24th February 2020 and 17th May 2020 have been analysed and discussed among the authors in ad hoc online meetings. Data have been interpreted consistent with the understandings of qualitative interdisciplinary accounting research (Llewelyn, 2003) to pursue "issues of meaning and interpretation in the social world" and thereby seek "a holistic understanding and critique of lived experiences, social settings and behaviours" (Parker, 2012, p. 55). Consistently, to understand the way in which the Italian government has been able to gain acceptance of its actions, the paper draws upon the work of Giorgio Agamben, especially his concepts of the state of exception, bare life and biosecurity (Agamben, 1998(Agamben, , 2005(Agamben, , 2020. ...
Purpose
The paper examines how accounting and accounting experts provided important contributions to the Italian government's strategy to address the COVID-19 emergency in 2020, especially in terms of implementing new rules of conduct and providing justification for penetrating interventions in the life of individuals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach by drawing upon Agamben's concepts of the state of exception, bare life and biosecurity to understand the purposes of the decrees issued by the Italian government and data provided to the citizens in the “daily bulletin” on the crisis by the Civil Protection Department.
Findings
Accounting data provided essential contributions to the government's strategy that sought to spread disquiet and uncertainty in the population to ensure compliance with the strict rules in place, thereby sustaining the management of the country under a state of exception.
Social implications
The study draws attention to the way in which accounting provides justification for measures that are promoted as provisional but which have enduring effects, most importantly the ability of governments in the future to suspend the rights of individuals. It shows how accounting can influence people's behaviour and contribute to the development of a permanent state of exception that significantly increases government prerogatives.
Originality/value
The work contributes to the literature on accounting and emergencies by studying the use of accounting information as a subtle means to ensure support for extreme government actions and ultimately as a political tool that promotes biosecurity as a new government paradigm.
... This focus on frames and framing, and the three frames examined in this review, bear significant implications for future theorization of philanthrocapitalism. In research, theory itself serves as a frame: based on defined presuppositions, and using specific language and terminology, a theory provides focus, drawing attention to certain phenomena at the expense of others (Llewelyn, 2003). In philanthrocapitalism-and philanthropy more broadly-we must question what and who is or is not included within these frames. ...
Philanthrocapitalism—the strategic application of market methods and motives for philanthropic purposes—plays increasingly prominent roles in policy design and implementation at national and international levels. Notwithstanding philanthrocapitalism's growing significance, relevant scholarly discourse remains limited and fragmented. Drawing together diverse debates, our paper systematically reviews and synthesizes academic literature on philanthrocapitalism. Alongside raising questions about the casting and practice of philanthropy, the 186 relevant publications included in our review indicate a strong emphasis of philanthrocapitalism in the areas of education, international development, healthcare and agriculture. Across these, we identify and discuss the importance of three cultural frames: (1) development challenges being framed as scientific problems; (2) beneficiaries being framed as productive entrepreneurs; and (3) philanthropy being framed as social investment. Outlining and critically examining these issues, this work contributes: a comprehensive analysis of key debates and issues; strengthened conceptual clarity and nuance through an evaluative exploration of the multiple interpretations of philanthrocapitalism; and a future research agenda to address persisting knowledge gaps and refine focus.
... Differentiation describes theorizing through categorizing and contrasting a system to create order and understanding (Llewelyn, 2003). The importance of differentiation as a form of theorizing in a philanthropic context is noted by Toepler (1999), who contends that without within-country and international agreement on the categories of foundations, comparative empirical research is fraught with pitfalls. ...
This paper explores accountability and identity in the context of public philanthropic foundations. While public foundations are an important and diverse group, their identity and accountability have been assumed rather than systematically considered and explored. The development of a typology of public foundations drawing on concepts from identity, accountability and stakeholder theories highlights variations across three key dimensions: strategic focus, independence and impact focus. This review informs debate on accountability in public philanthropic foundations in both Australia and internationally. Exploring internal identity‐based drivers of accountability reveals significant variations in accountability regarding stakeholder salience (accountability to whom), how public foundations invest their corpus and whether they identify as being engaged with a geographic or cause‐based community (accountability for what). The contribution made by this paper consists of the extension and clarification of conceptual understandings of the ways in which a philanthropic organization's identity influences its behaviours. The role of organizational identity in understanding accountability of philanthropic foundations facilitates deeper engagement with issues and questions of accountability in these proverbially opaque organizations.
... Finally, a number of studies have attempted to understand and theorise the mechanisms and/or processes of contextual impacts on SEA development. In Llewelyn's (2003) five levels of theorising, theorising contexts mostly falls into level fourtheorizing settings. That is, to explain how specific social, organisational or individual phenomena in the contextual settings are socially organised (p. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review most recent developments of social and environmental accounting (SEA) in the context of developing countries and to offer insights for the latest research in this field. It also provides an introduction to the AAAJ special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have undertaken a conceptual overview of the field developed in the past two decades (2001–2020) with a view to identify major themes, trends and future research directions.
Findings
The overview reveals that only 43 SEA papers addressing contextual challenges of developing countries have been published in leading accounting journals in the last 20 years. The coverage of these publications is concentrated in a small number of countries and regions. Interdisciplinary accounting journals, especially AAAJ, are the main publishing outlets in this field. The topic areas are dominated by social accounting challenges, with much less focus on environmental accounting, although developing countries are particularly exposed to the threats of climate change, water pollution and biodiversity loss. The literature reviewed uses elaborating, problematising and theorising contexts as three main contextualisation approaches to analyse contextual themes framed around regulatory, political, cultural and religious, and social-economic systems. Although various conceptual lenses have been adopted in the developing country SEA literature, the use of institutional theory and its various extensions to address political and cultural complexities seems to become more prominent, as shown in most of the contributions included in this special issue.
Research limitations/implications
This review is limited to leading accounting journals. SEA research increasingly published in other disciplines such as in management, social and environmental areas might provide a more comprehensive view in this research field.
Originality/value
In this paper, inter alia , the authors review and synthesise the previous literature in a conceptual framework, illustrating and highlighting the importance of contextual framing of SEA in developing countries. Based on this review, the authors propose some ideas for a future research agenda aiming to advance the field. The authors expect this paper and the special issue to act as a reference point for emerging SEA researchers from developing countries to raise more scholarly impactful enquiries in this area.
... Chua (1988) argued that interpretive sociology refers to an intellectual tradition, which focuses on the constructive and interpretive action of people. Llewelyn (2003) observed that qualitative research using interpretive methodologies now has become increasingly influential. According to these methodologies, performance measurement systems are not natural phenomena, they are socially constructed and they can be changed by social actors (Ryan et al., 1992). ...
This research explored in depth the evolution of performance measurement systems in the context of new public management initiatives in Australian public sector. A governmental department in the Australian Capital Territory was selected for the purpose of the exploration. The qualitative research approach was adopted and data was collected following case study tradition. The main data sources were archival official documents and interviews. In addition, the researchers used direct observation to supplement and corroborate the archival documents and interview data. The empirical evidence presented in this research supports the fact that the selected Australian government department has implemented performance measurement systems in the line of new public management to illustrate the department’s commitment to efficiency and accountability. The research undertaken was in-depth, using a case study and though generalization is not possible from this single case study, the findings may be expected to add knowledge to existing literature and provide some important lessons for other public sector entities of the developing countries who are interested in adopting performance measurement systems as their control devices. Keywords: public sector, performance measurement systems, new public management, developing countries, Australia.
... Considering Llewelyn's (2003) five levels of theorising (metaphor, differentiation, conceptualisation, context-bound theorising, and context-free theorising), differentiation is most applicable to taxonomies. Differentiation describes theorising through categorising and contrasting a system to create order and understanding. ...
... Eisenhardt, 1991;Spicer, 1992;Sridharan and Phang, 2014) stress the The roles of triangulation and generalization need to identify explicit evidences for multiple scenarios and build on those evidences whose outcomes converge in order to build a coherent explanation, which is the first step in the process of accumulating such explanations to develop a new theory, several interpretivist experts (e.g. Lukka and Mouritsen, 2002;Llewelyn, 2003;Modell, 2015;Parker, 2017) argue that though accumulating evidence (for different questions) that converge toward same outcomes is necessary, it is currently carried out more implicitly as part of an on-going research process. Lukka and Modell (2017) however describe the explanatory potential in interpretive research as follows. ...
Purpose
This research paper seeks to advance the techniques of “within-paradigm” triangulation and theoretical generalization adopted in qualitative field studies for new theory development in management control.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the evidence gleaned from three positivist case studies along with some published interpretivist studies, this paper identifies three triangulation approaches and links them with three forms of theoretical generalization in qualitative field studies.
Findings
While the “literal” approach to triangulation has its place in the extant literature, this study finds that two other approaches, labeled “convergent” and “normative” triangulation, which are relevant in many circumstances to link multiple pieces of evidence in order to build credible explanations. In theory development, while the extant forms of theoretical generalization (constructive and contextual) are useful for identifying new solutions for both practical and theoretical concerns, this paper finds that a third form, namely “transposed” logic, is relevant in identifying new control problems that can benefit by adopting the observed unusual solutions.
Originality/value
Within triangulation, while the extant literature endorses the role of literal triangulation in obtaining consistent evidence, including how verifying inconsistent responses helps improve the validity of the obtained evidence, this paper advances two new triangulation approaches that can enrich the extant literature. Within theoretical generalization, while the extant literature deems constructive and contextual forms as “rhetoric”, this paper (1) expands their status to “logic” by clarifying their theoretical purpose and (2) introduces one new form, namely “transposed” logic that helps identify a generalizable range of management control problems that can adopt the observed unusual solution.
... Broadbent & Guthrie, 2008;van Helden, 2005;Goddard, 2010). In accounting, scholars also argue that published research relies on different levels of theorisation, ranging from metaphors and differentiation representing early stages of theorisation, to more advanced forms of theorisation (Jacobs, 2012;Llewelyn, 2003). Jacobs (2012) provides specific examples of early stages of theorisation in public sector research, such as accountability, risk, and the value of money, whilst other articles borrow concepts and theories from other disciplines. ...
This study examines the extent of cross-disciplinary accounting research using a self-constructed definitional framework developed from a review of diverse literatures to better understand its meaning and underlying dimensions. The two identifiable dimensions, integration (blending of concepts) and interaction (researcher collaboration), sit along a continuum of relationships creating the potential for new knowledge through cross-disciplinary research. Data analysis using the publication descriptors from three highly regarded cross-disciplinary accounting research journals (AAAJ, AOS, CPA) suggest that cross-disciplinary accounting research is underpinned by conceptual 'integration' but less emphasis is placed on the 'interaction' between researchers of diverse disciplines. The findings also indicate that cross-disciplinarity is associated with higher citations. Interestingly, we found that the interaction dimension has a growing effect, over time, on article citations.
... Our aim is therefore to explicate practice (Llewelyn 2003) and to further the conceptualization of professional elite roles. We contribute to the literature by illuminating six different elite roles. ...
The aim of this article is to contribute to the literature on how stratification affects professions. Our case is the first teacher reform in Sweden, which introduced a more prominent position for some teachers. In this article, we elaborate six different first teacher types and analyze how these affect the profession. While elites are generally described as hybrids, we conclude that several of our types rather led to a de‐hybridization of roles, where managers became more administratively focused, and elites more anchored to professional tasks. We conclude that elite roles expose various potentials in being strengthening/weakening or shattering/integrating to the profession, but, in contrast to other studies on professional elites, the majority of roles studied here are both strengthening and integrating to the profession. The study is qualitative and based on 111 interviews, 12 weeks of shadowing and 53 observed meetings.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Extended Abstract Introduction and Objectives: The development and progress of any society in any field, including scientific, cultural, economic, political, and social, has a robust correlation and relationship with the growth and progress of universities in those societies, and universities, as scientific centers, play an important and key role in the production and development of scientific theories. Despite policy recommendations and policymaking regarding the advancement of theorization in Iran, it seems that this phenomenon has not yet developed as it should, and Iranian universities still have weaknesses in this area, which reflects the issues and problems they face. Undoubtedly, as long as there is no complete and comprehensive view of the scope of these issues and concerns, it is impossible to think of solutions to them and work towards resolving them ultimately increasing the capacity for theory construction. To educate Iran's future generation, it is vital to build theories of social and human sciences, but unfortunately, in the last few decades, no significant and effective theory has been produced at the national level that addresses this issue. The lack of theoretical works that are trend-setting and related to the original values of the Iran's Islamic Revolution causes distortion in practice. The lack of serious attention and diligence in local and national theorization at the university and research center levels causes weak analyses and wrong decisions and policies at the organizational level, and designing weak and ineffective programs at the operational level, the consequences of which will be anarchism in practice and incompetence, and this important weakness and defect in the field of social activities and missions will cause citizens to distrust the efficiency of the organization. The purpose of this research was to identify obstacles to theorization by faculty members of the Iran's universities. Method: The research method was applied in terms of purpose and is included in the mixed methods in terms of nature. The research strategy was sequential exploratory. In this research design, qualitative data was first collected and analyzed, then quantitative data; therefore, the phenomenon was first scrutinized, and then quantitative data was used to determine the relationships between qualitative data, and qualitative data also created quantitative data. For this purpose, the interview tool was first used to collect the opinions of experts about the obstacles to theorization. The research participants were faculty members of public universities in the humanities who were selected using non-random, purposive, and judgmental sampling methods, and the process continued until theoretical saturation. In the next stage, based on the collected codes, the questionnaire on the obstacles to theorization in the university level was prepared from qualitative interviews and extracted using a quantitative "descriptive-survey" method, and then distributed among 385 members of the university's faculties using a cluster random method according to the Cochran's (1977) formula to determine their opinion on the importance of each item. In the qualitative part, the thematic analysis method was used to count the codes, and in the quantitative part, the Friedman test was used for expressive ranking. Furthermore, to increase the credibility and validity of research findings, triangulation as a qualitative research strategy (using multiple datasets, methods, theories, and/or investigators to address a research question), receiving feedback from the research participants, and providing a detailed description of the phenomenon under study to the participants were used. Results: In general, in the qualitative section, after conducting 15 interviews and analyzing the interviews, 218 basic codes, 45 organizing codes, and 4 comprehensive codes were identified. The comprehensive codes include: 1) Individual competencies of the theorist (in this code, the issues were as follows: weak scientific and theoretical foundation and lack of specialized knowledge, not following scientific discussions related to the specialized field and not participating in relevant scientific and specialized communities, lack of skills in scientific criticism of theories, weak scientific courage, superficial, one-dimensional and uncreative minds of professors, vagueness of scientific concerns and lack of organizational and knowledge issues throughout scientific and educational life, low self-confidence and self-deprecation among professors, self-interest and selfishness, and bad professional ethics), 2) Organizational culture (absence of a proper atmosphere for discussion at the university level, the dominance of a hierarchical and commanding culture in the organization, lack of intellectual freethinking discussion among professors due to organizational positions; faculty can set the stage for facilitating difficult dialogues through the creation of a supportive culture, supremacy of bureaucracy in the field of science, dominance of hierarchical values and obedience over boldness and risk-taking at the level of faculty members), 3) University management and leadership (lack of a proper plan and strategy for leading the universities' human, scientific, and intellectual capital, lack of a proper motivation system to encourage professors to theorization, lack of a scientific, comprehensive, and long-term plan for the university's theoretical and research areas, lack of involvement and participation of professors in real and objective issues) and 4) knowledge systems and processes (lack of an executive mechanism for developing and deepening theorization in the university, weak interaction and communication with national and international universities and scientific institutions, lack of an intelligent structure for transforming organizational experiences into scientific theories, lack of active and subject-oriented research centers and think tanks). Discussion and Conclusions: Theorization goes through a difficult path; therefore, at best, people who have been at the pinnacle of knowledge have been able to produce theoretical propositions and perhaps in some cases have come close to it. The competencies and capacities of individuals allow them to have a precise, correct, and comprehensive understanding and analysis of a phenomenon or problem with self-confidence, motivation, perseverance, and physical and mental vitality. Creating a theory is the product of examining, studying, and thinking deeply and elaborately about the phenomenon under study and conceptualizing it. In addition to individual competencies, a theorist requires Methodology of Social Sciences and Humanities Journal homepage: https://method.rihu.ac.ir/ appropriate and encouraging conditions and context for research and study. The findings of this study showed that to encourage theorization in universities, serious attention should be paid to the four dimensions of the theorist's individual competencies, organizational culture, university management and leadership, and knowledge systems and processes. In the dimension of individual competencies, a theorist requires strengthening two psychological and personality foci (self-confidence, teamwork, and creativity and analysis) and a behavioral focus (updating knowledge, participating in scientific circles, and creating an atmosphere for criticism and review). In the dimension of organizational culture, the core values of "democracy, open and free discourse, risk-taking, criticism, and creativity and innovation" should be prioritized in the country's universities. In the dimension of management and leadership, university officials should use their management tools to "encourage and motivate professors, support, and advocacy, research-oriented, and create indigenous knowledge in the country," and ultimately, the country's knowledge systems and processes should move toward intelligence, agility, knowledge integration, and synergy.
MOST Framework of Strategic Management: MOST is an acronym standing for a mission, objective, strategy and tactics, and is a well-structured framework, shown in Figure 1, that captures the feedforward and feedback sequences, as well as the two-way communications, of strategic management. In a literal sense, MOST are management by objective (MOB) in nature (Alam, Lawrence, and Nandan, 2004), but is flexible in that it provides a robust platform to embrace various theories of organization and strategies. MOST are missioned to perform the assigned tasks in ways that can gain competitive advantage and sustained performance. By competitive advantage, Peteraf and Barney (2003, p. 314) offer a definition that a firm has a “competitive advantage if it is able to create more economic value than the marginal (breakeven) competitor in its product market”, and by economic value, it means the difference between perceived benefits to the purchaser and the economic cost to the firm (ibid, p. 318). Thus, puts it in Chandler’s (1962, p. 13) context, the MOST framework highlights the “determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of course of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals”. For instance, while in neo-classical theory the ownership group determines the objectives of the firm, the behavioral approach to firms argues that “the formulation of objectives in large organizations occur as a result of a complex process of organizational bargaining and that with respect to the motivation of individuals acting within their roles in the organization” (Pass and Lowes, 1978, p. 10). Although there is always a feedback mechanism in work, the organizational strategy depends on a well-defined mission or set of objectives to help direct the organization toward a desired outcome (Rangan, 2004).
Firms vary to the extent that “they adhere to their business and marketing plans” (Morgan and Hunt, 2002, p. 451). Marketers often rely on brand management as an effective dialogue, communication and relationship platform with customers (Kaumann et al. 2016), as an efficient way to differentiate from among the competitive choices available. Nevertheless, for brands to be effective, organizations must be able to stimulate quality brand experiences, especially those experiences that have unique brand personalities (Lin, 2010). In fact, brand personality has been recognized as indicating the effectiveness of marketing efforts (Arora and Stoner, 2009). Brand focus is particularly important in a highly competitive environment where organizations feel the need to react to market-based pressures creatively. Despite its importance, research that studies branding in higher education is relatively new (Idris and Whitfield, 2014, p. 41), and towards this end, Palmer, Koenig-Lewis, and Assad (2016) study the mediating role of brand identification. Palmer et al. (2016) approach their research from a standpoint which recognizes brand as a “long-lasting and stable reference” (Kapferer, 2008, p. 37) and thus they stress recalled brand perceptions rather than brand perceptions at the time of consumption.
This research considers higher learning institutions as involved in a value co-creation process in the nurturement and empowerment of students, such as by engaging the students with new experiences and transformational processes (Wilson and Elliot, 2016), both academically and socially (Palmer et al. 2016; Yue and Tan, 2016), the following research objective is established: This research sets its objective to study how the perceived student experiences and engagement, in academic and social domains, and the perceived brand identification which reflects the relevancy of the students to the university brand personalities, by positioning within cybernetic psychology field of knowledge. As discussed in Scott (2011), cybernetic psychology, recognizes two significant roles – namely, cognition and operative processes, in working towards regulating and managing a dynamic system like a university, which are responsible for conceptualizations and implementations and executions of the concepts, as typified in a model-based management system. In other words, this research treats brand management as a model-based management system (Ambroz and Derecin, 2010), which incorporates the explicit and formalized brand personality as a cognitive model to regulate student experiences and engagements both academically and socially. By embedding psychology in a cybernetic socio-technical system, the intelligent nature of the university’s dynamic systems under study has exploited mechanisms of intrinsic control (Beer, 2002), such as brand personality, as regulator or control (Wiener, 1948) for the behaviors of the system, in realtime. In this way, cybernetic psychology is essentially a domain of the second-order cybernetics which studies the cybernetics of observing systems, rather than cybernetics of observed systems as in first-order cybernetics (Foerster, 1974). In doing so, this research presents a significant contribution to the existing knowledge by underpinning on cybernetic view yet exploiting existent theories of environmental psychology, anthropomorphism, the “extended self”, “self-congruence,” and brand profiling that are familiar to researchers of brand-related literature. Thus, this research provides a cybernetics-oriented cognitive-operative framework for the university to manage its brand, strategically, in order to position in the minds of the students through creating uniquely differentiated brand personality and richness of the student experiences and engagement. In this way, the brand engagement by the university is established by exploiting the aligned mental (brand personality), social (social experiences of the students) and physical elements (student experiences and engagements) of student experience typology (cf. Aho, 2016).
The purpose of this paper is to exploit the available literature to propose and support the MOST framework of strategic management. A literature review approach is employed which reviews the current state of the strategic management discipline to provide the theoretical bases to support the argument for the applicability and validity of the MOST framework of strategic management. A MOST framework is proposed which illuminates a holistic approach to strategic management, standing on a platform of behavioral theory of the firm, social cognitive theory, structural theory, the resource-based view (RBV) and advantage theory, theory of organizational learning, attention-based view (ABV), CSR theory, etc. This paper should lead to research on how to advance the field of strategic management, towards a unified structure for strategic management. The seemingly non-empirical limitation is delimited by the comprehensive arguments of the published works and theoretical explanations in supporting the subtle dynamics of the MOST framework. This paper is the first to extend the MOST framework comprehensively, yet in a parsimonious manner to put the strategic management reality into a systematic and observable manner. The MOST structure is thus a holistic framework that can help the strategists, organizations, profits or nonprofits, to improve their strategic planning, performance management and organizational learning processes, and is a theory within theories, which guides how the organizations go about their strategic issues. While the theory is a result of observing reality, the theory also shapes reality, as the theory formation eventually leads to a dominant structure of thoughts (known as schools of thought) which guides and dictates the perceptions and interpretations of the realities.
This is a book about strategic management, which is based on the research works of the author. The book has more than 1,000 cited references. The readers i.e. students, research scholars, business decision makers, government policy makers, will be introduced to a unique “MOST” framework of strategic management that exploits the different views and ideologies of strategies, as organized inventories of cognition, in the strategic analysis or research processes, in order to arrive at strategic choices and a robust business model for winning in the marketplace. Four empirical research examples are illustrated. Both the undergraduate and post-graduate students of business majors would benefit significantly from this comprehensive compendium of strategy formation and management knowledge.
The book is arranged in sixteen chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction. Chapter 2 presents various nature and characteristics of strategy and introduces the “MOST” model to strategic management. Chapter 3 provides some theoretical positions of the “MOST” model. Chapter 4 discusses the various “Ps” nature of strategy, including introducing a P-based strategic management framework. The detailed skeleton of the “MOST” is covered in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 overviews some important strategy tools. In Chapter 7, different nature of strategic choice is presented. Chapter 8 provides the evaluation criteria for assessing the strategic choice. Chapter 9 presents various elements of strategy implementation. Chapter 10 covers business model, including a subsection of CBT (Community-based Tourism) which is the research of the author and colleague Dr. Busaba Sitikarn. Chapter 12 overviews the research method for strategy formulation. Chapters 13-16 present four empirical research reports in various aspects of strategic management. In essence, The “MOST” model is an example of the “systemic” approach to strategic management. The word “systemic” is linked to “systems”, which is premised on a philosophy that no idea can be fully understood until it is incorporated into an organized field of knowledge. Thus, the “MOST” model is an effort made to arrive at an organized body of knowledge, which has been vastly neglected in the extant literature. The overall systemic configuration of the “MOST” strategic management model is shown in the following conceptual framework.
Operatively and tactically, being “systemic” in nature embeds and embodies a learning-centric driving force in play. Operatively, continuous performance improvement – a key success attribute often associated with world class practice and management – has been concluded to be achievable only when an organization monitors its progress constantly, based on measured facts, depicting the “MOST” model in continuous feedback loop system. Otherwise, organizational performance would be created at random. The tactical domain concerns the subtleties of the complex relationships of relevant variables embedded in the system of strategic measurement, and the roles the variables could play in ensuring reliability and accountability. This depends on the daily reproduction of performance expectations as depicted in the single-loop learning mechanism, and also depends on the ability to learn beyond the confines of the present knowledge profiles of the organization. Tactical insight, therefore, provides a rich explanation for performance measurement and strategic management systems.
A research-oriented, also known as organizational intelligence development, approach to strategic formulation is emphasized in this book. According to Rumelhart and Norman (1981), real learning involves accretion, or the encoding of new information in terms of existing schemata, restructuring of schema, schema creation and the process whereby new schemata are created, tuning or schema evolution, or the modification and refinement of a schema as a result of using it in different situations (Shuell, p. 91), leading to introducing a research-oriented approach to strategic management in this book.
On similar counts, Johnson (2011) studies how active learners learn better than passive learners when they are subjected to a context that is meaningfulness, which is facilitated by the diversified views and ideologies of strategy discussed in Chapter 2. The “MOST” model is a platform of a meta-communication of firms. The “reflexive” nature of organizations and the social world leads to the concept of treating strategic management as a meta-communication, and thus, to succeed in the meta-communication, the “MOST” model establishes an effective communication process to relate between the organization and the environments. Whether inductive or deductive in the research approach to strategy formations, managers use mental representations that mirror the reality, as perceived through the senses (Barnes, 1984) or some statistical instrument and phenomenological structure of understanding (Tan, 2016), to interpret external environmental information (Feeney and Handley, 2006) as well as internal and socio-psychological information (Tan, 2016). In other words, in the view of cognitive science, strategists’ cognition mediates between the external environmental and their responses to environmental stimuli (Moors and De Houver, 2006; Karakaya and Yannopoulos, 2010), as shown in the “MOST” model of strategic management.
Es un texto estructurado en ocho apartados, constituido por diversos autores de las conferencias realizadas; considerando una visión transdisciplinar sobre la Investigación educativa, donde se plasma la riqueza de las diversas ópticas de los autores y siendo a la vez una fuente de reflexión para todos los actores del escenario de la EDUCACIÓN, para fortalecer el desarrollo humano de nuestra sociedad y el compromiso de la mejora constante.
En este contexto, la Red Investigación de Posgrado en Educación (RIPE), creada sin fines de lucro en 2018, ha tenido una importante actividad académica, no solo desde su aparición, sino muy especialmente a partir del año 2020, cuando los impactos de la pandemia avizoraban la suspensión de muchas agendas de actividades de divulgación del quehacer científico. Su propósito de gestión, divulgación, promoción e intercambio de los productos investigativos y los actores académicos que la generan (docentes y estudiantes) de las distintas unidades de postgrados en Educación en el Perú, se han visto intensificadas durante el periodo pandémico, toda vez que en estas circunstancias se ameritan reflexiones y respuestas significativas a los singulares problemas que los sistemas y niveles educativos han evidenciado, y en consecuencia de los cambios sustantivos en la educación y en el conocimiento científica sobre los distintos procesos que la configuran. Me complace pues presentar al colectivo académico nacional e internacional ocho planteamientos argumentativos expuestos en la modalidad de conferencias en el marco del III Congreso de RIPE realizado en noviembre de 2021. Sus autores abordan distintas aristas problemáticas, propuestas y reflexiones críticas sobre variedad de temas en la investigación educativa, los cuales estamos seguros, constituyen una valiosa contribución a los nuevos tiempos que se avecinan finalizada la pandemia.
When we think we are dealing with simple machines, we are actually interacting with
very complicated objects designed by professional figures who, in order to define the
usability of that device, have used a specific method to allow the user a pleasant User
Experience (UX).
Simplicity has to be studied and designed. The designer's mission, when he or she has
to make a product or service, is to give the user what he or she wants, following a
very precise study of the selected target audience, defining the design executions with
which the same user will have to come into contact.
Specifically, in the paper proposed here, it is intended to highlight how achieving
simplicity involves selecting different executions between a humanoid robotic machine
and one without human features.
In today's world, the designer cannot limit him/herself to subjective choices or employ
mere creative flair to come to grips with the needs of society, but his/her responsibilities
are greater than is often felt.
Depending on how the design process takes place, whether more or less thought out,
the service or object with which the user interacts defines the success or otherwise of
them.
In order to be able to explain this difference, a metaphorical method of theorizing has
been used, so the contribution is enriched with examples with devices we know, such as
washing machines, and others with which the collective imagination would like to come
into contact and interact with humane methods.
At the end of the contribution, it is explained that the design executions set by the
designer, define interaction executions that may be different – and thus complicate
the use of the design – between a humanoid and a non-humanoid machine.
Purpose
This paper explores how the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has dealt with the emerging issue of accounting for cryptocurrencies by investigating its constituents' expectations and the motivations underlying its regulatory response.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical lens of regulatory space is used to analyse the four-year debate around cryptocurrency holdings and informs the extensive thematic analysis of public documents, meetings recordings and comment letters on the topic.
Findings
Facing national standard setters' initiatives to regulate accounting for cryptocurrency, the IASB defended its position in the regulatory space through an agenda decision based on ewct 2xisting standards, which was finalised by the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretation Committee (IFRS IC) despite criticism from constituents and Board members.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides insights into the IASB approach to a regulatory vacuum regarding a new class of items, which derive from a new and rapidly-evolving technology. Disruptive technology impacts the contested arena of accounting regulation, in which the constituents ask for new solutions and the IASB tries to resist such pressures, while defending its position.
Practical implications
The paper sheds light on the growing importance of agenda decisions in the IFRS environment and on the limits of the IASB long regulatory process in the circumstance of emerging accounting issues deriving from rapidly-evolving technology.
Originality/value
This investigation is timely and relevant as it considers the regulatory issues arising from disruptive technological innovations (i.e. cryptocurrency), shedding light on the limits of regulatory processes in times of technological change.
Open access full-text: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2020-4968/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest
Purpose
This paper investigates the relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship (AE) and new technologies using academic and practitioners' perspectives to understand how new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and augmented reality can promote agri-businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a content and thematic analysis of 325 academic sources extracted from the Scopus database and 683 patents retrieved from the European Patent Office (EPO) dataset. Additionally, the research applies the Kruskal–Wallis test as a non-parametric test for evaluating differences in the main concepts discussed in the two sources.
Findings
The academic and practitioners' debate highlights a trading zone among the two streams. patents' analysis from the EPO reveals four main common themes as a new business that benefits from AI in weather predictions, new smart and intelligent ways to monitor crops, new businesses that use clouds to control plant's humidity. The analysis of Scopus's sources demonstrates theoretical approaches related to the technology acceptance model (TAM) and practical strategies in terms of entrepreneurial skills to support the agricultural sector. However, barriers among the two streams of sources exist in innovation management and scale-up entrepreneurial initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
Regarding implications, the authors aim to connect academic and practitioners' views by understanding the new potential innovation applications and the connected new research avenues. Limitations might arise from the sources used to develop our analysis.
Originality/value
The paper is novel because it investigates the issues arising from the relationship between AE and new technologies by examining original validated patents released by practitioners and approved by the EPO, rather than reviewing blogs or the financial press. This leads to a holistic understanding of the impact of tangible practices among agricultural entrepreneurs. The results support the view that new trading zones and case studies are needed to highlight and show the positive impact of technologies in this field. The authors argue that practitioners require scholars to reduce the ambiguity between AE and its expected results, leading to investments to boost new agricultural business ideas.
The purpose of this paper is to exploit the available literature to propose and support the MOST framework of strategic management. A literature review approach is employed which reviews the current states of the strategic management discipline to provide the theoretical bases to support the argument for the applicability and validity of the MOST framework of strategic management. A MOST framework is proposed which illuminates a holistic approach to strategic management, standing on a platform of behavioral theory of firm, social cognitive theory, structural theory, resource-based view (RBV) and advantage theory, theory of organizational learning, attention-based view (ABV), CSR theory, etc. This paper should lead to research on how to advance the field of strategic management, towards a unified structure for strategic management. The seemingly non-empirical limitation is delimited by the comprehensive arguments of the published works and theoretical explanations in supporting the subtle dynamics of the MOST framework. This paper is the first to extend the MOST framework comprehensively, yet in parsimonious manner to put the strategic management reality into systematic and observable manner. The MOST structure is thus a holistic framework that can help the strategists, organizations, profits or nonprofits, to improve their strategic planning, performance management and organizational learning processes, and is a theory within theories, which guides how the organizations go about their strategic issues. While theory is a result of observing the reality, theory also shapes the reality, as the theory formation eventually leads to a dominant structure of thoughts (known as schools of thoughts) which guides and dictates the perceptions and interpretations of the realities.
The study aims to investigate the relationship between the impact of the development of accounting pronouncements and the extent to which accounting can or should contribute to the pursuit of economic & social developments, and the sustainable development of an organization, and the contradiction between sustainability and accounting practices based on traditional financial reporting standards. It has been argued that the current accounting standards represent an attempt to present a ‘true and fair’ view. Design/methodology/approach: The study is essentially a literature review study that seeks to discuss a number of implicit assumptions within traditional accounting by IASB. Findings: Regulatory reports on the social and environmental dimension, particularly sustainability reports, demonstrate that accounting pronouncements, while trying to report on the environmental and social dimensions, suffer from some imbalance that has omitted environmental destruction and eroded any realistic concept of social justice. Practical implications: In this sense, this study seeks to demonstrate this contradiction and the strong and fundamental implications that this implies for traditional financial reporting and insignificant adjustments to these reports through "new models of regulatory reporting. Originality/value: The study highlights the disregard of external factors as a major obstacle to the sustainability report and proposes accounting and tax designs to identify costs associated with external factors as a basis for fair reporting, pricing and sustainable business practices.
Purpose
This paper discusses the current state of research into Directive 2014/95/EU and non-financial disclosure (NFD), with the aim of offering a future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have conducted a systematic literature review of 78 studies spanning seven years (2014–2020) that address Directive 2014/95/EU.
Findings
The literature review revealed four main avenues for future research. First, future studies could focus on addressing issues related to the EU Directive's potential impacts, both in terms of NFD and companies' financial performance. Second, because context plays an important role in defining the regulation's impact, future research should consider these contextual factors in NFD. Third, further research should investigate the interplay between the binding requirements of the Directive and the non-binding guidelines suggested to implement it. Finally, future research would do well to employ additional theoretical approaches in order to interpret the Directive's diverse effects for various countries, organisations and timelines.
Research limitations/implications
This research agenda is intended to help scholars in this field to understand what has yet to be known in order to develop a complete understanding of the EU Directive on non-financial information disclosure.
Practical implications
Focussing on the Directive's implementation across countries and organisations with a longitudinal approach, this paper could indicate whether or not mandatory reporting enhances non-financial information disclosure and consequently, organisational actions. This work could inform both companies' and policymakers' approach to disclosure, whether mandatory or otherwise.
Originality/value
To date, many studies have focussed on specific issues regarding the EU Directive. This paper, however, presents the first systematic literature review considering the current state of research into the EU Directive, thus drawing a future research agenda.
The choice of the research methodology is a critical stage of any research project. The complexity of the business environment and the multifaced nature of many accounting practices have resulted in an increased use of qualitative research methodology. Grounded theory is particularly appropriate when studying accounting in its social context. However, an abductive approach is helpful to study how qualitative studies are actually performed. Both grounded theory and an abductive approach offer enormous potential for application in the development of accounting theories from qualitative case studies. Despite its popularity as a research methodology in other social sciences, grounded theory remains scarcely explored by accounting researchers. Mixed methods have been gaining increasing attention in the qualitative accounting literature, but with some levels of resistance. There is significant potential for mixed methods in accounting research for both theory testing and theory building. The aim of this paper is to provide an informative reference work on qualitative research methodology. In particular, this paper offers an insight into some issues and debates which are emerging from grounded theory approach and the abductive mode of reasoning, as well as mixed methods application and their potential within the context of the accounting field. Since the methodological exposition represents the major source of authenticity and credibility in a qualitative paper, this theoretical debate is particularly useful for students and emerging scholars in accounting and management disciplines.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consist in examining the effect of the auditor’s behavioral and individual characteristics on the integrated reporting quality, in regard to a sample involving 130 European industrial companies, relevant to the year 2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study’s adopted methodology rests on the hypothetico-deductive approach. The relevant data applied are analyzed by means of multiple linear regression models.
Findings
The reached results prove to indicate well that both auditor specialization and auditor ethics factors appear to have a significantly positive effect on the integrated reporting quality. Noteworthy, also, is the fact that the audit firm size and auditor behavior have been discovered to have a positive and insignificant effect on the integrated reporting related quality.
Originality/value
Faced with the scarcity of studies linking the auditor characteristics and the integrated reporting quality, the present study is elaborated to provide some kind of modest contribution, whereby, the determinants of integrated reporting are distinguishably highlighted
We examine how employees learn from a performance measurement system. Employing the social construction of reality theory, we analyse how actors constructed knowledge in their specific setting. Qualitative research within a local government entity involved interviews, observation of meetings and examination of archival records. We find that the process of individual learning from a performance measurement system is based around aligning varying episodic experiences of individuals at differing levels. The outcome of these findings is that learning by individuals is a socio‐technical process in which the use of performance measures is embedded in everyday thinking of the social world examined.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.