IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/qrampp/v5y2008i2p101-121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The field researcher as author‐writer

Author

Listed:
  • Jane Baxter
  • Wai Fong Chua

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce the literary authority of qualitative management accounting field research (QMAFR) and its interconnectedness with the scientific authority of this form of research. Design/methodology/approach - The paper adopts a non‐positivist perspective on the writing/authoring of QMAFR. The paper illustrates its arguments by analysing how the field is written/authored in two well‐known examples of qualitative management accounting research, using Golden‐Biddle and Locke's framework as a way of initiating an understanding of how field research attains its “convincingness”. Findings - The paper finds that these two examples of QMAFR attain their convincingness by authoring a strong sense of authenticity and plausibility, adopting writing strategies that signal the authority of the researcher and their figuration of the “facts”. Research limitations/implications - The paper argues for a more aesthetically informed consideration of the “goodness” of non‐positivist QMAFR, arguing that its scientific and aesthetic forms of authority are ultimately intertwined. Practical implications - This paper has practical implications for informing the ways in which QMAFR is read and written, arguing for greater experimentation in terms of its narration. Originality/value - The value of this paper lies in its recognition of the authorial and aesthetic nature of QMAFR, as well as it potential to encourage debate, reflection and changed practices within the community of scholars interested in this form of research.

Suggested Citation

  • Jane Baxter & Wai Fong Chua, 2008. "The field researcher as author‐writer," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 101-121, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:qrampp:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:101-121
    DOI: 10.1108/11766090810888917
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/11766090810888917/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/11766090810888917/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/11766090810888917?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dent, Jeremy F., 1991. "Accounting and organizational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organizational reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 705-732.
    2. Baxter, Jane & Chua, Wai Fong, 2003. "Alternative management accounting research--whence and whither," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 97-126.
    3. Miller, P & OLeary, T, 1997. "Capital budgeting practices and complementarity relations in the transition to modern manufacture: A field-based analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 257-271.
    4. Ahrens, Thomas & Chapman, Christopher S., 2006. "Doing qualitative field research in management accounting: Positioning data to contribute to theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 819-841, November.
    5. Knights, David & Collinson, David, 1987. "Disciplining the shopfloor: A comparison of the disciplinary effects of managerial psychology and financial accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 457-477, August.
    6. Power, Michael K., 1991. "Educating accountants: Towards a critical ethnography," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 333-353.
    7. Chua, Wai Fong, 1995. "Experts, networks and inscriptions in the fabrication of accounting images: A story of the representation of three public hospitals," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 111-145.
    8. Catherine Marshall, 1985. "Appropriate criteria of trustworthiness and goodness for qualitative research on education organizations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 353-373, October.
    9. Zimmerman, Jerold L., 2001. "Conjectures regarding empirical managerial accounting research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 411-427, December.
    10. Briers, Michael & Chua, Wai Fong, 2001. "The role of actor-networks and boundary objects in management accounting change: a field study of an implementation of activity-based costing," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 237-269, April.
    11. Kam C. Chan & Carl R. Chen & Louis T. W. Cheng, 2007. "Global ranking of accounting programmes and the elite effect in accounting research," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(2), pages 187-220, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Terhi Chakhovich, 2010. "The role of outcome focus within subject positions tied to shareholder value," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(4), pages 450-475, November.
    2. Baxter, Jane & Carlsson-Wall, Martin & Chua, Wai Fong & Kraus, Kalle, 2019. "Accounting and passionate interests: The case of a Swedish football club," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 21-40.
    3. Ivo De Loo & Alan Lowe, 2011. "Mixed methods research: don't – “just do it”," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(1), pages 22-38, April.
    4. Parker, Lee D., 2012. "Qualitative management accounting research: Assessing deliverables and relevance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 54-70.
    5. Bamber, Matthew & Tekathen, Matthäus, 2023. "Beyond the pages of the ‘how-to’ textbook: A study of the lived experiences of the accounting ethnographer," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Larissa von Alberti‐Alhtaybat & Khaldoon Al‐Htaybat, 2010. "Qualitative accounting research: an account of Glaser's grounded theory," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 208-226, June.
    7. Prasad, Ajnesh, 2015. "Liminal transgressions, or where should the critical academy go from here? Reimagining the future of doctoral education to engender research sustainability," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 108-116.
    8. Chua, Wai Fong & Mahama, Habib, 2012. "On theory as a ‘deliverable’ and its relevance in ‘policy’ arenas," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 78-82.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allan Hansen, 2011. "Relating performative and ostensive management accounting research," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(2), pages 108-138, June.
    2. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    3. Berry, A.J. & Coad, A.F. & Harris, E.P. & Otley, D.T. & Stringer, C., 2009. "Emerging themes in management control: A review of recent literature," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 2-20.
    4. Luft, Joan & Shields, Michael D., 2003. "Mapping management accounting: graphics and guidelines for theory-consistent empirical research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 169-249.
    5. Boll, Karen, 2014. "Shady car dealings and taxing work practices: An ethnography of a tax audit process," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-19.
    6. Rowe, Casey & Shields, Michael D. & Birnberg, Jacob G., 2012. "Hardening soft accounting information: Games for planning organizational change," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 260-279.
    7. Suresh Cuganesan, 2008. "Calculating customer intimacy: accounting numbers in a sales and marketing department," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 78-103, January.
    8. Jonsson, Sten & Macintosh, Norman B., 1997. "CATS, RATS, AND EARS: Making the case for ethnographic accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(3-4), pages 367-386.
    9. Lorino, Philippe & Mourey, Damien & Schmidt, Géraldine, 2017. "Goffman's theory of frames and situated meaning-making in performance reviews. The case of a category management approach in the French retail sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-49.
    10. Vijaya Murthy & Jim Rooney, 2018. "The Role of Management Accounting in Ancient India: Evidence from the Arthasastra," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 323-341, October.
    11. Jørgensen, Brian & Messner, Martin, 2010. "Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 184-204, February.
    12. Crvelin, David & Becker, Albrecht, 2020. "‘The spirits that we summoned’: A study on how the ‘governed’ make accounting their own in the context of market-making programs in Nepal," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Yves Levant & Simon Alcouffe & Nicolas Berland, 2008. "Actor-networks and the diffusion of management accounting innovations : a comparative study," Post-Print hal-01682216, HAL.
    14. Fasshauer, Ingrid, 2012. "Les interactions entre contrôle et stratégie : redéfinition du rôle des cadres intermédiaires et du levier interactif de contrôle," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/11150 edited by Berland, Nicolas.
    15. Benjamin Dreveton & Sébastien Rocher, 2009. "The success story of a ‘successful?' management device," Post-Print halshs-00479810, HAL.
    16. Carol A. Adams & Carlos Larrinaga‐González, 2007. "Engaging with organisations in pursuit of improved sustainability accounting and performance," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 333-355, June.
    17. Jupe, Robert & Funnell, Warwick, 2015. "Neoliberalism, consultants and the privatisation of public policy formulation: The case of Britain's rail industry," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 65-85.
    18. Sophie Hoozée & Falconer Mitchell, 2018. "Who Influences the Design of Management Accounting Systems? An Exploratory Study," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(3), pages 374-390, September.
    19. Francesca Maria Cesaroni & Annalisa Sentuti, 2019. "Il cambiamento dei sistemi di controllo manageriale e il processo di successione nelle imprese familiari. Quali possibili relazioni?," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(1), pages 17-44.
    20. Constable, Philip & Kuasirikun, Nooch, 2020. "From cosmological to commercial form: A Buddhist theory of ‘form’, ‘space’ and ‘stream of re-becoming’ in mid-19th century Thai accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:qrampp:v:5:y:2008:i:2:p:101-121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.