Bazaar entrepreneurship as social and institutional practice: the case of Malaysian accounting research

This chapter attempts to clarify the potential of researching bazaar entrepreneurship from a social accounting perspective. Bazaar entrepreneurship, defined as a group of small shops that sell the same types of goods, does not have a proper legislative body that manages and controls its presence and operations. Bazaar owners are not registered and legislated under the Malaysian Companies Act (2016) and hence do not have proper accounting reporting systems. This chapter investigates the presence of bazaar entrepreneurship in two renowned and widely cited Malaysian accounting journals between 2008 and 2016. Research on bazaar entrepreneurship and community engagement was absent, while the subjects studied in these journals seem to be largely by the same stereotypical research variables. This oversight has broad theoretical implications for the accounting discipline, especially in the area of social accounting linked to value-creation and organizational performance as well as human well-being and social responsibility. Malaysian accounting researchers should consider a broader range of research styles and calls for a wide-ranging debate of transparency, accountability and sustainability.