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Abstract
This paper provides an insight into the nature and the extent of social accounting research being undertaken within Australasia. It demonstrates that Australasian researchers account for a significant amount of internationally published social accounting research, but emphasises that the research effort seems to be confined to a limited number of researchers perhaps reflecting a lack of ‘take-up’ in this area in terms of the scale of participation. Information is also presented about the relative propensity of journals within the sample to publish social accounting research, and identifies that ‘top tier’ accounting journals historically have not published social accounting research. The paper also considers various factors which seem to be impeding the ‘recruitment’ of new social accounting researchers.
Notes
1 The second named author on this paper (Soltys) contributed to this paper by reviewing the contents of journals that were not included within the smaller sample utilised in the initial study undertaken by Deegan.
2 According to the Macquarie English Dictionary, Australasia comprises Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands of the South Pacific.
3 Of course different respondents to interviews and questionnaires about ‘journal quality’ will have different perceptions about what represents quality research, and if a particular journal tends to devote much of its publication space to research within a particular paradigm then this in itself might influence respective quality perceptions, regardless of the rigour and intrinsic merit of the research undertaken.
4 We accept that our definition of ‘social accounting research’ is judgemental and that other researchers could adopt alternative definitions, some of which might be more restrictive in nature.
5 Although we do not pursue the issue in this paper, it is not clear whether, for internationally renowned journals, the location of the editorial team has any real impact on the nationality of the authors who submit papers to the journal.
6 On its website (as accessed in July 2006) it is stated that “AFAANZ is the premier body representing the interests of accounting and finance academics and other persons interested in accounting and finance education and research in Australia and New Zealand”.
7 For example, if we look at the ‘Aims and Scope’ of Accounting and Finance we find: “The Journal seeks to publish work that develops, tests, or advances accounting, finance and information systems theory, research and practice. All types of research methods are acceptable. The primary criterion for publication in Accounting and Finance is the significance of the contribution an article makes to the literature”. Similarly, Accounting and Business Research—another journal that has published little social accounting research states on its website that it publishes work that is described as “Original empirical or analytical articles contributing to knowledge in the areas of accounting, broadly defined.” On the basis of these descriptions we might have expected, as we did with the ‘top 5’, to see more evidence of social accounting research being published. It must be emphasised that it is not necessarily the editors who are excluding social accounting research.
8 Earlier in this paper we indicated that 4 of the 12 journals in the sample had an editorial team that was located within Australia. We raised the issue of whether the location of editorial teams influences the submission decisions made by authors. Our concern that any conclusions about the overall participation rates of Australasian authors being misrepresented, because of our sample, is somewhat allayed by the fact that of the four journals that have Australian editorial teams, one published no social accounting research articles, whereas another Australian-based journal only published seven social accounting research articles during the entire period utilised in this study.
9 The classification of an author is dependent upon their country of residence. Hence authors such as Carol Adams – a recognised social accounting researcher – only had the research papers classified as Australasian to the extent that the author’s address on the paper was shown as being within Australia. Hence, only Adam’s post 2002 articles are classified as Australasian.
10 As we know, there are various studies of accounting research journal quality. CitationLowe and Locke (2005) undertook a survey of British accounting academics in which they asked academics to rank accounting journals in terms of their perceived quality. Accounting, Organizations and Society was ranked as number 1 on average, whilst Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and Critical Perspectives on Accounting were ranked numbers 9 and 13, respectively.
11 Further, three researchers within this group were also responsible for writing the textbooks previously referred to in this chapter. This again emphasises the level of concentration in the field.
12 In using the term ‘positive’ we embrace the general meaning of the term, that is, we are referring to research that seeks to explain or predict particular phenomena (regardless of the theoretical basis used to provide or inform the explanation or prediction). We are not using the term ‘positive’ in the same manner in which it is embraced in Positive Accounting Theory (CitationWatts & Zimmerman, 1986).
13 One of the authors of this paper was co-organiser of the event and therefore has an insight into what motivated its instigation.
14 The respondents in the CitationParker et al. (1998) study were Australian and UK professors or heads of university accounting and management departments. These people were chosen by the researchers because they “arguably exercise a major influence upon the way in which notions of research and publishing quality are constructed”. They are also “frequently found in the role of a referee, appointment/assessment committee member, or external assessor/committee adviser with respect to applications for academic appointment, tenure and promotion” (p. 375).
15 Interestingly, as in the Australian case, these UK-based journal authors are also responsible for some of the major texts released in the area of social accounting research. For example see, CitationGray and Bebbington (2001), and CitationGray, Owen, and Adams (1996).