Abstract
The article extends the critique of structuration theory from a critical realist perspective, in particular by demonstrating how its theoretical shortcomings are manifest in management accounting research. Examining of one of the most cited structuration-based accounting studies and other more recent structuration-based accounting studies, the article highlights what accounting researchers who have embraced a structuration lens may have ignored. It also demonstrates why accounting researchers could not get a better theoretical purchase out of structuration. We find that a critical realist account provides a far more in-depth account of budgeting changes and is likely to avoid the problems encountered in using a structuration theoretical lens. The article has important implications for accounting researchers as it demonstrates that analytical dualism instead of duality has much better potential to offer deeper understanding of accounting changes.
Notes
14 Other recent examples of similar research include Kakkuri-Knuuttila et al. (Citation2008) and Englund and Gerdin (Citation2008), in which the authors primarily analysed a single paper to contribute to important theoretical conversations in the field of accounting.
17 Covaleski and Dirsmith 1988.
62 Spaargaren and Mommaas 2006.
100 Issues of conflation have been debated and discussed in accounting studies and management accounting change (Burns and Scapens Citation2000; Modell Citation2015). We wish to remain focused on the theoretical debate between structuration and critical realism and its implications for management accounting researchers. This has not been discussed in the accounting field.
104 Recently there has been a call by Jack and Kholeif for a special issue of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal on this particular theme.
110 Friedland and Alford 1987.
111 Friedland and Alford 1987, 248.
124 ‘[I]n 1982 departing State Governor Lee Dreyfus warned that the UWS would be forced to close some of its campuses by economic pressures if it wanted to remain one of the nation's top academic systems. As he said, “It is clear that the University of Wisconsin will no longer be able to lead the nation if they decide to keep every institution”’ (Covaleski and Dirsmith Citation1988, 13).
125 Bacharach and Mundell 1993.
126 According to Weber (Citation1991, 73), ‘a state is a political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly over the legitimate use of force within a certain territory’.
133 Ashraf and Uddin 2013.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Junaid Ashraf
Junaid Ashraf is Associate Professor of Accounting at Lahore University of Management Sciences. He holds a PhD in accounting from the University of Essex. He is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan.
Shahzad Uddin
Shahzad Uddin is a Professor of Accounting at Essex Business School, University of Essex. He is a co-editor of Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies (JAEE).
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