Drawing on educational science research and concepts, this paper aims to organize and analyze prior accounting literature on the integration of research into teaching and provides…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on educational science research and concepts, this paper aims to organize and analyze prior accounting literature on the integration of research into teaching and provides evidence for the relevance of integrating research into constructivist management accounting teaching.
Design/methodology/approach
Evidence shall be drawn from the autoethnographic account of a case study, namely, an MiM course in a French business school.
Findings
The presentation of qualitative research plays a priming role in collective debates where knowledge is co-produced by the group of students.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis opens up many avenues for future research on constructivist accounting teaching (e.g. teachers’ profiles, cross-cultural comparison) and its consequences.
Practical implications
The case provides examples of how, in practice and beyond general principles, the constructivist teacher adapts to his/her audience and their educational heritage. It also invites a holistic consideration of teaching arrangements, the relationships between their elements and their collective impact on learning.
Originality/value
The case study, the analysis of which draws on educational science frameworks and concepts, provides an in-depth account of research integration into constructivist accounting teaching.
Details
Keywords
Annick Ancelin‐Bourguignon, Olivier Saulpic and Philippe Zarlowski
While new institutionalism‐inspired accounting literature has opened up new perspectives for the study of micro‐processes of change in accounting practices, little is still known…
Abstract
Purpose
While new institutionalism‐inspired accounting literature has opened up new perspectives for the study of micro‐processes of change in accounting practices, little is still known about how individuals subjectively experience these processes. In this paper, the authors propose to study the role of subjectivities in the institutionalization of new accounting practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on an extension of Hasselbladh and Kallinikos' framework, the authors analyze the implementation of a new performance management and measurement system in the division of a large French public sector firm. The authors' research is based on the company's internal archives, samples of the new performance scorecard, interviews and non‐participant observation.
Findings
The system as a technique of control and related discourses and ideals formed a coherent “rationalized package” which actors had actually internalized. Still, they collectively used the new system in a very ceremonial mode and the authors' analysis identified discrepancies between actors' explicit understanding and practical experience of the system.
Research limitations/implications
The authors' research suggests that studies of accounting change should further explore the complex and sometimes paradoxical nature of subjectivities at work in the adoption of new systems. Studies should combine the analysis of actors' behaviours and representations and their development over time, even though the latter longitudinal perspective is missing in the present research.
Practical implications
Experience encompasses more than understanding and cognitive agreement. Deliberate acceptance of systems may co‐exist with non‐deliberate reluctant behaviour.
Social implications
Accounting transformation projects should reckon the role that actors' subjectivities can play in the institutionalization of new systems and practices.
Originality/value
The authors' research illustrates how subjectivity influences micro‐processes of accounting change. It highlights its experiential and non‐deliberate dimensions, thus complementing existing institutional research that has hitherto emphasized actors' deliberate actions and representations.