The purpose of this paper is to explore the propensity of some researchers within the accounting research community (and elsewhere) to ignore potentially rich insights available…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the propensity of some researchers within the accounting research community (and elsewhere) to ignore potentially rich insights available from other paradigms, and the implications this has for the advancement of knowledge both from an educational and a social perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a review of a paper published in the Australian Journal of Management by Benson et al. (2015) together with a synthesis of other work which cautions against dismissing conflicting “world views”.
Findings
The analysis suggests that the propensity of some accounting researchers to dismiss, or ignore, research undertaken by researchers outside of their paradigm is still apparently “alive and well” within today’s accounting research community. The implications associated with ignoring or dismissing rich interdisciplinary insights are highlighted.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of the research are that many rich insights are apparently being ignored by a segment of the accounting research community and this has implications for the advancement of knowledge, education and society. The limitations of this commentary are that the views are based on personal opinion which by its very nature is biased and based on the political views of the author.
Practical implications
The practical implications are that in highlighting a propensity to ignore potentially valuable research from alternative paradigms the commentary encourages researchers to consider other world views, as well as the political foundations inherent in their own work. This can have positive implications for the advancement of knowledge, and of society.
Social implications
By highlighting the propensity of some researchers to potentially dismiss entire areas of research as not being “notable” it is hoped that there will be a revision of this tendency and this will have possible implications for the advancement of knowledge.
Originality/value
The commentary highlights how certain elements of the accounting research community continue to appear to have a propensity to forget/ignore that potentially useful insights are available from people who undertake research beyond the confines of their research paradigm.
Details
Keywords
The new bill, which would require companies with a turnover of AUD3mn (USD2mn) to disclose payments made in response to ransomware attacks and is part of a suite of infrastructure…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB289275
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Many of the changes were part of Labor’s election campaign in May, and others followed the government’s job summit in September, but last-minute changes involved multi-employer…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB274800
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Susan Copeland, Andrew Penman and Richard Milne
To describe the key findings of the UK JISC‐funded Electronic Theses project that was led by The Robert Gordon University, as well as the results of associated projects that…
Abstract
Purpose
To describe the key findings of the UK JISC‐funded Electronic Theses project that was led by The Robert Gordon University, as well as the results of associated projects that formed part of the JISC‐funded “FAIR” programme, and the way in which the recommendations will be taken forward.
Design/methodology/approach
The research involved: an assessment of existing best practice relating to the production, management and use of e‐theses; the use of questionnaires to obtain feedback from potential users; the identification and testing of potentially useful software; consideration of the elements required in a metadata core set, and discussions with representative bodies to ensure that the model recommended for use in the UK had support from the key stakeholders.
Findings
Information is provided about the value of the NDLTD web site, the suitability of DSpace and EPrints software for institutional e‐theses repositories, and the recommended infrastructure for the operation of an e‐theses service at national level. Details are included about the agreed metadata core set for UK e‐theses, and advice is provided about administrative, legal and cultural issues.
Practical implications
The JISC‐funded EThOS project is taking forward many of the recommendations from the Electronic Theses project.
Originality/value
The research results described in this paper will be of use to institutions, which are aiming to establish their own e‐theses collections. The details provided about the UK approach towards the management of e‐theses may be of use in countries, which have not yet made their theses available in electronic format.
Details
Keywords
Harriet Martineau's writing about Ireland spanned over 35 years of her career and, as a topic of socio-cultural, political, and economic interest, was second only to her prolific…
Abstract
Harriet Martineau's writing about Ireland spanned over 35 years of her career and, as a topic of socio-cultural, political, and economic interest, was second only to her prolific writing on the United States. Through the contexts of her writing (fiction and nonfiction) and of 19th-century Anglo-Irish history, this discussion examines a singular episode in Martineau's life and work, one that highlights her complex views on Ireland and challenges her assumptions about the relentless conundrum popularly termed “the Irish Question.” Martineau's brief epistolary relationship with the young repeal advocate, Mr. Langtrey, helped shape and clarify her thinking about Anglo-Irish relations; subsequently, she produced some of the best writing of her career as a traveling correspondent for the Daily News, reporting on post-famine Ireland. Although on a par with her better-known sociological analyses of America, Martineau's writing about 19th-century Ireland remains comparatively unexamined by scholars of the British Empire, of Victorian intellectual and social history, and of the enduringly contentious Anglo-Irish relations.
Elizabeth Wakely and Jerome Carson
Florence Nightingale was one of the most influential women of the 19th century. She is most closely associated with the Crimean War and the subsequent development of the nursing…
Abstract
Florence Nightingale was one of the most influential women of the 19th century. She is most closely associated with the Crimean War and the subsequent development of the nursing profession. Before shewent to the Crimea, she had experienced episodes of depression. While in the Crimea she contracted brucellosis and although she returned to England a national heroine, she lived the life of an invalid for several decades. Despite her physical and mental health problems, she produced over 200 reports, pamphlets and books, not just on nursing, but on a wide variety of other topics. This phenomenal productivity has led some authors to suggest that she may have had bipolar disorder.
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Keywords
Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter
Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter
A NEW YEAR is a season of Stocktaking in normal times; this year it is especially so. The library journals of the world all fill their pages with discussions on libraries in a…
Abstract
A NEW YEAR is a season of Stocktaking in normal times; this year it is especially so. The library journals of the world all fill their pages with discussions on libraries in a time of economic depression and financial stringency; and in America this note is even more Stressed than in any country, and we trust that some good may come of it seeing that America has proved more helpless in the face of world depression than any nation had thought possible. That, however, is by the way. The immediate problem of the New Year is how to ensure that in the general reductions of expenditure that are being made the expenditure on libraries is reduced as little as possible.
Christine Byrch, Markus J. Milne, Richard Morgan and Kate Kearins
The purpose of this paper is first, to investigate empirically the plurality of understanding surrounding sustainability held by those working in the business sector, and second…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is first, to investigate empirically the plurality of understanding surrounding sustainability held by those working in the business sector, and second, to consider the likelihood of a dialogic accounting that would account for the plurality of perspectives identified.
Design/methodology/approach
The subjects of this study are those people actively working to incorporate sustainability within New Zealand business, both business people and their sustainability advisors. Participant’s subjective understanding is investigated using Q methodology, a method used widely by social science researchers to investigate typical views on a particular topic, from an analysis of the order in which participants individually sort a sample of stimuli. In this study, the stimuli were opinion statements.
Findings
Five typical understandings of sustainable development were identified, including understandings more usually attributed to business antagonists than business. Conflicts between environment and development are acknowledged by most participants. However, an agonistic debate that will create spaces, practices, and institutions through which marginalised understandings of sustainable development might be addressed and contested, is yet to be established and will not be easy.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the few empirical investigations of the plurality of understandings of sustainability held by those people working to incorporate sustainability within business. It is further distinguished by the authors attempt to describe divergent beliefs and values, absent from their immediate business context, and absent from any academic priming. The paper also provides an illustrative example of the application of Q methodology, a method not commonly used in accounting research.