Qualitative generalising in accounting research: concepts and strategies

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and articulate concepts and approaches to qualitative generalisation that will offer qualitative accounting researchers avenues for enhancing and justifying the general applicability of their research findings and conclusions. Design/methodology/approach – The study and arguments draw from multidisciplinary approaches to this issue. The analysis and theorising is based on published qualitative research literatures from the fields of education, health sciences, sociology, information systems, management and marketing, as well as accounting. Findings – The paper develops two overarching generalisation concepts for application by qualitative accounting researchers. These are built upon a number of qualitative generalisation concepts that have emerged in the multidisciplinary literatures. It also articulates strategies for enhancing the generalisability of qualitative accounting research findings. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides qualitative accounting researchers with understandings, arguments and justifications for the generalisability of their research and the related potential for wider accounting and societal contributions. It also articulates the key factors that impact on the quality of research generalisation that qualitative researchers can offer. Originality/value – This paper presents the most comprehensively sourced and developed approach to the concepts, strategies and unique deliverables of qualitative generalising hitherto available in the accounting research literature.

The emergence of management controls in an entrepreneurial company

“…Our findings are qualitative generalisations (Yin, ; Parker and Northcott, ) that reveal the importance of founders designing and demonstrating cultural controls and reinforcing them by linking them to reward and compensation controls, planning controls, financial controls, cybernetic controls and administrative controls, which enables complementarity between different controls. For example, the founders of HRV designed their cultural controls in a way that they could compensate for the lack of critical financial and administrative controls.…”

Researcher perceptions and choices of interview media: the case of accounting research

“…Such a view is consistent with what Flyvbjerg () terms, ‘the power of example’, in which knowledge is neither generalised nor presented as ‘facts’, but rather is context‐dependent. Nonetheless, consistent with Flyvbjerg, in offering our conclusions as applicable across the accounting interview‐based research community, we draw on Parker and Northcott's () concepts of theoretical and naturalistic qualitative generalisation. These concepts offer both contextualised theory about a phenomenon and naturalistic transferability of study findings to other settings experienced by readers.…”

Business models and the managerial sensemaking process

“…Data were collected from three main sources: interviews, non‐participant observations in managerial meetings and company documents. In qualitative field research, the researcher aims to ‘identify and include those actors and sources that can best inform the focus of their inquiries and produce the richest account of the phenomenon under investigation’ (Parker and Northcott, , p. 1116). In line with this, this study sought to interview company members who were closely involved in the company's business model development and use initiatives.…”