Jul 2026· Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change· Vol 22, pp. 362-387· 0 citations· 66 references
Abstract
This study aims to examine how theory is used in articles published in leading accounting journals and considers what these patterns imply for the development of the discipline.
Using Gregor’s (2006) taxonomy, this study analyses a stratified random sample of 200 articles from six leading accounting journals across two periods (2007–2009 and 2017–2019). It examines the functional role theory plays, compares patterns across journals and tracks changes over time.
Explanation–Prediction (EP) theory dominates and has increased over time. Other forms of theorising remain limited, although there are small increases in explanatory and design-oriented studies. US-based journals show stronger reliance on EP, while the European journal displays greater diversity in the purposes served by theory.
This study focuses on six influential journals and two time periods. Future research could include a broader range of journals and longer timeframes to capture wider developments in accounting research.
A strong focus on EP theory may limit the discipline’s ability to address emerging challenges. Encouraging a wider range of theoretical approaches could enhance accounting’s relevance and connection to practice.
Greater diversity in theory use may help accounting better respond to societal challenges such as sustainability, technological change and evolving institutional demands.
This study offers a new perspective by examining the functional role of theory across accounting research. It provides empirical evidence on dominant patterns of theory use and their implications for disciplinary development.
This study examines the global evolution of performance audit research over the past five decades by identifying publication trends, influential contributors and dominant thematic developments. A bibliometric methodology was employed using 800 publications indexed in the Scopus database from 1975 to 2025. Performance analysis and science-mapping techniques were conducted using Harzing’s Publish or Perish and VOSviewer to analyse citation patterns, co-authorship networks and keyword co-occurrence relationships. The findings reveal substantial growth in performance audit scholarship, particularly after 2010, with the United States, United Kingdom and Australia emerging as dominant contributors. The literature remains strongly centred on public-sector governance, accountability and managerial reform, while themes related to ESG reporting, digital governance, AI-assisted auditing, sustainability evaluation and cross-sector applications remain comparatively underdeveloped. Citation patterns further indicate that influential studies primarily emphasise performance measurement and organisational control rather than broader public value and societal outcomes. Theoretically, the study demonstrates that performance audit research has evolved operationally but remains institutionally driven and conceptually fragmented, highlighting the need for more integrative and outcome-oriented frameworks. Practically, the findings provide insights for policymakers, Supreme Audit Institutions and statutory bodies, including zakat institutions, to strengthen performance auditing as a mechanism for organisational learning, governance improvement and outcome-oriented accountability. The originality of this study lies in providing one of the earliest comprehensive bibliometric syntheses of global performance
M. Suffian, Mohamed Esa, Hairunnizam Wahid et al.· International Research Journ...· 0 citations
This study reviews the application of Actor–Network Theory (ANT) in accounting research published between 2023 and 2025, with the aim of enhancing understanding of accounting phenomena as socio technical practices. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) framework to define inclusion criteria and support thematic analysis. The final dataset consists of 33 peer-reviewed articles that were systematically collected and analyzed. The findings indicate a clear predominance of qualitative research methods, including case studies, ethnography, and discourse analysis. The reviewed studies emphasize the relational dynamics between human and non-human actors in accounting processes, illustrating how non-human elements such as information systems, technologies, and organizational infrastructures actively shape accounting practices, organizational tensions, and decision-making outcomes. This review contributes to the accounting literature by synthesizing recent ANT based studies and highlighting opportunities for future research, particularly through the integration of ANT with institutional theory and the use of mixed-method approaches to capture the complexity of contemporary accounting networks.
Rissa Nadiah Afifah Sembiring, Sambas Ade Kesuma, Iskandar Muda et al.· JURNAL AKUNTANSI EKONOMI dan...· 0 citations
The purpose of this study is to insvestigate the characteristics of theoretical-empirical models described in the scientific literature concerning the relationships among ESG aspects, innovation, and financial performance.
Following the PRISMA protocol and the Methodi Ordinatio, and using a structured framework applied to 52 scientific journal articles. The authors map the main relationships across these constructs and show how institutional, sectoral and methodological factors shape their interactions.
The authors find that innovation frequently strengthens the positive influence of ESG practices on financial performance, whereas country-level institutional factors moderate these effects.
The theoretical-empirical model was developed based on a reality that may differ significantly from those in other regions. Considering the importance of institutional context in empirical outcomes, future studies should aim to construct article portfolios for SLRs focused on specific contexts. This would enable exploration of ESG-INNOV-FP relationships while accounting for country-specific factors.
The findings encourage future research that broadens geographic diversity and adopts more robust analytical techniques.
The authors generate social impact by clarifying how ESG-driven innovation supports the Sustainable Development Goals and by highlighting the underrepresentation of Global South contexts.
The authors advance theory by integrating bidirectional and mediating mechanisms into a theoretical-empirical model informed by the frequency of results, offering a more comprehensive explanation of how ESG and innovation co-evolve.
Tatiana Ladeira Vidal, M. C. D. Castro, Paulo Vitor Jordão da Gama Silva· RAE: Revista de Administraçã...· 0 citations
This study synthesizes contemporary academic research on entrepreneurial finance, which is fragmented across funding types, theoretical silos, and methodological orthodoxies. Furthermore, this study evaluates its limitations and advances a programmatic research agenda.
A systematic literature review of 53 studies published in A/A*-rated journals listed in the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List (2022) between 2012 and 2024, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines, has been conducted. Searches were conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, SAGE, ProQuest, EBSCOhost and Wiley Online Library. Quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT v2018). Synthesis was conducted using thematic analysis supported by NVivo 12.
The findings show that the field is characterized by empirical expansion but is conceptually fragmented. Quantitative methods dominate (79.2%), with venture capital, crowdfunding and angel investing as primary foci. Furthermore, North American and European contexts account for 73.6% of studies. Foundational theories (agency, signaling and the resource-based view) remain influential but are applied in isolation rather than in integration. Critically, entrepreneurs' lived experiences are almost absent from the literature (only 5.7% of studies include interviews with entrepreneurs).
This review provides the first systematic critique of the absence of the entrepreneurial voice as a structural problem in knowledge production, not merely a research gap, with a formal definition and explicit scope. Furthermore, it proposes a multilevel, process-oriented framework with five testable propositions derived directly from thematic synthesis patterns, with explicit tracing of the conceptual leap from findings to propositions. Finally, this study offers a prioritized research agenda that distinguishes diagnostic, urgent and high-risk questions with explicit methodological recommendations and connections to real-world developments.
Anupama Shrestha Panta, Sabin Panta, P. Gupta· China Accounting and Finance...· 0 citations
In this paper, we examined five decades of language and persuasion research from an expert‐curated list of seminal works in the field. We evaluated the most dominant themes in this literature (
N
= 1886 papers), searching for time‐related (e.g., themes that go in and out of style), impact‐related (e.g., themes that associate with citation rates), and authorship‐related trends (e.g., interdisciplinarity). The most prevalent themes were
framing
(64.5% of papers),
content analysis
(51.9%), and
social media
(50.1%) in language and persuasion research. Our computational literature review identified three additional findings: (1) the field has maintained relatively stable theoretical coherence, (2) papers that focus more on content analysis research receive fewer citations, and (3) the application of certain theoretical principles (e.g., argument quality) has declined over time, with researchers potentially citing underlying theories ritualistically versus meaningfully. Implications for language and persuasion research are discussed.
David M. Markowitz, Yi-Xiao Sun· Social & Personality Psychol...· 0 citations
Without its own theory, accountancy is the greatest human invention because it has assumed multiple roles over time and across geographic contexts and economic systems. The flexible and adaptive nature of accounting necessitates a changing theoretical structure for accountancy over time and across contexts. An evolutionary theoretical structure “allows for the existence of important, unresolved issues” and thus ensures a sustainable profession over time. Yet, proposed accounting theories have been unsuccessful in adapting to variations in the business environment. The Rochester Research Methodology, known as positive accounting research, was proposed to rescue accountancy. Once the theoretical basis on which a profession rests is uncovered and understood, practitioners can elucidate their practices and even predict their outcomes should the environment in which the profession is practiced change. Yet, time has shown that alternative approaches to theorization have not yielded a widely accepted accounting theory that serves as a meta-theory for accounting practice. Accounting is normatively developed, and the Rochester research methodology has normative roots. Accounting normative theorization should not cease, as it is an area that accounting practitioners, researchers, and educators can collaborate to develop.
Khalid Rasheed Al-Adeem, PhD· Account and Financial Manage...· 0 citations
