Look who's talking (Thesis)

Abstract

This study seeks to provide a step toward the examination of the belief that international accounting is inextricably linked to the globalization movement that is sweeping all economies. The purpose of this study is to analyze trends in international accounting research as exemplified in two accounting journals, Advances in International Accounting and The International Journal of Accounting Education and Research, from 1987 to 1996. A multidimensional approach is employed to examine the international breadth of the research, the extent of foreign authorship, and the amount of collaborative efforts. This study applies a critical perspective to the extant international accounting literature. A postcolonial lens is used to determine how the concept of "international accounting" is constructed and to identify the driving forces shaping this construction. By bringing issues of interest and ideology to the forefront the results of the study serve to highlight broader issues of social conflict, which are often lacking in mainstream accounting research. This study investigates the manner in which "otherness" is constructed in the international accounting literature through a combination of ideological strategies. A critical hermeneutic methodology is utilized to uncover these hidden meanings and presuppositions. The results of this study highlight the interrelationship between the construction of a professional field and the support it draws and creates for itself through the field of textuality to enhance and perpetuate relationships of domination and control. The results of this study shed light on the driving forces behind the formation and structure of international accounting as an academic discipline and help provide direction for further development in this field of inquiry.