Key takeaways from the articles
Topics in Business Economics 2020-2021
Radboud University
Topic 0: Course outline: academic writing
Bem (1995) This article provides a few guidelines for writing an article.
Before writing, think of the 4 W’s concerning the relevance of
the article. There are six steps for ‘Bemming’ texts. 1) omitting
needless words, 2) avoiding metacomments, 3) using repetition
and parallel construction, 4) writing in plain language, 5) using
‘I’ and ‘we’ separately and 6) avoiding language bias.
Webster & Watson (2002) An ideal article motivates the research topic and its
contributions, describes key concepts, shows the boundaries of
the research, reviews relevant prior literature in the field,
justifies propositions through theoretical explanation, empirical
findings and practical examples, develops a model for future
research and finally present concluding implications. Extra note:
the article discusses the use of a concept matrix to shift the focus
from author to concepts and see patterns in concepts.
Topic 1: Alternative perspectives in business economics research
Roslender & Dillard (2003) The interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting project (IPA)
challenges mainstream (= neo-classical economic) research in
the field of accounting. There are developments concerning
functionalist (positivist) and post-functionalist perspectives. The
functionalist perspective assumes an objective, stable reality.
Post-functionalist perspectives can be subdivided into the
interpretative (reality is a social construct) and the critical
perspective (critical towards existing social order, because
politics play a role too).
De Villiers, Dumay & Maroun The article discusses why qualitative methodology (often post-
(2019) functionalist) is also appropriate for accounting research. There
are some criticisms on qualitative research (e.g. no p-value or
other reliability checks), but according to the authors, it still
complies with sufficient 1) clarity, 2) execution and 3) scope. It
is useful perform qualitative research when details of
phenomena are relevant.
Richardson (2015) The critical accounting project (CAP) also challenges the
positivist epistemology. However, quantitative methods can be
fruitful in CAP for two reasons: 1) it can explain variance in
mainstream literature and 2) it may help moving from model
building to descriptions and categorization. Because of the
strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, the
author opts for a mixed-research-method strategy in CAP
, research.
Topic 2: Developing a research question in the accounting information systems field
Mahama, Elbashir, Sutton & In accounting information systems (AIS) literature, there is a
Arnold (2016) focus on the relationship between information systems (IS) and
organizational performance. The authors propose two views on
IS: 1) technocentric view (technology has agency) and 2)
anthropocentric view (humans have agency). These separate
perspectives have an oversimplified view on performance. The
authors therefore introduce the relational view and combine the
two. They conclude that ‘the capacity to act does not pre-exist
the relationships from which they are derived, it is the outcome
of the two’. So, IS is a relational network, having no essence
when the two entities are viewed in isolation. A critique: if
everything becomes unique because of the relational view, we
cannot generalize anything anymore.
Quattrone & Hopper (2005) The authors discuss the concepts of ‘time’ and ‘space’ and the
(relational) way it is related to technology (ERPS) and control. They use
two cases of MNOs that have implemented technologies and,
with Actor Network Theory (ANT) studied the outcomes. They
found that technologies can collapse time and space, and it also
showed that for one MNO the centers of control remained the
same and for the other MNO led to constantly changing centres
of control, referring to an ‘orgy of totalitarianisms’.
Poston & Grabski (2001) ERPS is supposed to improve (financial) performance because
(technocentric) (1) it would reduce several costs and (2) it would enhance
decision-making. However, the study shows that there were no
significant change (decrease) in costs as a percentage of revenue
until 3 years after implementation of ERPS. This also has to do
with agency theory: the existence of information asymmetry,
conflict of interest and tension for opportunistic behaviour.
Topic 3: Management control systems and organizational learning
Argyris (1990) This article discusses two theories of control: espoused theory
(what you say you will do) versus theory in use (what you
actually do). Right implementation of these types of control can
facilitate organizational learning (double-loop learning). If not,
organizational defensive routines can be created, which bypass
threat and embarrassment. This may lead to a very defensive
climate, not being open about mistakes and therefore the
inability to learn (in organizations, single-loop learning).
Kloot (1997) The author states that organizational learning as well as
management control systems (MCS) are concerned with the fit
between the organization and its environment. Two types of
management control systems were distinguished: cybernetic and
non-cybernetic. For organizations to learn generatively, and
eventually be able to survive in a changing environment, a few
MCS characteristics are required: appropriate accounting
Topics in Business Economics 2020-2021
Radboud University
Topic 0: Course outline: academic writing
Bem (1995) This article provides a few guidelines for writing an article.
Before writing, think of the 4 W’s concerning the relevance of
the article. There are six steps for ‘Bemming’ texts. 1) omitting
needless words, 2) avoiding metacomments, 3) using repetition
and parallel construction, 4) writing in plain language, 5) using
‘I’ and ‘we’ separately and 6) avoiding language bias.
Webster & Watson (2002) An ideal article motivates the research topic and its
contributions, describes key concepts, shows the boundaries of
the research, reviews relevant prior literature in the field,
justifies propositions through theoretical explanation, empirical
findings and practical examples, develops a model for future
research and finally present concluding implications. Extra note:
the article discusses the use of a concept matrix to shift the focus
from author to concepts and see patterns in concepts.
Topic 1: Alternative perspectives in business economics research
Roslender & Dillard (2003) The interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting project (IPA)
challenges mainstream (= neo-classical economic) research in
the field of accounting. There are developments concerning
functionalist (positivist) and post-functionalist perspectives. The
functionalist perspective assumes an objective, stable reality.
Post-functionalist perspectives can be subdivided into the
interpretative (reality is a social construct) and the critical
perspective (critical towards existing social order, because
politics play a role too).
De Villiers, Dumay & Maroun The article discusses why qualitative methodology (often post-
(2019) functionalist) is also appropriate for accounting research. There
are some criticisms on qualitative research (e.g. no p-value or
other reliability checks), but according to the authors, it still
complies with sufficient 1) clarity, 2) execution and 3) scope. It
is useful perform qualitative research when details of
phenomena are relevant.
Richardson (2015) The critical accounting project (CAP) also challenges the
positivist epistemology. However, quantitative methods can be
fruitful in CAP for two reasons: 1) it can explain variance in
mainstream literature and 2) it may help moving from model
building to descriptions and categorization. Because of the
strengths of both qualitative and quantitative methods, the
author opts for a mixed-research-method strategy in CAP
, research.
Topic 2: Developing a research question in the accounting information systems field
Mahama, Elbashir, Sutton & In accounting information systems (AIS) literature, there is a
Arnold (2016) focus on the relationship between information systems (IS) and
organizational performance. The authors propose two views on
IS: 1) technocentric view (technology has agency) and 2)
anthropocentric view (humans have agency). These separate
perspectives have an oversimplified view on performance. The
authors therefore introduce the relational view and combine the
two. They conclude that ‘the capacity to act does not pre-exist
the relationships from which they are derived, it is the outcome
of the two’. So, IS is a relational network, having no essence
when the two entities are viewed in isolation. A critique: if
everything becomes unique because of the relational view, we
cannot generalize anything anymore.
Quattrone & Hopper (2005) The authors discuss the concepts of ‘time’ and ‘space’ and the
(relational) way it is related to technology (ERPS) and control. They use
two cases of MNOs that have implemented technologies and,
with Actor Network Theory (ANT) studied the outcomes. They
found that technologies can collapse time and space, and it also
showed that for one MNO the centers of control remained the
same and for the other MNO led to constantly changing centres
of control, referring to an ‘orgy of totalitarianisms’.
Poston & Grabski (2001) ERPS is supposed to improve (financial) performance because
(technocentric) (1) it would reduce several costs and (2) it would enhance
decision-making. However, the study shows that there were no
significant change (decrease) in costs as a percentage of revenue
until 3 years after implementation of ERPS. This also has to do
with agency theory: the existence of information asymmetry,
conflict of interest and tension for opportunistic behaviour.
Topic 3: Management control systems and organizational learning
Argyris (1990) This article discusses two theories of control: espoused theory
(what you say you will do) versus theory in use (what you
actually do). Right implementation of these types of control can
facilitate organizational learning (double-loop learning). If not,
organizational defensive routines can be created, which bypass
threat and embarrassment. This may lead to a very defensive
climate, not being open about mistakes and therefore the
inability to learn (in organizations, single-loop learning).
Kloot (1997) The author states that organizational learning as well as
management control systems (MCS) are concerned with the fit
between the organization and its environment. Two types of
management control systems were distinguished: cybernetic and
non-cybernetic. For organizations to learn generatively, and
eventually be able to survive in a changing environment, a few
MCS characteristics are required: appropriate accounting
