{"title":"The diktat of concision: When accounting for words shrinks academic knowledge","authors":"Henri Guénin , Yves Gendron , Jérémy Morales","doi":"10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102732","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>For the vast majority of accounting and management research journals, the length of submitted articles is now considered an essential criterion, and the watchword in this respect is: “<em>keep it as short as possible!</em>” Our goal in this essay is to highlight the potential damaging side-effects that this “diktat of concision” currently imposed on researchers can have on the creation of knowledge. We also seek to better understand how the current circumstances constitute a fertile ground for such a diktat to thrive despite its possible negative repercussions. As we advance in our reflection, we come to illuminate a set of possible resonances between (1) the academic writing style promoted by the “diktat of concision” and a context marked by: (2) the “McDonaldization” of research, (3) the persistent domination of the positivist approach in accounting and management academia, and (4) the increasing performatization of science. In sum, we endeavor to challenge the mythological edifice underpinning the voice of concision in the world of research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48078,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on Accounting","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":8.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235424000315/pdfft?md5=570d29156c826e09dd9684ec0a395d1a&pid=1-s2.0-S1045235424000315-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical Perspectives on Accounting","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235424000315","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
For the vast majority of accounting and management research journals, the length of submitted articles is now considered an essential criterion, and the watchword in this respect is: “keep it as short as possible!” Our goal in this essay is to highlight the potential damaging side-effects that this “diktat of concision” currently imposed on researchers can have on the creation of knowledge. We also seek to better understand how the current circumstances constitute a fertile ground for such a diktat to thrive despite its possible negative repercussions. As we advance in our reflection, we come to illuminate a set of possible resonances between (1) the academic writing style promoted by the “diktat of concision” and a context marked by: (2) the “McDonaldization” of research, (3) the persistent domination of the positivist approach in accounting and management academia, and (4) the increasing performatization of science. In sum, we endeavor to challenge the mythological edifice underpinning the voice of concision in the world of research.
期刊介绍:
Critical Perspectives on Accounting aims to provide a forum for the growing number of accounting researchers and practitioners who realize that conventional theory and practice is ill-suited to the challenges of the modern environment, and that accounting practices and corporate behavior are inextricably connected with many allocative, distributive, social, and ecological problems of our era. From such concerns, a new literature is emerging that seeks to reformulate corporate, social, and political activity, and the theoretical and practical means by which we apprehend and affect that activity. Research Areas Include: • Studies involving the political economy of accounting, critical accounting, radical accounting, and accounting''s implication in the exercise of power • Financial accounting''s role in the processes of international capital formation, including its impact on stock market stability and international banking activities • Management accounting''s role in organizing the labor process • The relationship between accounting and the state in various social formations • Studies of accounting''s historical role, as a means of "remembering" the subject''s social and conflictual character • The role of accounting in establishing "real" democracy at work and other domains of life • Accounting''s adjudicative function in international exchanges, such as that of the Third World debt • Antagonisms between the social and private character of accounting, such as conflicts of interest in the audit process • The identification of new constituencies for radical and critical accounting information • Accounting''s involvement in gender and class conflicts in the workplace • The interplay between accounting, social conflict, industrialization, bureaucracy, and technocracy • Reappraisals of the role of accounting as a science and technology • Critical reviews of "useful" scientific knowledge about organizations