Researching the accounting-state-market dynamic in China: A literature review and research agenda

Abstract

Accounting has long been studied as a social and institutional practice structured by the actions of state agencies and market forces. Such studies are increasingly conducted in non-Western jurisdictions. This paper presents a review of extant studies investigating the dynamic connections among accounting, state agencies, and markets in modern China. Our aim is to critically evaluate extant literature, synthesize its insights, and open up new research avenues. We examine 92 accounting studies, which have been inductively classified into three distinctive thematic clusters. In so doing, three major features of current research are identified: first, an emphasis on the inexorable power of Chinese state agencies; second, a focus on national relations among accounting, state, and market; and third, a lack of attention to how accounting functions in specific local settings. Consequently, key research opportunities lie in (a) deeper theorization of the hybridity of China's state-market mix, (b) analysis of the local-global networks in which hybridity circulates and is manifested, and (c) contemporary studies of accounting in action in a Chinese context.