A pragmatist neoclassical accounting research agenda for identifiable intangibles

PurposeThis paper offers a way of revivifying classical accounting research in the form of a pragmatist neoclassical programme with a sound epistemological underpinning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a pragmatist perspective on financial accounting and accounting research springing from John Dewey's theory of inquiry.FindingsAlthough a pragmatist underpinning does not entail specific methodological prescriptions, it can provide fruitful insights in research design. The paper discusses the structure and content of a research programme drawing on a pragmatist underpinning and sets out proposals for a practical research agenda. Although the agenda is shaped around the topic of identifiable intangibles, much of the paper has substantially wider relevance.Research limitations/implicationsThe approach justifies a revival in scholarly research employing classical methods and directed at improving accounting methods and standards.Practical implicationsThe approach would promote closer engagement between scholarly accounting and practitioners such as standard-setters, making some contribution to closing the widely acknowledged gap between research and practice.Originality/valueThe paper offers a neoclassical programme of research drawing considerably more extensively on pragmatist philosophy than did theorisation in the classical period.