CPA-AGRC Seminar Series - Charles Cho

Charles Cho, PhD.

Professor of Accounting, Erivan K. Haub Chair in Business & Sustainability, Schulich School of Business, York University

When implemented effectively, interdisciplinary research has the potential to generate novel insights that advance our thinking about a particular phenomenon, as well as produce practical impact. Despite decades of calls for such research, research communities are becoming more siloed and less impactful (especially in accounting research). We propose that an unexamined reason for this problem is the diffusion of a particular mode of interdisciplinary research. Specifically, we observe researchers who are trained in accounting, work in accounting departments and publish in accounting journals, yet label themselves as ‘interdisciplinary researchers’ because they import theories from other fields. This mode, that we term ‘identity-based’ interdisciplinary accounting research (IAR), is a selective interpretation of what interdisciplinary means, that is, one that capitalizes upon calls for impactful, boundary-spanning work without incurring any of the costs and penalties associated with true interdisciplinary research. This paper aims to highlight the dangers of identity-based IAR, and instead argue that interdisciplinarity should be more of a practice. We argue that IAR can be best achieved through the collaboration of researchers from different fields by integrating the members of a research team’s background and training. Our purpose is to demonstrate how the intersection of perspectives from different fields (and different career stages) can enrich scholarly output for multiple stakeholders. We show this ‘practice-based IAR’ may unfold through different channels, allowing for meaningful and impactful research, effective diffusion and dissemination and an IAR community that encourages interdisciplinary research practices.