Mixed methods research is a wide field of study, and this paper laid the stage for integrating the enormous array of literature on mixed methods research. It examined what mixed methods research is, and the related strengths it has for accounting research. The article is written in the style of a literature review. It identifies and investigates essential definitions, possibilities, and risks in mixed methods studies by conducting extensive review on mixed methods research in a variety of social science fields. This allows the researcher to examine differences in how mixed methods research is conceptualized across different studies, and also assess the perceived benefits and limitations of specific mixed methods design choices. To this end, the researcher identifies a wide range of possibilities and challenges in conducting of mixed-methods research and demonstrates them with references to both published works as well as additional contributions to this special issue. Except for the use of mixed-method research in finance, there is a sparse discussion of the application and potential of mixed methods research in the existent accounting literature.

This study aims to examine how fiscal decentralization affects the effectiveness of public service delivery in Homabay County. It uses a stochastic frontier method to estimate time-varying efficiency coefficients and investigates the effects of fiscal decentralization on those efficiency coefficients. The results show that, in some cases, fiscal decentralization can increase the effectiveness of public service delivery. Initially, the decentralization process needs appropriate political and institutional conditions or goodwill. Second, it would seem that good outcomes call for a high enough degree of expenditure decentralization. Third, there must be sufficient decentralization of both revenue and expenditure. Lastly, fiscal decentralization could make public service delivery less effective if these conditions are not met. The paper recommends the need for developing countries to adopt fiscal decentralization because it helps subnational governments raise revenues through enhancing tax administration and collection by the government as well as taxpayer compliance. It also supports legislation and policy changes that give subnational governments more fiscal authority.