The internationalisation of management accounting research in the German-speaking countries – a longitudinal study

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to study the internationalisation of management accounting research in the German-speaking countries and to analyse whether researchers from these countries rely on their intellectual heritage or adapt to the conventions prevailing in the international community. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a research taxonomy of 273 papers published by management accounting researchers from the German-speaking countries between 2005 and 2018 in domestic and international journals with regard to topics, settings, methods, data origins and theories of these papers. The study also systematically compares these publications with the publications by international scholars as synthesised in selected prior bibliometric studies. Findings The findings suggest that German-speaking researchers increasingly adapt to the conventions prevailing in the international management accounting literature. Indicative of this development is the crowding out of traditional core areas of German-speaking management accounting such as cost accounting by management control topics. The study also finds that German-speaking researchers increasingly rely on the research methods and theories prevailing internationally. Research limitations/implications The paper documents considerable changes in the publications of management accounting researchers from the German-speaking countries. These changes raise the question how other national research communities internationalise and whether these processes lead to a greater homogenisation of international management accounting research, which might impair the advancement of management accounting knowledge. Originality/value This paper provides first empirical evidence on how management accounting research conducted in the German-speaking countries has changed in the course of the internationalisation of the research community and builds an important basis for future research in other geographic settings.

Management accounting developments in German-speaking countries: an overview and editorial reflections

“…Economic theories are still dominant, but production theory has considerably lost importance, while sociological and psychological theories have gained importance. Overall, Endenich et al (2021) conclude that management accounting research in German-speaking countries shows substantial convergence with international research in terms of topics, methods and theories. In their concluding discussion, the authors raise the question of whether in the course of this homogenisation (Lukka and Mouritsen, 2002), the research focus has become unduly narrowed (Hopwood, 2008a;Merchant, 2013) and opportunities to build upon the heritage of management accounting research in German-speaking countries, e.g.…”

“…We consider the papers by Weber and Wiegmann (2021) and by Gisch et al (2021) as contributing to our knowledge on developments in management accounting practice in German international companies and the public sector. The papers by Endenich et al (2021) and by Kreilkamp et al (2021) are helpful for understanding the developments in management accounting research in German-speaking countries, surveying research publications and illustrating changes with regard to common research methodologies.…”

“…While Weber and Wiegmann (2021) and Gisch et al (2021) address changes in the practice of management accounting, the other two contributions address changes in management accounting research. Endenich et al (2021) add to the analysis of changes in German-speaking management accounting research. In their longitudinal study, the authors investigate the internationalisation of management accounting research in Germanspeaking countries.…”

“…The authors specifically focus on the question of whether and to what degree researchers build upon the heritage of German-speaking research or adapt their topics, methods and theories to traditions in "international" management accounting research. Therefore, Endenich et al (2021) build upon the system of categories used by Wagenhofer (2006) and extend and refine this system into a comprehensive taxonomy of topics, settings, methods, data sources and theories. The authors draw upon a data set of 273 articles published in leading Germanic business administration journals and top-tier international accounting journals between 2005 and 2018, thus covering the period after Wagenhofer's (2006) study.…”

“…In contrast to the earlier study by Wagenhofer (2006), these authors find an increased use of experimental and archival methods. Moreover, Endenich et al (2021) find significant changes in the theories used. Economic theories are still dominant, but production theory has considerably lost importance, while sociological and psychological theories have gained importance.…”