ABSTRACT
A major finding of our review of the literature presented in this bibliography is that there was a significant change in the character and quantity of the literature in the 1960s. Table 1 presents an overview using 1960 as a somewhat arbitrary cutoff point. Not only was there a marked increase in the quantity of management accounting articles, but also the nature of the literature changed. The two major changes were a change in research methods from mostly a priori and descriptive to modeling, experimentation, and field studies, and an increase in the reliance on outside disciplines for theory and methods. Comparison of Management Accounting Literature Before and After 1960 https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Before 1960
After 1960
Average number of management accounting academic articles per year a
4.9
18.3
Percentage of articles relying primarily on a priori and descriptive research methods b
90%
44%
Percent of articles relying primarily on modeling, experimental and empirical methods
10%
56%
Percent of articles relying on an outside source discipline for key concepts (e.g., economics, pschology)
20%
55%
somewhat arbitrary cutoff point. Not only was there a marked increase in the quantity of management accounting articles, but also the nature of the literature changed. The two major changes were a change in research methods from
Academic articles include managerial accounting articles published in The Accounting Review; Journal of Accounting Research: Journal of Accounting and Economics; Abacus; Accounting, Organizations and Society; and Accounting Research.
“A priori” means the article was based on conceptual reasoning without an explicit model manipulation, experiment or empirical analysis. “Descriptive” includes both case studies and questionnaire surveys that collected data but did not manipulate data to test hypothesized relations.
