Key research themes
1. How does culture influence accounting education and academic capabilities in globalized classrooms?
This theme investigates the interaction between cultural diversity and accounting education, focusing on how cultural backgrounds impact learning styles, educators' cultural intelligence, and the challenges of teaching in multicultural environments. Understanding these factors is critical to developing effective pedagogy and curricula that can accommodate international students and diverse academic staff within accounting programs.
2. How do national culture and societal values shape accounting systems and financial reporting practices internationally?
This research strand examines the nexus between broad cultural dimensions—such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and collectivism—and accounting values, systems, and financial reporting quality. Studies typically draw on frameworks by Hofstede, Gray, and Schwartz to explicate differential national accounting practices, the adoption of international accounting standards (e.g., IFRS), and organizational governance in culturally diverse contexts. Understanding these cultural contingencies is essential for policy makers, multinational firms, and standard setters aiming to harmonize accounting across borders.
3. What are the roles of religion, ethics, and cultural values in shaping accounting theory and practices?
This research theme focuses on the influence of religious worldviews, ethical norms, and cultural value systems on the conceptualization and evolution of accounting practices, including creative accounting, debt accounting, and Islamic accounting perspectives. It interrogates how these factors frame accounting as a social and moral practice beyond its technical functions, emphasizing the importance of integrating ethical-religious dimensions into accounting education, theory, and institutional practices.