Shedding light on alternative interdisciplinary accounting research through journal editors’ perspectives and an analysis of recent publications

Since its emergence in the 1970s, interdisciplinary accounting research has sought to cultivate alternative perspectives on accounting, and to incorporate insights from other disciplines to investigate accounting practices in their social and organisational contexts. By examining interdisciplinary accounting journals as boundary objects, this study addresses the increasing challenges of the field, including the metrification of academic performance. It also seeks to provide suggestions for interdisciplinary accounting scholars to negotiate a variety of pressures while continuing to pursue the core project of interdisciplinary accounting research. We analyse articles published in three of the main interdisciplinary accounting journals, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ), Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS) and Critical Perspectives on Accounting (CPA), along with interviews with the editors of AAAJ and CPA. The paper offers a holistic reading of the direction of alternative interdisciplinary accounting, as reflected in the epistemological choices emerging from changes in topics, frameworks and methods in AAAJ, AOS and CPA. Through the lens of a boundary object, the study provides insights to scholars which may contribute to the development of a research agenda which responds to the current pressures while maintaining the integrity of interdisciplinary accounting research.