Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the contributions of multiple
theories to accounting and organizational research, which is often referred to as “theoretical
triangulation” or “theoretical pluralism”, with a particular focus on the manner in which chosen
research methods have informed these efforts at theoretical triangulation.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct an analysis of how to employ theoretical
triangulations and methodological pluralism in accounting and organizational research. To this end,
they use prior empirical evidence for illustrative purposes.
Findings – The authors argue that using theories with epistemological tensions that are captured by
appropriate research methods enable one to explore different, sometimes even contradictory, layers of
meanings of realities pertaining to management accounting information and processes in
organizations and society.
Originality/value – The paper contributes to the thinking about the interaction between theory
development and research methods chosen by demonstrating how and under what circumstances
multiple theories could be meaningfully integrated and executed to provide deeper understandings of
accounting and organizational phenomena.
