Factors impacting accounting research output in developing countries: An exploratory study

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify the factors that impact accounting research output in one of the developing regions of the world, Anglophone Sub-Sahara Africa (Anglophone SSA). Adopting an institutional theory framework, the paper uses a sequential research process comprising an original questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Four research questions were developed to achieve the research objectives. The region's low research output is explained by a host of individual, departmental and/or university, country and international factors; of these, departmental and/or university factors appear to have the strongest impact. The study also found that factors that constitute the regulative (coercive) pillar that promote research tend to be weaker in this region's universities, while factors that constitute the normative and culturalcognitive pillars which tend to promote teaching appear to be stronger. Thus, the institutional pressure stemming from factors that constitute normative and cultural-cognitive elements dictate the conduct of an accounting academic positioned in Anglophone SSA's universities. That is, research activities of accounting academics in the region are disempowered by the more potent, normative and cultural-cognitive pressures and are inadequately sanctioned by the regulative pressure.