MÉTODOS EMPÍRICOS. DIVERSAS PERSPECTIVAS
Abstract
En este trabajo concentraremos nuestra atención en los métodos empíricos que, desde distintos abordajes, se están siguiendo dentro de la investigación contable actual. Cada vez más, los desarrollos se realizan dentro de un dominio disciplinal amplio que viene consolidando su posición a lo largo de la última década, fundamentalmente, a partir del peso que está adquiriendo el segmento micro y macro social. Desde un enfoque que incorpora aspectos comunicacionales y de comportamiento de grupos humanos y de individuos, realizaremos algunos comentarios sobre cuatro trabajos/relevamientos llevados a cabo por diferentes organismos/investigadores que responden a distintas concepciones e intereses. Analizamos metodologías utilizadas dentro de la corriente principal del pensamiento contable que propugna el “caso de negocios” para alentar el comportamiento social y ambiental responsable” y hace énfasis en cómo las “mejores prácticas” seguidas por las empresas líderes en su afán de “renovar sus licencias para operar” las coloca en una situación de ventaja que les permite a quienes las dirigen minimizar los riesgos y controlar el entorno. Tomamos, también, dentro de los ejemplos, metodologías seguidas por enfoques que provienen de la perspectiva más “crítica” y de la denominada “reformista” que consideran los condicionamientos políticos y culturales y entienden también que los informes sientan las bases para comenzar a construir interpretaciones negociadas entre los distintos actores sociales. La idea es disparar la discusión acerca de la potencial aplicación de las distintas metodologías para investigaciones futuras considerando las dificultades y los costos que involucra la investigación empírica, sobre todo, si se realiza en forma independiente, como es el caso, generalmente, dentro de las universidades. Abstract: In this paper we concentrate on the empirical methods that, from different approaches, are being followed in recent accounting research. Increasingly, new developments are made within a wide disciplinary domain that has been consolidating its position in the last decade, fundamentally, from the importance the micro and macro social segment is gaining. From an approach that incorporates communicational and behavioral aspects of human groups and individuals, we comment on four papers/ surveys prepared by different research groups that represent diverse conceptions and interests. We analize the methodologies employed within mainstream accounting, a new view that promotes the “business case” in order to encourage responsible social and environmental behaviour and emphasizes aspects related to how the “best practices” followed by leading companies in the search of renewing their ”operating licenses” puts them in an advantageous position that allows their managers to minimize risks and control the environment. We also analize, among the chosen papers, methodologies followed by approaches that fall within a more “critic” view and within the so called “reformist” view that consider political and cultural constraints and state that the reports set the bases to begin negociated interpretations among different social actors. The idea is to promote discussion about the potential application of different methodologies for future research considering the difficulties and the costs involved in accounting research carried out independently, as it is the case in universitiesDownloads
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