Editorial 38-2: an issue with a special section about qualitative research in accounting: Editorial 38-2: Edición con una Sección Especial sobre Investigación Cualitativa en Contabilidad Free

This 38-2 issue includes nine articles by twenty-three authors from nine countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Ghana, Mexico, Peru and the United States. Six of the nine articles comprise a special section about qualitative research in accounting. We shall first introduce the remaining three articles, followed by an introduction by the guest editors of the special section containing the six articles on qualitative research in accounting.

The first three articles address a range of important issues. Hoyos-Vallejo et al. (2025) investigate the influence of consumption values on environmental attitudes and the intent to purchase organic products among Peruvian millennials. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the research surveyed 509 participants using a structured questionnaire and employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as well as structural equation modelling for data analysis. The results indicated that environmental attitudes are a direct determinant of millennials’ intentions to purchase organic products. Notably, the dimensions of consumption values that significantly shaped these environmental attitudes were functional and social values, while emotional, conditional and epistemic values did not exhibit a similar influence. These findings underscore the importance of understanding which specific values affect purchasing behaviours, providing valuable insights for marketers and companies aiming to attract environmentally conscious consumers in the organic product market.

Using a network-based methodology, the study of Lorenzo-Valdes (2025) analyzes the dynamic interdependence among stock indices in the Americas and the effects of global crises on these interdependencies. The results show increased connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine conflict. The main contribution of this study lies in the use of dynamic network measures to capture the transmission of financial contagion and changes in interdependence. The findings provide valuable risk management insights, benefiting policymakers and investors. Unlike their static counterparts, dynamic network measures enable a more detailed analysis of market behaviour over time.

Raulino Jácome et al. (2025) study the influence of job security and promotion prospects on auditors' decisions to report on unethical practices. An experimental design was employed. A total of 561 survey respondents of the Big Four auditing firms were selected. The authors suggest blockchain-based reporting platforms or artificial intelligence, by improving anonymity and trust, can foster a secure environment for ethical reporting. These results are counterintuitive and paradoxical.

An introduction to the Special Section on qualitative accounting follows.

We launched the call for this special issue/section because it has been mentioned that there is a limited dialogue between the community of accounting researchers in the global north and global south, despite the existing dialogue and fruitful areas of research where collaboration and different viewpoints are embraced and not treated as dichotomies. Our experience and these manuscripts are nurtured by two active forums: the Qualitative Accounting Research Symposium (QARS) and the Qualitative Research and Critical Accounting – Latin American Network (QRCA). All authors are part of one or both networks, reinforcing the idea of a community that is open and growing through qualitative and critical studies in accounting, mostly management accounting.

This section contributes to the broad field of qualitative research in accounting, including critical views of the field. The idea of this section started in the 2023 panel discussion of QARS focused on “Challenging Unconscious Dichotomies”, where Professors Rania Kamla, Theresa Hammond, Olatunde Julius Otusanya and Alessandro Ghio provided their views, moderated by Professor Leslie Berger. November of 2024 was a special month fostering an intense dialogue South-North, because earlier in the month, the QRCA community had the annual gathering at Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (Argentina), and by the end of the month, the QARS community had theirs at the University of Guelph (Canada).

One of the goals of showcasing qualitative and critical accounting research in ARLA, the academic journal of the CLADEA (Consejo Latinoamericano de Escuelas en Administración), is to raise awareness of the breadth and depth of the research done and its potential to contribute to the solution to organizational and societal issues. The manuscripts included in this special issue/section were nurtured by several actors that participated in person at QRCA and QARS such as Celina Amato (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina), Mari Vera Colina (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), David Cooper (University of Alberta, Canada), Yves Gendron (University Laval, Canada), Christine Gilbert (Universite Laval, Canada), Carlos Larrañaiga (Universidad de Burgos, Spain), Sarah Lauwo (Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University, UK), Marcela Mandiola (Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile) and Sedzani Musundwa (University of South Africa, South Africa).

The special issue call for papers invited authors to identify, discuss and ultimately reject dichotomies based on socially created separations, reproduced in accounting systems and the community. The manuscripts accepted for this section address several interesting topics ranging from traditional accounting studies to others that are in a fuzzy interdisciplinary frontier. In the spirit of this special section, we consider all six studies along a continuum, highlighting their commonalities instead of their differences in contributions to literature.

Starting from one end of the spectrum, we present more traditional accounting studies that cover control mechanisms, disclosures and discourse practices. Dufour et al. (2025) contribute a study on NGOs that respond to emergencies operating on the American continent. Using data from 65 interviews, they explore the diverse control mechanisms used and how they relate to operational efficiency.

Asare et al. (2025) contribute evidence from Ghana that extractive industry sustainability reports do not reflect the reality faced by communities. Using the African Ubuntu/Biakoye cultural notion of accountability, the authors expand the accountability obligation for sustainability in the accounting discourse.

Nasreen et al. (2025) contribute a study on organizational hypocrisy of an agricultural company in Argentina in its communications with stakeholders. Using secondary data from before and during the preventive bankruptcy of the company, the authors show how organizational hypocrisy and facades are prevalent in times of financial and political turmoil even in an industry that has significant competitive advantages such as agriculture in Argentina.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are three studies that fit loosely with preconceived ideas of what qualitative research is in accounting. Traditional accounting research does not commonly expand to the sociology of corruption, conservation practices, innovation changes and ideas diffusion. Maharaj (2025) uses Bourdieu’s institutional sociology to dissect a corruption case in South Africa linked with the supply side of corruption. Results show how accounting practices facilitate both the corruption network formation and the propagation of corrupt practices.

Moreno-López and Thomson (2025) take head-on the inclusion/exclusion dichotomy in gendering practices observed in professional contexts. Using documented dialogues in electronic means and platforms, the authors show how men resist taking on “menial” work, making visible the process through which patriarchy is produced and reproduced in interactions among professionals. These results are extensive for accounting professionals.

Zicari (2025) contributes an analysis of how sustainability and corporate social responsibility ideas and models travel in academic business environments. Using secondary data from Brazil and other countries in Latin America, the study explains how Brazilian scholars first adapted CSR models from the North to their reality and then how that translation was used in other Latin American countries, blurring the lines of its origin.

Linked to this special section is a study recently published in ARLA that although appealing to a broader audience, covers accounting issues of control and coordination mechanisms. Braga and Soares (2025) contributed a study on organizational ambidexterity in a century-old natives’ association in Brazil and documented examples of innovation, with both alignment and adaptability occurring simultaneously in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results argue that innovation is both a control and a coordination mechanism, dispelling some ideas of a dichotomy between them.

The manuscripts included are good examples of different types of dialogues, either in the use of theories, data or composition of research teams. A secondary goal is to make the academic networks in qualitative accounting (QRCA and QARS among others) visible, to foster dialogue and encourage junior researchers to join a community of practice generating opportunities to do local research with international quality. We like to think both goals were achieved; time will say if we were successful.

This special issue/section is possible thanks to the continuous support of the outgoing and incoming editors of ARLA, Enrique Ogliastri, Carlos Pombo, Manuel Alonso Dos Santos and Gianni Romaní, as well as the expertise of the Editorial Office of Ana Maria Molano Torres, who solved all issues we faced.