Guest editorial
Article Type: Guest editorial From: Journal of Human Resource Costing & Accounting, Volume 13, Issue 2
In our editorial we want to highlight and give a brief view of Jan-Erik, not only as a researcher in accounting, but also as a person, as a supervisor and leader, as a teacher and a student, and as a dear friend. We do believe that Jan-Erik contributed so much more than just research in accounting. Or, put it differently, it was through his personality and his engagement in business studies that the borders of accounting became more interesting, more important and more memorable for a greater audience that just his closest colleagues. Our hypothesis is that it is exactly on account of his engagement that our task of putting together this special issue was relatively easy, i.e. we got a quick and positive response from the best-known scholars in human resource accounting to contribute to a special issue in the honor of Jan-Erik Gröjer.
In order to situate this editorial we first want to acknowledge that we (the three guest editors) had the opportunity to work with Jan-Erik not only as a supervisor for our PhD projects but also as colleagues in other settings. As a supervisor he was extra ordinary in many respects. One of his more admirable characteristics was his firm belief in the PhD candidate’s ability to contribute to the field. Nevertheless, this contribution was often provoked by his ability to ask questions “from the outside,” making it important to reflect on the ideas. Also, Jan-Erik could change his position, and when criticized for his change he would answer: “I changed my mind because I have learned something” making it clear to the PhD student that learning is a never-ending process and that one must always stay a student of accounting.
Jan-Erik Gröjer will, we expect, be remembered as one of the central actors in the human accounting field. For us he will always be remembered as the person that turned accounting into a fascinating subject well worth of studying. But, foremost, we will remember him as a dear friend who we will always miss.
Bino Catasús, Maria Mårtensson, Matti Skoog and Robin RoslenderGuest Editors
The death in the autumn of 2007 of Jan-Erik Grojer was both untimely and a cause for great sadness for many people. Among his many accomplishments,Jan-Erik was one of the founding members of this journal during his time at Stockholm University School of Business, the intellectual home of human resource costing and accounting. It is therefore very fitting that we celebrate Jan-Erik’s life and work in a special issue of the Journal of Human Resource Costing and Accounting, the first special issue to be published in my own tenureship as editor. The identification of Bino Catasús, Maria Mårtensson and Matti Skoog as guest editors was an easy one, all three being sometime graduate students of Jan-Erik and, like myself, privileged to be a member of his wide circle of friends and colleagues.
Robin RoslenderEditor
