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This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework informed by a literature review. This framework aims to deepen and broaden the understanding of the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and non-financial reporting (NFR) through qualitative research approaches.

A review of corporate governance and NFR literature and existing research frameworks leads to the development of a conceptual framework to encourage future qualitative accounting research on the corporate governance mechanisms for NFR.

Few studies consider the complex interrelationships between NFR and corporate governance mechanisms. Quantitative studies using secondary data sources dominate accounting research on the topic. Of the small number of qualitative studies, many are theoretical and offer little new knowledge about the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms in practice. The research framework, developed from a literature review and consideration of multiple qualitative approaches, proposes numerous avenues for future research.

This paper is based on a scoping review of the literature using peer-reviewed journal papers. Other researchers may have identified additional literature for inclusion, including grey literature.

More qualitative research into NFR and corporate governance mechanisms may help to guide practitioners seeking to incorporate sustainability into their governance practices.

The critical relationship between NRF and corporate governance is under-explored in research yet has significant consequences for organisations pursuing sustainability.

The authors develop a conceptual framework for qualitative accounting research on NFR and corporate governance, addressing key outstanding questions in this area and considering different theoretical perspectives when approaching this critical topic. Although there is scope for further research in general in this promising area, including quantitative reviews and discursive studies, qualitative research would be of particular value. The authors also outline multiple directions for nurturing academic debate.

This literature review seeks to engage with the discussion of the limitations of studying corporate governance processes as a “black box” by developing a theoretical framework for qualitative corporate governance research that can support the design of future hermeneutic research into corporate governance practices.

The approach is to develop a qualitative research framework based on the methodological discussions in the business and sociology literatures, and compare it with existing alternative research frameworks in the corporate governance literature and three qualitative field studies in corporate governance.

This paper identifies methodological gaps that have made it difficult for extant qualitative studies of corporate governance to capture the complexity of the practices they have studied. This paper suggests three main implications for future qualitative corporate governance research: it should seek to articulate the multiple meanings of corporate governance rules, techniques, and processes as they arise in practice in order to facilitate a better discussion of the complexity of corporate governance practices; it should reflect on the role of the researcher in the field and his/her interactions with the subjects because through those interactions the multiple meanings of practice can be detected by the researcher; it should seek to articulate how the authors of research papers choose the contexts in which they place their observations from the field and how they variously zoom in and out of their fields of study to foreground either local detail or the wider contexts.

Through a close reading of alternative corporate governance research frameworks and qualitative studies this paper explains how future scholarly and practical corporate governance research can produce insights into the lived experience of corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework intended to guide students and novice researchers in learning about the necessary dimensions for assessing the rigour of qualitative research studies. The framework has four dimensions – (T)rustworthiness, (A)uditability, (C)redibility and (T)ransferability. The development of TACT is informed by various discourses of rigour in the qualitative research methods literature. Results of an empirical verification of TACT suggests that postgraduate students and faculty learning qualitative research found the framework useful for learning rigour in qualitative research methods. TACT also serves as an important theoretical tool for setting directions for further discourses on teaching and learning critical aspects of rigour in qualitative research methodology.

The formal verification of the TACT started with a development of a rating tool. The tool consisted of a total of 16 items, 4 items per each dimension. The items were ranked on five-scale Likert points (1=very important, 2=important, 3=neutral, 4=less important, 5=not important). The instrument was piloted and tested for reliability revealing an overall Cronbach’s α (α=0.86), which indicates a good level of internal consistency (George and Mallery, 2003) among the dimensions. The tool was put online and sent out to participants enroled in workshops on “assessing rigour in qualitative research studies”.

Overall, participants found TACT to be a useful framework for learning different dimensions for assessing qualitative research. They saw various benefits associated with the use of the framework including providing a better process for undertaking and reporting outcomes of qualitative research and for exploring different dimensions of rigour. Participants also indicated that using TACT facilitates reflexivity and fosters dependability of research outcomes. They stated that TACT could help researchers think about their personal relationship with a phenomenon being studied as well as the quality of data collected. Others said that TACT allows researchers to think about achieving transference and gaining confidence in the research findings.

TACT is best suited as a teaching toolkit in qualitative research methodology courses. It is also useful as a platform for fostering a shared language in undertaking peer-review of methodological dimensions of qualitative research studies.

Though a general framework for accessing rigour in qualitative research studies is highly desirable, the usefulness of TACT in rendering rigour is subject to a particular academic tradition.

TACT facilitates the exploration of different dimensions for assessing the outcome of qualitative research.

TACT is a general framework drawn from the literature and teaching practice and empirically validated.

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodological approach to support qualitative analysis of waste flows in food supply chains. The methodological framework introduced allows the identification of circular food waste flows that can maximise the sustainability of food supply chains.

Following a qualitative approach, circular economy perspectives are combined with core industrial ecology concepts in the specification of a standardised analytical method to map food waste flows and industrial synergies across a supply chain.

The mapped waste flows and industrial linkages depict two time-related scenarios: (1) current scenarios showing the status quo of existing food waste flows, and (2) future scenarios pointing out circular flows along the supply chain. The future scenarios inform potential alternatives to take waste flows up the food waste hierarchy.

The qualitative approach does not allow generalisations of findings out of the scope of the study. The framework is intended for providing focussed analysis, case by case. Future research involving mixed methods where quantitative approaches complement the qualitative perspectives of the framework would expand the analytical perspective.

The framework provides a relatively low-cost and pragmatic method to identify alternatives to minimise landfill disposals and improve the sustainability of food supply chains. Its phased methodology and standardised outcomes serve as a referential basis to inform not only comparative analysis, but also policymaking and strategic decisions aimed at transforming linear food supply chains into circular economy ecosystems.

The qualitative characteristics of decision-useful financial information (as set out in the revised March 2018 Conceptual Framework for financial reporting of the International Accounting Standards Board [IASB]) are fundamental for standard setting relied on by companies when making accounting policy changes and choices. However, there has not been an overarching universally agreed conceptual context of the qualitative characteristics. This paper aims to study the completeness of the qualitative characteristics towards suggesting a revision of the Conceptual Framework.

The present study evaluated the completeness of these qualitative characteristics using Foucauldian critical discourse analysis and content analysis paradigms to elucidate the inclusion conundrum. Foucauldian analysis allowed focus on power relationships, governmentality and subjectification in accounting society, as expressed through language and practices of the IASB who ultimately decide on the qualitative characteristics. Content analysis was used to analyse data collected via interviews with preparers and users of banks’ accounts, changes in banks’ accounting policies after the conceptual framework was published and comment letters from banks who wrote to the IASB.

Novel findings from this study revealed the potential significant omissions of the constraints of “materiality”, “transparency” and “regulatory/supervisory framework”. Also, surrounding the qualitative characteristics having been shown to be valid and includable, the adjective “decision-useful” reinstated in the chapter title and the IASB project team technical writers needing to show completeness of attention to all comments.

From these findings, a freshly formulated chapter in the conceptual framework on the qualitative characteristics can now be submitted for consideration by the IASB, with potential for international post-implementation review.

This chapter, together with those that follow, builds upon the ideas presented in the previous volume in this series (Maginn, Thompson, & Tonts, 2008). There we outlined our vision for a ‘pragmatic renaissance’ in contemporary qualitative research in urban studies. We argued that to survive as an effective and frequently used tool for policy development, a more systematic approach is needed in the way that qualitative-informed applied urban research is conceptualised and undertaken. In opening this volume we build on these initial ideas using housing as a meta-case study to progress the case for a systematic approach to qualitative research methods. We do this to both stimulate broad debate about the ways, in which qualitative research in urban/housing scholarship might be of greater use to policymakers and practitioners, as well as to suggest a way forward in realising the ‘pragmatic renaissance’.

The housing construction industry is one of the most lucrative sectors for developed countries. However, homebuyers are often vulnerable when left with latent building defects in their new-build house. Many nations have thus implemented new home warranty schemes to protect consumers and stimulate residential production. These warranty programs vary excessively from state to state given the distinct nature of environments. Previous studies have attempted to compare one with another but did not apply a consistent comparative method when doing so. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics defining a new home warranty and to develop a standardised comparative framework.

After evaluating the characteristics outlined in multiple home warranty programs, a qualitative content analysis method was used to establish coding, categories and themes in order to create the framework. The methodology relied mostly on cross-referencing from academic papers, methodical reviews, government documents and professional consultant reports.

This paper reviewed warranty schemes from six countries: Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France and Malaysia. The findings suggest that home warranty programs are defined by five main themes: political involvement; homeowner protection; financial sustainability; quality management; and dispute resolution. At the end, the research created a comparative framework of 101 codes that could be used to accurately measure the efficiency of a home warranty scheme.

Gathering all defining characteristics of new housing warranties into a unique comparative framework rectifies a gap in the literature. Such a flexible tool will aid future practitioners in the field to undertake comparative case study analysis through qualitative research methods.

In this chapter, the authors describe how instructors used decision-based learning (DBL) to teach master’s and doctoral students in qualitative research courses how to evaluate qualitative research articles and develop their own skills at communicating their own research design choices. The authors employed a unique approach to DBL by coupling it with a decision tree built on Ryan et al.’s (2007) qualitative evaluation framework and Arao and Clemens’ (2013) brave spaces model. The authors found that using the above approach helped students develop specific critiques of the articles they chose, which then aided them in developing their own research designs.

This paper aims to offer an insight into the emergent qualitative methodological profile and its distinctive contribution to accounting and management scholarship, particularly reflecting upon the contribution of Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management (QRAM).

It examines the range of qualitative methodologies employed in the research published across the ten years of QRAM and analyses the methodological discourse and its contribution to the armoury available to qualitative researchers. In association with these methodological developments, the paper offers a critique of the articulated role of theory in contemporary accounting and management qualitative research.

A wide range of qualitative methodologies are found to be in evidence, with considerable scope for further adoption and development of some. Methodological exposition papers are found to be a significant contribution in the past decade and include methodological framework building, methodological applications, methodological critiques, and methodological development exemplars. Alongside methodology, the dual role of theory as either informing or reflecting methodology is presented.

The paper provides a critical analysis and consideration of qualitative methodological literature development in the last ten years of accounting and management research literature, particularly reflected in QRAM. It identifies dominant methodologies in use, as well as opportunities for expanding the methodological menu in accounting and management research. Furthermore, it classifies groups of methodological papers and their contributing perspectives, as well as addressing the often-vexed relationship between theory and methodology.

There is low adoption rate of existing environmentally sustainable construction frameworks. Contractors have dwindled capability to adapt to environmentally sustainable construction (ESC) towards achievement of SDGs. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework that leverages both theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable construction to enable contractors' adaptation to ESC at the micro level.

Due to the social constructivism orientation of the objectives of this research, abductive approach and qualitative research strategy were adopted. Data were obtained through interviews and validation focus group discussion. Content analysis and thematic template analyses techniques were employed to conduct qualitative data analyses.

There are peculiar ESC barriers that need to be overcome by contractors in the study area. Legislative and financing efforts of stakeholders are key contractors' ESC adaptation drivers. Contractors in less affluent societies, such as Ghana, require high resilience, dense and centralized social network structures and isomorphic and coercive drivers to be able to adapt to ESC.

The scope of this research is limited to the data gathered from large construction firms in Ghana, a developing country in the sub-Saharan region.

This is one of the first papers that provide guidelines on developing capability of contractors in a developing country to adapt to ESC. The paper addresses the challenge in the ecological modernization theory by adducing empirical evidence to prescribe guidelines on how contractors can increase rate of efficiency through collaborative strategies that engender ESC.