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As technology integration in auditing continues to grow, it is important to understand how auditors perceive connections between use of generalized audit software (GAS) and audit benefits.

The DeLone and McLean information systems success model (2003) is adapted with audit-related uses of GAS as antecedents to information quality. Survey data on 188 current users of GAS, who are financial and IT auditors, is analyzed with partial least squares method.

For financial auditors, detecting material misstatements antecedent is the only significant indicator of information quality for GAS. For IT auditors, detecting control deficiencies and fraud significantly impacts information quality. Information quality influences use for both auditors; however, it only influences satisfaction with GAS for financial auditors. System quality impacts GAS satisfaction for only IT auditors and has no impact on GAS use for either type of auditor. Service quality influences use of GAS for financial, but not IT auditors. For both groups, service quality has no impact on satisfaction with GAS, and GAS use and satisfaction with GAS positively increases their perceptions of audit benefits.

Financial and IT auditors who use GAS are both focused on matching GAS use with their primary audit objectives. Results suggest that as GAS use increases, system quality may be important to satisfaction. Training should first focus on the usefulness of GAS to the audit to increase extent of use. Lastly, the more auditors use GAS and are satisfied with it, the greater their perception GAS contributing directly to benefit the audit.

Key findings from recent and relevant studies on patient safety and clinical handoffs are summarized and analyzed. After briefly reviewing process management and accounting control theory, the aim of this paper is to discuss how these latter two disciplines can be combined to further improve patient safety in handoffs.

A literature review on studies of patient safety, clinical processes and clinical handoffs was conducted in leading medical, quality, and information systems journals.

This paper issues a call for research using a trans‐disciplinary methodology to shed new light on information quality issues in clinical handoff processes, which in turn should improve patient safety.

The literature review employed systematic, heuristic, iterative and practical criteria for identifying and selecting papers, trading off completeness for multi‐disciplinarity. No prior empirical patient safety studies combined process management and accounting control theory.

The above‐noted trans‐disciplinary analytic approach may help medical professionals develop more effective handoff processes, checklists, standard operating procedures (SOPs), clinical pathways, and supporting software, and audit and continuously monitor their implementation.

This paper responds to recent calls for trans‐disciplinary research on healthcare quality improvement. The literature review is valuable for understanding clinical handoff problems and solutions from multiple perspectives. The proposed combination of two theories – accounting control theory and business process management – is novel and useful for describing, improving and monitoring handoff processes in the broader context of clinical processes, using a common terminology for information quality traits.

This paper aims to address the reporting of validation and evaluation criteria in qualitative management accounting studies, which is a topic of critical debate in qualitative social science research. The objective of this study is to investigate the ways researchers have reported the use of evaluation criteria in qualitative management accounting studies and whether they are associated with certain paradigmatic affiliations.

Building on the work of Eriksson and Kovalainen [Eriksson and Kovalainen (2008) Qualitative Methods in Business Research. London, Sage], the following three approaches are examined: the adoption of classic concepts of validity and reliability, the use of alternative concepts and the abandonment of general evaluation criteria. Content analysis of 212 case and field studies published during 2006 to February 2015 was conducted to be able to offer an analysis of the most recent frontiers of knowledge.

The key empirical results of this study provide partial support for the theoretical expectations. They specify and refine Eriksson and Kovalainen’s (2008) classification system, first, by identifying a new approach to evaluation and validation and, second, by showing mixed results on the paradigmatic consistency in the use of evaluation criteria.

This paper is not necessarily exhaustive or representative of all the evaluation criteria developed; the authors focused on the explicit reporting of criteria only and the findings cannot be generalized. Somewhat different results might have been obtained if other journals, other fields of research or a longer period were considered.

The findings of this study enhance the knowledge of alternative approaches and criteria to validation and evaluation. The findings can aid both in the evaluation of management accounting research and in the selection of appropriate evaluation approaches and criteria.

This paper presents a synthesis of the literature (Table I) and new empirical findings that are potentially useful for both academic scholars and practitioners.

This paper aims to examine the importance of celebrity brands in influencing consumer perceptions of celebrity authenticity, which drives positive consumer attitudes and intentions. In addition, the notion of low-celebrity investment is investigated as a factor that diminishes the positive outcomes associated with celebrity brands.

Study 1 examines the effect of brand situation (endorsement versus celebrity brand) on consumer attitudes and intentions. Studies 2 and 3 investigate the role of celebrity authenticity in explaining the effects observed in Study 1. Study 4 examines celebrity investment as a bound of the phenomenon.

Study 1 demonstrates that consumers report heightened attitudes and intentions towards celebrity brands when compared to endorsements. Studies 2 and 3 provide evidence that authenticity explains the effects observed in Study 1. Results of Study 4 show that when consumers are aware of low-celebrity investment, the celebrity is viewed as inauthentic regardless of brand situation.

This research is limited as it focuses only on known celebrity endorsers who were matched with products that had a high level of fit. In addition, purchase intentions were measured as opposed to the study of actual purchase behaviour.

This research has important implications for the development of endorsements and celebrity brands by demonstrating that consumers view celebrities as authentic when they are involved with brands for reasons other than monetary compensation.

This research shows that consumers have heightened attitudes and intentions towards celebrity brands compared to endorsements. This research identifies celebrity authenticity as the process underlying the observed phenomenon. However, celebrity investment is identified as a boundary condition demonstrating that knowledge of low investment results in a celebrity being viewed as inauthentic.

The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of individuals’ flood disaster mitigation behaviour through the theoretical lens of self-determination theory (SDT). Specifically, the paper examines the influence of autonomy, competence and relatedness on individuals’ self-determined motivation for flood disaster mitigation. The study also examines whether self-determined motivation influences individuals’ flood disaster mitigation behaviour adoption.

Through a cross-sectional survey design, the study used a quantitative research approach for data collection and analyses. Specifically, data was analysed using the structural equation modelling technique.

The result of this study revealed that competence was the strongest predictor of self-determined motivation, followed by autonomy. The result further shows that self-determined motivation positively influences individual’s adoption of flood mitigation behaviour. However, the results showed that relatedness does not predict self-determined motivation for flood disaster mitigation.

To enhance the effectiveness of flood disaster mitigation social marketing campaigns, the SDT psychological needs constructs (particularly, competence and autonomy) can aid in assessing the motivation of the target population towards adopting mitigation behaviours. An assessment of motivation will help understand perception of flood risk and behavioural evaluation. The consideration of autonomy and competence on motivation will aid in developing effective campaigns to satisfy the needs of the target population.

The paper adds to the limited research that used SDT to understand a social marketing phenomenon.

A recent symposium was given by Sir William Savage, M.D., B.Sc., D.P.H., Mr. Morley Parry, M.R.San.I., M.S.I.A., Ministry of Food Hygiene Division, and Mr. A. Tyler, M.B.E., F.R.San.I., F.S.I.A., Chief Sanitary Inspector, Bath, to a meeting of health officers and representatives of the food trades. The subsequent discussion demonstrated the divergent views held in relation to food hygiene legislation and the conflict between ideals and practicability. Sir William, in his opening observations, speaking from the scientific aspect, showed a remarkably realistic approach to the problem. He referred primarily to the report of the Catering Trade Working Party and what are generally considered to be the three most valuable recommendations, the most important of which is that all catering establishments should be required to register with the appropriate authority; the second is that a special code of practice, called the Standard Code, should be defined and made legally enforceable; the third is that the existing deficiencies in legal powers as set out in the report should be removed by legislation. In dwelling for a short while on the Model Byelaws which the Ministry of Food issued in 1949, reference was made to the fact that, whilst it is appreciated that they cannot go beyond their limited purpose, many deficiencies are obvious. They have very limited practicability, being mainly concerned with requirements as to personal cleanliness of those who handle food, the protection of food from various possible sources of contamination, and certain requirements as to the wrapping of foods. These are all sound enough, but only touch the fringe of the problem. Whilst precise definitions are always most difficult in legal documents, especially when dealing with hygienic factors, the byelaws are particularly vague, as will be seen from the following examples: A person who handles food “ shall observe cleanliness both in regard to himself and his clothing ”. There is no definition of cleanliness and no subsequent requirements to attain it, such as the Catering Report sets out in its Target Code. Food should be covered in certain circumstances with “ suitable, clean material ”. Does a newspaper comply? Counters, floors, food utensils have to be cleaned “ as often as may be reasonably necessary ”. In the Standard and Target Codes these requirements are usually detailed, and so uniform, standard meanings can be accepted. In addition, the byelaws entirely fail to deal with the essentials of sound food hygiene. As the powers of the original Act were effected long before 1938, the standards are primarily those of visible cleanliness. We know now, however, that clean food is not necessarily safe food. This is abundantly demonstrated by the enormous increase, year by year, of recorded cases of food poisoning, most of it by food which would pass every standard of cleanliness for sight, smell and taste. All experts agree that, in the catering establishments, as the standard code requires, “ abundant supplies of water, both hot and cold, must be available ”. It is obvious that cleanliness to the point of freedom from pathogenic bacteria cannot be obtained otherwise, and sufficient sinks for washing must be available. Neither the Act nor the byelaws can enforce powers in this respect. It is sufficient, at present, to provide a gas‐ring and bucket of water in a food manufacturing room, and nothing more can be legally demanded. Sir William stressed that, if safe food was wanted and it was desired to reduce the present high toll of food poisoning, Local Authorities must be given adequate powers. Mr. Morley Parry confined his observations primarily to the defence of the model byelaws of the Ministry of Food, and his remarks admirably reflected the attitude of his particular division. He stated that, generally, we must admit that, within the past few years, the Public Health outlook of the man in the street has been developed along lines and to a degree for which sanitarians might have prayed, but for which they dared not hope, and that, for once, their opinions did not, in the main, lag behind the ideals of health officers. He qualified this, however, by stating that he was apprehensive of the fact that food hygiene might become a matter of glib phrases and catchwords, and that the public had quite readily seized on a few frequently repeated phrases that are but part of the food hygiene facts. He said that in the present position, at least theoretically, it should not be difficult to advance quickly to complete success. He deplored the entirely restrictive character of the previous set of model byelaws issued by the Ministry of Health in 1939, and said that the era of the sanitary policeman had gone, and thought it surprising that suggestions of punitive and restrictive legislation should be essential to success. He did not state how, with only permissive legislation, one would deal with the recalcitrant trader who would spend considerable amounts of money on a splendid shop‐front, but would remain content with a bucket and gas‐ring in his food manufacturing room; or how the progressive trader would view this unfair competition. In support of his argument he quoted what he termed the wonderful old phrase “ any premises in such a state as to be prejudicial to health ” and declared that the whole basis of the success of a sanitary officer's work in Public Health was built up by their predecessors on this one ambiguous phrase. He stated that the Ministry had three standards of judgment when any deviation or new byelaw was adjusted. The first was the essential practicability and reasonableness of the demand; secondly, whether the demand could be enforced with existing public health establishments; and, thirdly, that the deviation and new byelaw meet with general acceptance in the locality or be a prime necessity because of some specific local circumstance. Mr. Tyler reviewed the problem, and, having dealt with the wide adoption of the new byelaws, stated that this demonstrated that Local Authorities were prepared to make full use of the powers available. He also put some very pregnant questions as to whether the new food byelaws were an improvement on the powers possessed prior to their coming into operation, and whether they were adequate to deal effectively with the problem. He stated that the consensus of opinion among sanitary officers and food manufacturers in general was that the policeman attitude was certainly not enough. The majority of Authorities, however, were running extensive food hygiene courses for personnel employed in such work, the public, and, in some cases, children of school‐leaving age. He cited the stringent legislation in other countries which had resulted in an extremely high standard in food premises, and, although the legal penalties were extremely severe, they were rarely invoked. The subsequent discussion on this symposium showed that the opinions of the meeting, including many representatives of the food trades, were in favour of effective legislation, providing that this was lucid and equitable, and that Local Authorities must have adequate powers to deal with the very small minority of traders and manufacturers on whom advice and requests were wasted, and from whom the public must be protected. It is undoubtedly preferable to have legislation capable of a specific interpretation than a series of vague terms, such as “ reasonably necessary ”, “ suitable and efficient”, or “ a reasonable distance ”, which entail court cases to determine what exactly is meant by them. Such terms are capable of wide variations of interpretation, not only by the food trade but by the Public Health officers, resulting in a wide divergence of interpretation amongst Local Authorities.

Non-profit organizations (NPO) contribute significantly to the welfare of citizens and communities. Engagement in volunteering is crucial for sustaining volunteer motivation and for the effective and efficient functioning of NPO, with significant implications for society at large. Yet, literature on volunteer engagement (VE) is limited to date. Grounded on service-dominant logic, self-congruity theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to understand what motivates VE and how it may evolve into a co-creation process valuable to NPO and its stakeholders.

Based on survey data collected from 450 volunteers, working with a diverse set of NPO, a comprehensive model of drivers and outcomes of VE was empirically tested using PLS-SEM, considering the mediating role of volunteers' congruence with the core values of the NPO.

The impact of volunteers' perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness on VE and its subsequent role in volunteers' loyalty and extra-role engagement behaviors (i.e. co-development, influencing and mobilizing behaviors) were validated. Moreover, the study validates value congruence as an internalizing mediating mechanism in the engagement process, a role that has been implied but not empirically tested.

The study contributes to the engagement and volunteering literature, which despite an unprecedented parallel have developed almost independently, with limited reference to one another. As the nomological network of VE is still underexplored, the study extends the engagement literature to the volunteering sector, validating the key (but underexplored) role of self-determination needs and value congruence in driving VE and value co-creation behaviors. The study further adds to engagement research while addressing other actors' engagement beyond the customer–brand dyad. While adopting a seldom explored marketing perspective of VE, this study provides NPO valuable insights on how to manage and engage volunteers.

Caring for a person with a substance use disorder (SUD) and/or mental health disorder (MHD) represents a significant burden for family members. The features of “carers/family members” experiences reflect trauma signatures. Consequently, working through this trauma for carers corresponds with psychological recovery, empowerment processes and intrapersonal/interpersonal needs. The purpose of this paper is to outline a framework called the “personal and relational empowerment (PRE)” framework which enables family support practitioners to help family members to be able to take control of their own lives, develop meaningful relationships and live purposeful and fulfilling lives, regardless of whether the person with the SUD and/or MHD is in recovery or not.

This paper critically reviews existing frameworks for carer recovery, through a systematic literature search, and proposes a “PRE” alternative to redress the shortfalls in these existing frameworks.

The PRE framework takes a multi-level needs-based approach to understand carer recovery. This framework links the concepts – psychological recovery, empowerment processes and intrapersonal/interpersonal needs.

The PRE framework recognises the importance of recovery support practitioners being able to balance the immediate carer crisis intervention needs responses with personal growth and well-being supporting interventions.

The PRE framework of family recovery attempts to answer the need to broaden the focus on the family journey to better reflect the principles and practices of contemporary SUD and/or MHD recovery-based support.

The purpose of this study is to characterise types of practices – or “routings” as they are denoted in this paper – that have been developed to incorporate non-financial inscriptions, representing value-in-kind (VIK) sponsorship resources, into accounting systems.

This study adopts field-based research, utilising Latour's (1999) concept of “circulating reference”, to illustrate how VIK (non-cash) resources were managed in an Australian sporting organization.

This paper contributes to our understanding of: first, how accounting infrastructure is constituted and stabilised by a network of multiple and overlapping accounting practices; second, how VIK resources are allocated and managed via local practices; and third, the importance of “budget relief” as a method of valuation in accounting practice.

Our paper has implications for understanding how financial and non-financial accounting inscriptions are related in practice, requiring both integration and separation within networks of multiple and overlapping routings of accounting practices.

Our work highlights previously unexplored accounting practices, which assist in the process of utilizing VIK resources in the context of a sporting organization.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge claim of management accounting research using qualitative research methods, in particular, the interpretive case study, and its evaluation using “convincingness” criteria demonstrating the textual authenticity, plausibility and criticality of case study findings.

Qualitative research in the management accounting field considers both context and function (Burchell et al., 1980). This study sets out the rationale for adopting qualitative methodologies such as interpretive case studies in which rich, contextual and detailed data were collected and analyzed (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Mason, 2002). Methodological issues related to research design, analysis and evaluation are discussed by drawing on frameworks of social science research design. The paper sets out the procedures of an interpretive case study essential to ensuring the procedural validity of research which can be evaluated more accurately using the criteria of “convincingness” rather than positivist measures of the reliability, validity of data and the generalization of results. Textual authenticity, plausibility and critical interpretation, and how these hallmarks of “convincingness” can reflect the procedural validity of accounting research are described.

Qualitative research strategies such as the interpretive case study, which consider the complex settings of accounting change and practice, are found to offer deep understandings and convincing explanations of accounting change. Affirming that accounting is firmly established as a social science, the paper finds that the authenticity, plausibility and criticality of research in this field.

The relevance of qualitative research to contemporary accounting research is considered as an effective method to explicate theory and inform practice, which suggests that new measures to evaluate related research are required to develop the potential of selected qualitative research methodologies in accounting domains.

Qualitative research in management accounting focuses on the interpretation of meanings found in people and organizations that are subject to the influence of contextual variables. Human attributes underpin accounting conventions and change resulting from continuous technological and regulatory advances. This paper’s comprehensive account of interpretive case study research emphasizes the significance of evaluative criteria that relate, beyond reliability, to the richness of the text. This, thus, encourages and supports new and emerging researchers to seek qualitatively coherent and critical interpretations in management accounting research.