Does Managerial Accounting Research Contribute to Related Disciplines? An Examination Using Citation Analysis

This paper examines two issues. The first issue is the degree of relative isolation of managerial accounting research (MAR) from related disciplines. Using citations collected from the Web of Science, the study shows that MAR published during 1986–2000 in the four leading accounting journals is cited in journals in fields as diverse as economics, operations research, psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, and strategic management. Our findings support Kinney's (2001) observation that accounting researchers have a competitive advantage in areas relating to alternative business measurement structures. The second issue the paper addresses is whether economics-based MAR papers make a greater contribution than papers based on other disciplines, as perceived from their respective citation rates. Our citation analysis finds no evidence that economicsbased papers are cited by non-accounting researchers at a higher rate than MAR based on other disciplines. Extending the comparison to accounting journals covered in the Web of Science did not change this conclusion. We interpret this as a refutation of the contention by Zimmerman (2001) that economics-based MAR papers are more likely to make significant contributions to knowledge. We also report some preliminary evidence that the relevance of MAR to researchers publishing in non-accounting journals is waning. Although this finding is tentative, it may be an early warning signal that should be monitored in future research.