Acounting research field: a network analysis under the institutional prospect

Abstract

This investigation aims to identify the important authors and the key institutions involved in the field of research in accounting from 2004 to 2008, from the perspective of institucional theory. A bibliometric and sociometric study was conducted, of a descriptive nature, in which 825 articles from journals and periodicals were analysed. These were divided into three thematic areas: education and research; managerial accounting; and external users. The networks of cooperation have been presented, considering the institutions as a whole and the authors divided according to thematic areas. Posteriorly, the study proceded to analyze the institutions and the authors who showed the most publications in the sample. The main results showed that a) the area of external users has the largest number of publications and that the area of education and research is on the rise; b) the university USP stands out as the institution with the highest number of links to authors and as being the central actor in the network of cooperation among institutions; c) the network of cooperation, on the theme of education and research, is shown to be more fragmented; d) the networks whose themes are managerial accounting and, mainly, the external users stand out by presenting a large number of interconnections between groups by means of weak ties. It follows that the field analysis is marked by the existence of dense networks of cooperation between authors and among national institutions, but low regarding international institutions. It may be noted, also, that the analyses, applying concepts from institutional theory, allowed the identification of principal agents in the field of accounting research.