The Case of Study Methodology with Actor Network Theory

Abstract

This paper is a by-product of my unpublished PhD thesis which I submitted to the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, and obtained my PhD in 2016. When I first joined the University of Hull to pursue my PhD studies under the supervision of Danture Wickramasinge, I was astonished by hearing that a social theory can be used in doing a management accounting research. When Dan joined the University of Glasgow, I followed his foot-step and joined Glasgow with my desire to follow that novel tradition of research. In this paper, I illustrate how Bruno Latour and his follows’ ideas of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) challenged my way of thinking, informed my way of doing research, shaped my analytical instruments. I hope this illustration may guide emerging researchers who want to take a constructionist approach to management and accounting research which ANT has promoted, enacted and popularised around the globe.