Enlightenment through engagement? The potential contribution of greater engagement between researchers and practitioners

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the potential contribution of engagement between accounting education researchers and practitioners. Drawing from a case where researchers and practitioners worked together to improve student employability, the paper examines researcher:practitioner engagement from both sides by exploring the potential benefits of participating in a collaborative process. Drawing from the existing literature, the paper notes the implications for accounting education of a perceived gap between accounting research and practice. Next, the paper examines how greater engagement might address this gap and make a contribution to accounting education research. Then, drawing from data accumulated by working with a group of accounting practitioners over a five-year period, the paper reports on the benefits identified by the practitioners of engaging in a collaborative process. Having examined engagement from the perspective of both researchers and practitioners, the paper concludes by discussing the implications of the engagement process for researchers and for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting education
• research
• engagement
• practitioners
• research impact
• generic skills

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).