We were excited to welcome Jan Pfister from Turku University, kicking off the IMC’s Research Seminar series for the academic year 2022/2023!
How do academics turn the true and new knowledge gained from their empirical inquiries into the particular message or contribution of a scholarly publication? And, what is their responsibility for the uses in society to which that published contribution is put? Jan and his co-author Thomas Ahrens (UAE University) argue that these questions are essential to the academic enterprise, as creating new knowledge through research and disseminating it through articles and books, teaching, and outreach work are what legitimates scientific practice and institutions. Based on their rich experiences as established accounting scholars, the two authors provide inspiring answers to these fundamental questions. Drawing on the ideas of Max Weber and Axel Honneth and with reference to various creative, “non-mainstream” published studies, they illustrate the potential of what they call “collaborative academic freedom“ and provide proposals for more collaboratively oriented journal review and editorial practices.
Before the seminar, Jan also gave valuable feedback to the doctoral students at the IMC on their research and discussed his experience of publishing interpretative work in leading US accounting journals. Thank you for your visit, time, and exciting input!
Jan Pfister is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Accounting and Finance at the Turku School of Economics. He is an Affiliated Researcher at the House of Innovation (HOI) and the Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets (Misum) at the Stockholm School of Economics.His main area of expertise is performance measurement, management control systems, and accounting practice in its social and organizational context.