Constituição de uma comunidade de prática paradigmática interpretativa e crítica em pesquisa contábil: Um estudo sobre as potencialidades e desafios do QRCA – Qualitative Research and Critical Accounting

Abstract

The objective of this study was to understand the elements that characterize the formation and maintenance of Qualitative Research and Critical Accounting (QRCA) as a paradigmatic community of practice in interpretive and critical research in accounting research. Methodologically, a documentary analysis of the QRCA website and the schedule of annual meetings held by the community between 2018 and 2022 was carried out, in order to demonstrate the connection with the literature on community of practice and to list the practices developed in the meetings held. Fourteen (14) interviews were also conducted with members of the QRCA community, with different levels of participation. The main findings revealed that the QRCA can be understood as a growing paradigmatic community of practice, and that, despite the short time of existence, it comes in a process of continuous consolidation. Thus, if the challenges highlighted in the research and those yet to come are overcome, the community may have great development potential, being able to become the largest and most relevant interpretive and critical accounting research community in Latin America and to continue contributing to the learning and training of many researchers in the accounting area who yearn for alternative epistemologies. The findings also demonstrate important initiatives for the transformation and expansion of the accounting epistemological field, and encourage discussions about paradigmatic changes in the investigative and scientific field of accounting. From the understanding that accounting is an applied social science and that interactions between researchers are necessary for its strengthening, this research brings an interactive view of the relationships established in a community of practice whose members are dedicated to accounting investigations with alternative approaches and points to the identification of epistemological advances through the community of practice, as well as the changing trends that are configured in the field of research in this area of knowledge.