The Research Pyramid: A Framework for Accounting Information Systems Research

This paper extends Sowa's (1997) Meaning Triangle to develop a framework for accounting information systems (AIS) research—the Research Pyramid. This framework identifies relationships between objects in economic reality, people's concepts of economic reality, symbols used to record and represent economic reality, and the resultant accounting information systems that capture and present data about economic reality. The Research Pyramid has two major uses. First, the paper illustrates how the Research Pyramid can be used to identify new research questions to extend existing research streams. To be used in this manner, existing AIS research is classified along each of the edges of the Research Pyramid. Once an area of the literature has been analyzed, the edges that have not been studied extensively reveal potential primitive mappings for future exploration. Second, each primitive mapping is evaluated to identify which of four research methodologies (design science, field studies, survey research, and labor...

[1]  D. Campbell,et al.  EXPERIMENTAL AND QUASI-EXPERIMENT Al DESIGNS FOR RESEARCH , 2012 .

[2]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  A UNIFIED APPROACH TO THE THEORY OF ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS. , 1970 .

[3]  Howard B. Lee,et al.  Foundations of Behavioral Research , 1973 .

[4]  T. Cook,et al.  Quasi-experimentation: Design & analysis issues for field settings , 1979 .

[5]  William E. McCarthy,et al.  Declarative and Procedural Features of a CODASYL Accounting System , 1981, ER.

[6]  Gustav Bergmann.  Notes on Ontology , 1981 .

[7]  Allen Newell,et al.  The psychology of human-computer interaction , 1983 .

[8]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[9]  Howard MacKay Armitage.  Linking management accounting systems with computer technology , 1985 .

[10]  James D. Wright,et al.  Handbook of Survey Research. , 1985 .

[11]  Rayman D. Meservy,et al.  Internal Control Evaluation: A Computational Model of the Review Process , 1986 .

[12]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  Effective IS Security: An Empirical Study , 1990, Inf. Syst. Res..

[13]  Vijay Gurbaxani,et al.  The impact of information systems on organizations and markets , 1991, CACM.

[14]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Development of an Instrument to Measure the Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[15]  Eric L. Denna,et al.  Expert systems and AI-based decision support in auditing: progress and perspectives , 1992 .

[16]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable , 1992, Inf. Syst. Res..

[17]  Keng Siau,et al.  User-Database Interface: The Effect of Abstraction Levels on Query Performance , 1993, MIS Q..

[18]  Chetan S. Sankar,et al.  Tailoring Database Training for End Users , 1993, MIS Q..

[19]  Ron Weber,et al.  On the ontological expressiveness of information systems analysis and design grammars , 1993, Inf. Syst. J..

[20]  S. Haeckel,et al.  Managing by wire , 1993 .

[21]  K. Lukka,et al.  The constructive approach in management accounting research , 1993 .

[22]  D. I. Gosse.  Cost accounting's role in computer-integrated manufacturing , 1993 .

[23]  Eric L. Denna,et al.  Event-Driven Business Solutions: Today's Revolution in Business and Information Technology , 1993 .

[24]  Vijay Sethi,et al.  Development of measures to assess the extent to which an information technology application provides competitive advantage , 1994 .

[25]  Julia Smith David.  An empirical analysis of rea accounting systems, productivity, and perceptions of competitive advantage , 1995 .

[26]  Eric L. Denna,et al.  Accounting, Information Technology, and Business Solutions , 1995 .

[27]  E. Brynjolfsson,et al.  Information Technology As A Factor Of Production: The Role Of Differences Among Firms , 1995 .

[28]  Ron Weber,et al.  On the deep structure of information systems , 1995, Inf. Syst. J..

[29]  William E. McCarthy,et al.  The REA Accounting Model: Intellectual Heritage and Prospects for Progress , 1995 .

[30]  Ronald M. Baecker,et al.  Readings in human-computer interaction : toward the year 2000 , 1995 .

[31]  R. Stake.  The art of case study research , 1995 .

[32]  Salvatore T. March,et al.  Design and natural science research on information technology , 1995, Decis. Support Syst..

[33]  Yanchun Zhang,et al.  An analytical evaluation of NIAM'S grammar for conceptual schema diagrams , 1996, Inf. Syst. J..

[34]  E. Brynjolfsson,et al.  Paradox Lost? Firm-Level Evidence on the Returns to Information Systems Spending , 1996 .

[35]  Richard Y. Wang,et al.  Anchoring data quality dimensions in ontological foundations , 1996, CACM.

[36]  Ron Weber,et al.  Are Attributes Entities? A Study of Database Designers' Memory Structures , 1996, Inf. Syst. Res..

[37]  Jeffrey Parsons,et al.  An Information Model Based on Classification Theory , 1996 .

[38]  W. McCarthy,et al.  Modeling Business Enterprises as Value-Added Process Hierarchies with Resource-Event-Agent Object Templates , 1997 .

[39]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  The Relative Importance of Structural Constraints and Surface Semantics in Information Modeling , 1997, Inf. Syst..

[40]  Avraham Shtub,et al.  Metagraphs in hierarchical modeling , 1997 .

[41]  James E. Hunton,et al.  User Participation in Defining System Interface Requirements: An Issue of Procedural Justice , 1997 .

[42]  Vicky Arnold,et al.  Behavioral accounting research : foundations and frontiers , 1997 .

[43]  Steven Hornik,et al.  Expert Systems Usage and Knowledge Acquisition: An Empirical Assessment of Analogical Reasoning in the Evaluation of Internal Controls , 1998 .

[44]  Thomas Ahrens,et al.  Accounting and Organizations: Realizing the Richness of Field Research , 1998 .

[45]  T. Davenport.  Putting the enterprise into the enterprise system. , 1998, Harvard business review.

[46]  Paul John Steinbart,et al.  The Effects of Explanation Type and User Involvement on Learning from and Satisfaction with Expert Systems , 1998 .

[47]  Wai Fong Chua,et al.  Doing Field Research: Practice and Meta-Theory in Counterpoint , 1998 .

[48]  Gregory J. Gerard.  Rea knowledge acquisition and related conceptual database design performance , 1998 .

[49]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Audit groups and group support systems: a framework and propositions for future research , 1998 .

[50]  Steve G. Sutton,et al.  The changing face of accounting in an information technology dominated world , 2000, Int. J. Account. Inf. Syst..