Teaching to read empirical sections from qualitative academic management literature as Literature

Abstract

This article advocates in favor of using existing qualitative research in management as a source of narratives relevant for teaching purposes. It suggests that empirical sections of selected academic articles (i.e. scientific literature with a small ‘l’) can be isolated from their context (abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology etc.) and read as short stories (i.e. Literature with a capital ‘L’) with noticeable pedagogical benefits. It builds on the author’s personal experience of a pedagogical experiment during which empirical sections from qualitative research articles published in the field of management accounting were used as stories to enhance classroom learning experience for teachers and students alike. It argues that such stories offered a unique combination of original narratives (like novels) with scientific legitimacy (like business cases) that enriched the students’ critical understanding of what is not there in much contemporary accounting education practices: uncertainty, ambiguity, doubt and subjectivity.