A Brief History of Decision-Making Research in Accounting

Abstract

This paper provides a sketch of the most important milestones of behavioral accounting in general and judgment and decision-making (JDM) research in accounting in particular, over the last six decades. In order to understand JDM research in accounting it is important to know how “behavioral” aspects were introduced into the accounting community. Thus, this integrative literature review, combined with a citation analysis of the current research streams, analyses the last six decades of behavioral accounting research. This paper offers a compact description of how theories and methodologies from social sciences, in particular from the field of psychology, were implemented into accounting research. This paper extends previous general reviews (e.g. Bonner, 1999; Dunk, 2001; Trotman, Tan, & Ang, 2011) and more personal reflections (e.g., Hopwood, 2009; M. D. Shields, 2009) , as it also includes a discussion of emerging themes (e.g. ecological rationality) and methods (e.g. neuroaccounting) and how these approaches are (or are not) picked up in behavioral accounting. Overall, this paper provides a starting point for scholars interested in the foundations of behavioral accounting and in the current trends and debates in JDM research in accounting.