Practice theory in accounting research

The notion of practice drives two main aims of this chapter. First, to more fully understand what makes a theory as practice theory and how practice theory helps to understand the everyday practice in its context. Second, how and to what extent practice theory can be deployed as a theory and methodology package. The mobilisation of practice theoretical tools as the package has significant implications for the researcher as to what can be studied and how they can be studied. The notion of practice is used by sociologists to understand the dynamics of societies based on what people do, thus describing the fundamental phenomena in society (Bourdieu, 1977; De Certeau, 1984; Giddens, 1984). Through practice, reflexive agents engage in producing, reproducing or transforming structures, which, in turn, enable and constrain their actions (Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984). Scholars emphasise the significance of close attention in understanding that practice is what agents actually do and how they actually do, rather than what they are ought to be doing (Schultze & Boland, 2000, pp.194195) in a particular organisational setting. While understanding agents actual doing, importance is also placed on exploring the consequences of agents doing (what they dont know is what they do does) (Townley, 1993a, p.235, paraphrasing Foucault, 1982) in a given context in relation to a particular social practice.