Latour's contribution to the accounting literature through actor-network theory: a critical appraisal

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of Bruno Latour on accounting research through his work as a founding father of so-called actor-network theory (hereafter referred to as "ANT") which was originally developed in the mid to late 1970's as a means to understand the social construction of science. Essentially, ANT is an analytical framework used to study the roles of humans and non-humans in the structuring of society (Latour, 2005). It is through a series of complex interactions between humans and non-humans and the ways in which they interlock within networks of construction and reconstruction which allow the production of accepted facts or knowledge (McNamara, Baxter & Chua, 2004, p. 57).