Credibility and authenticity of qualitative data in accounting research

Producing ‘good’ qualitative research requires mastering a range of not-so-obvious tasks, from the identification of an interesting research question (cf. Sandberg and Alvesson, 2011) to an appealing write-up that meets the expectations of the target audience (cf. Golden-Biddle and Locke, 2007). In this chapter, we focus on two challenges that researchers encounter at some point along this journey. These are (1) the challenge to ensure, and communicate, the integrity of one’s findings, and (2) the challenge to write up the data in a way that does justice to the qualitative nature of the research. We refer to these issues as concerns with credibility and authenticity, respectively. The purpose of the chapter is to revisit different strategies for producing credible and authentic accounts and to illustrate the application of such strategies in the area of accounting research. Our intention is not to provide an ultimate ‘checklist’ as this may ‘function to the detriment of thoughtful or innovative research practice’ (Barbour, 2014, p. 498). Rather, the goal is to sensitize the reader, by way of example, to the importance of acknowledging credibility and authenticity as key building blocks of good qualitative research.