Abstract
Theory-hacking in Management Accounting Research: An Simulation Analysis using Survey
Data
The social sciences are increasingly concerned with the integrity of data-analyses in
empirical studies, and management accounting is not excepted. Retraction scandals and
replication failures suggest that researchers substantively engage in data manipulation and
fabrication. To counter these practices and protect academic integrity, review procedures
increasingly demand additional analytic disclosures. In this paper we complement extant
analyses of the problem through an analysis of the potential incidence of theory
manipulation and fabrication. We explore what theoretical degrees of freedom in
management accounting research exist for researchers to retrofit theory to data rather than
the other way around. Using a previously collected and published survey dataset containing
various standard management accounting instruments, we apply an R-based simulation
model to explore theory fitting opportunities under contemporary normal data analytic
practices. Based on our analysis we conclude that current management accounting theory
contains almost infinite degrees of freedom to sustain retrofitting theory to data.