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Student imaginings, cognitive dissonance and critical thinking

Author

Listed:
  • Nihel Chabrak

    (IMT-BS - DEFI - Département Droit, Economie et Finances - TEM - Télécom Ecole de Management - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], UAEU - College of Business and Economics, Accounting Department (United Arab Emirates University))

  • Russell Craig

    (University of Canterbury [Christchurch])

Abstract

In this paper, we urge accounting educators to encourage imaginings and critical thinking in students. We reflect on the results of an assignment in which French accounting students were encouraged to assess the collapse of Enron. The submitted assignments attest to the originality and richness of non-conformist stories reported by some students. However, they also revealed strong instances of cognitive dissonance that we contend was fostered by the contradictions some students detected between the rhetoric and the reality of capitalism; and by the perpetuation of socially bereft capitalist values in accounting curricula. The assignment manifested student discontent with the current pervading economic system and its moral and ethical precepts. We identify the ways by which students responded to their cognitive dissonance. We propose some pedagogic and curriculum initiatives to improve accounting education. These initiatives call for stronger efforts to connect accounting topics with the social world in order to demystify the alleged naturalness of the capitalist system; for students to be encouraged to imagine other cultures and discourses; and for students to challenge any prevailing ideology.

Suggested Citation

  • Nihel Chabrak & Russell Craig, 2013. "Student imaginings, cognitive dissonance and critical thinking," Post-Print hal-02402316, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02402316
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.07.008
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Stephan Pühringer & Lukas Bäuerle, 2018. "What economics education is missing: the real world," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(8), pages 977-991, September.
    2. Haines-Doran, Tom, 2022. "Critical accounting scholarship and social movements: The case of rail privatisation in Britain," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Duff, Angus & Marriott, Neil, 2017. "The teaching-research gestalt in accounting: A cluster analytic approach," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 413-428.
    4. Michael Musov, 2017. "It Doesn’t Matter How We Assess the Competencies in Accounting Education?," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 3, pages 429-448, September.
    5. Tamara Poje & Maja Zaman Groff, 2022. "Mapping Ethics Education in Accounting Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 451-472, August.
    6. Lehman, Cheryl R., 2013. "Knowing the unknowable and contested terrains in accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 136-144.
    7. Sorola, Matthew, 2022. "Q methodology to conduct a critical study in accounting: A Q study on accountants’ perspectives of social and environmental reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Lehman, Cheryl R., 2019. "Reflecting on now more than ever: Feminism in accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Ocampo-Gómez, Elizabeth & Ortega-Guerrero, Juan C., 2013. "Expanding the perspective and knowledge of the accounting curriculum and pedagogy in other locations: The case of Mexico," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 145-153.
    10. Hopper, Trevor, 2013. "Making accounting degrees fit for a university," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 127-135.
    11. Graham, Cameron, 2013. "Teaching accounting as a language," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 120-126.
    12. Murphy, Tim & O’Connell, Vincent, 2017. "Challenging the dominance of formalism in accounting education: An analysis of the potential of stewardship in light of the evolution of legal education," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-29.
    13. Carmona, Salvador, 2013. "Accounting curriculum reform? The devil is in the detail," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 113-119.
    14. Boyce, Gordon & Greer, Susan, 2013. "More than imagination: Making social and critical accounting real," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 105-112.

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