Title: Challenges and lessons from conducting audit research using social media

Authors: Ahmed Saadeh; Jackie Allen

Addresses: Centre for Business and Enterprise, Wintec, Private Bag 3036, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand ' School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Faculty of Management, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

Abstract: Social media play an increasingly important role as both a means of communication and a source of information. Furthermore, social media provide a variety of time and cost-efficient, as well as participant-friendly, communication and networking channels, which expand the research repertoire in terms of recruitment and conducting interviews. The purpose of this paper is to broaden researchers' understanding of the potential of using social media to facilitate qualitative research, and to guide them in the selection and use of social media channels considering the contextual differences. This paper adopts a qualitative methodology aimed at reflecting on the researcher's experience of recruiting participants and conducting interviews using social media. The paper is the first of its kind to explore the potential of incorporating social media as a tool in qualitative research while considering contextual and cultural factors.

Keywords: social media; qualitative research; accounting research; culture; context; reflexivity; recruitment; data collection.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2020.110163

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2020 Vol.9 No.4, pp.353 - 373

Received: 30 May 2019
Accepted: 02 Nov 2019
Published online: 07 Oct 2020 *

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