Research questions from the literature

I'm pleased, and slightly surprised to find that my initial questions, months ago, have developed into something researchable. I had thought those initial questions were researchable but perhaps they weren't and anyhow, I had a less clear idea of how I'd research them than I do now. From the literature I have evidence that both accountability and relationships are discursive constructions, which means that research needs a constructionist perspective, a qualitative approach to data collection and either grounded analysis or discourse analysis. I think the questions are:

• To what extent do public sector managers account for their use of consultants?
• What do different public sector managers do to demonstrate their accountability for managing consultants?
• To what extent does the kind of client-consultant relationship, influence the expression of accountability in a public sector organisation?
• Are there gaps in public accountability?

It's the third one that is researchable and most interests me.

Four important papers

Four research papers particularly interest me:

1. Appelbaum, S. H. and A. J. Steed (2004). "The critical success factors in the client-consulting relationship." Journal of Management Development 24(1).
2. Kaarst-Brown, 1999, Five symbolic roles of the external consultant: Integrating change, power and symbolism, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol 12, no 6. Accessed 15/4/2007
   
3. Sinclair, A., 1995 “The Chameleon of Accountability: forms and discourses.” Accounting, Organizations and society 20(2/3.): 219-237
4. Werr, A, Styhre, A. 2002, Management Consultants – Friend or Foe? Understanding the ambiguous client-consultant relationship, International studies of Management and Organization, vol. 32, no. 4, winter 2002-3 pp43-66

How to use them best?

1. The Appelbaum et al is a quantitative analysis of critical success factors in the client-consulting relationship.
2. The Kaarst-Brown is a qualitative analyis, again of the client-consulting relationship, interesting & amusing but perhaps too subjective, not sufficiently validated to be useful, and a retrospective self justification for a project that had gone wrong.
3. Sinclair's article is important for the light she sheds on the discursive construction of accountability by public sector managers.
4. Werr et al similarly qualitatively analyse the discursive construction of the client-consultant relationship.

I think that the Sinclair and the Werr et al articles are the most important because they both identify discursive constructions of the aspects that interest me. Perhaps my research must look at the discursive construction of accountability and the relationship of that construction to the client-consultant relationship.