following grounded theory prescriptions, the aim is to develop substantive theory,
i.e. a theory that explains a phenomenon within a particular context with no claim to being a formal, or context free, theory.
In more positivistic qualitative work, the purpose is more likely to be theory testing or theory “elaboration” (Vaughan, 1992).
This approach is seen in Townley et al. (2003) and Richardson and Kilfoyle (2009) where longitudinal studies of government
departments and a UN agency, respectively, were used to expand existing theoretical perspectives on the use of accounting