The purpose of this paper is to explain how the use of the Clinical Case Representation Paradigm (CCRP) in accounting information systems (IS) research has the potential to enrich our knowledge of expertise development in IS. The CCRP has been tested extensively in the medical literature, improving the previous novice‐expert research by introducing a stage theory of expertise development, which analyzes novice, intermediate, and expert‐level judgment and decision making. We propose the use of this paradigm in IS research and provide suggestions for its application using data collected from IS professionals and AIS students.
Our results are similar to those found in other CCRP studies in that the more experienced professionals had more concise problem representations, included more inferences (i.e., indicating encapsulated knowledge), and matched the canonical representation and solution more closely. Interestingly, evidence of solution quality was found at the intermediate level. We indicate the limitations of our application of the CCRP and make suggestions for further research projects.
