Role of Bank Lending in Sustaining Income/Wealth Inequality in Sri Lanka Candauda Arachchige Saliya A thesis submitted to Auckland University of Technology In fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2009 Faculty of Business Primary Supervisor: Prof. Keith Hooper i Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... X ATTESTATION ........................................................................................................................ XI CONFERENCE PAPERS ........................................................................................................... XII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ XIII ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ XIV CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................... 1 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 RESEARCH MOTIVATION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Preliminary search ................................................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Motivation to adopt critical approach and positioning of the researcher ............ 3 1.1.3 The knowledge gap ............................................................................................... 4 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 7 1.3.1 Case study research .............................................................................................. 8 1.3.2 Research design .................................................................................................... 8 1.3.3 Theoretical framework .......................................................................................... 8 1.3.4 Unit(s) of analysis.................................................................................................. 9 1.3.5 Number of cases ................................................................................................. 10 1.3.6 Data management; story building and in-depth analysis ................................... 11 1.3.7 Interpretation and theorization .......................................................................... 12 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................ 13 1.5 LIMITATIONS , REMEDIES AND SOME NOTES TO THE READER ........................................................ 13 1.6 CHAPTER FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................................... 15 1.7 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................... 17 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................... 17 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 17 2.2 INEQUALITY AMONG AND WITHIN NATIONS ............................................................................. 18 ii Table of Contents 2.3 GLOBAL INEQUALITY AND SRI LANKA ..................................................................................... 22 2.4 ACCESSIBILITY , AFFORDABILITY AND AVAILABILITY OF CREDIT TO SME S ......................................... 25 2.5 MARXIAN CRITICAL THEORY AND ITS APPLICATION IN CRITICAL ACCOUNTING .................................. 27 2.5.1 Marxism: a brief introduction ............................................................................. 27 2.5.2 Application of Marxian theories in critical accounting research ......................... 28 2.6 MARXIAN CRITICAL THEORY ON GLOBAL INEQUALITY AND CREDIT ................................................. 32 2.7 MARXIAN INTERPRETATION OF THE ROLES OF STATES , CAPITALIST FORCES AND NATIONALISM IN SUSTAINING INEQUALITY ............................................................................................................... 36 2.7.1 Neo-liberal capitalism ......................................................................................... 37 2.7.2 The influence from international capitalist forces on the economic-political environment through controlling access to financial capital ............................................ 38 2.7.3 Influence of national capitalist forces in sustaining inequality within the country; internal roadblocks. ........................................................................................................... 38 2.7.4 The theory of the petty bourgeois and the mask of nationalism ........................ 42 2.7.5 Productivity is secondary to political motives ..................................................... 42 2.8 FINANCIAL CAPITAL MOBILITY SYSTEM .................................................................................... 43 2.8.1 Coalition between financial and industrial capitalists ........................................ 44 2.8.2 Lack of state support for SMEs providing facilities including credit .................... 46 2.9 MARXIAN INTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND CREDIT SYSTEM ........................................ 46 2.10 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................... 48 2.10.1 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................... 53 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 53 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 53 3.2 PARADIGMS , PERSPECTIVES , ASSUMPTIONS AND THEORIES ......................................................... 54 3.2.1 Objectives of paradigms ...................................................................................... 55 3.2.2 Assumptions underlying paradigms .................................................................... 55 3.2.3 The positivist paradigm ....................................................................................... 56 3.2.4 The interpretive paradigm .................................................................................. 57 3.2.5 The critical paradigm .......................................................................................... 57 3.2.6 Paradigm of this research ................................................................................... 58 3.2.7 Basic beliefs ......................................................................................................... 59 3.2.8 Business/accounting research ............................................................................. 59 3.3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH STRATEGIES /APPROACHES /TRADITIONS ................................................. 60 3.3.1 Creative and strategic researcher ....................................................................... 60 iii Table of Contents 3.4 DESIGNING THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................. 61 3.4.1 Choosing a research methodology ...................................................................... 61 3.5 CASE STUDY RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD .......................................................................... 65 3.5.1 Why case-study methodology is preferred over other methodologies ............... 65 3.5.2 Types of case-studies .......................................................................................... 68 3.5.3 Characteristics of case study method employed in this research ....................... 69 3.6 TRIANGULATION AND DATA ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 70 3.7 CREDIBILITY , DEPENDABILITY AND CONFORMABILITY ................................................................. 71 3.8 APPLICATION OF THEORIES IN THE FIELD OF BUSINESS ................................................................ 72 3.9 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................................... 75 4 RESEARCH METHODS ................................................................................................... 75 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 75