What does "contributes to this interest" mean?

[qqariel]

What does "contributes to this interest" mean?

The following is the original text:
This paper contributes to this interest by examining the process by which government auditors may become recognized as possessing expertise relevant to guiding and implementing new public management reforms.

Thanks so much!

[Joe]

We need CONTEXT. Please supply the text before this sentence.

[qqariel]

Sorry. I don't have the text before this sentence. I only know the topic of the paper is Audit.
Just a grammar question for "Object":
"contributes to this interest"
Does "this interest" mean "Audit"?

[Joe]

FYI:
Accounting research has increasingly been concerned to investigate professional expertise. This paper contributes to this interest by examining the process by which state (or government) auditors may become recognized as possessing expertise relevant to guiding and implementing new public management reforms.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... id=2269964

The term "this interest" therefore seems to refer to the increasing concern to investigate professional expertise.

It's a bit ambiguous because "interest" can have two meanings here:
1: a feeling or desire to know
2: an advantage or benefit to a person or group (eg protecting the public interest)

For my money, the meaning here is #2.

[qqariel]

Thanks so much for your answer!