Structuration theory in accounting research: Applications and applicability

Ever since Giddens’ structuration theory (ST) was introduced into the accounting literature some 25 years ago, it has strengthened its position as one of the major schools of thought used to explore accounting as organizational, social and political phenomena. The purpose of this study is to review how ST has been applied, and can be applied, in this sizeable literature. Overall, the review of some 65 published papers, suggests that not only has ST contributed to challenge the assumptions of ‘inherent and functional’ features of accounting systems per se characterizing mainstream research, but also to develop other alternative theoretical perspectives. However, our review also suggests several limitations. These include that the accounting community has not really worked as a collective to develop a structurationist understanding of accounting practices, and that most researchers remain largely uncritical to ST as a theory. We also find that accounting scholars have not yet developed a mutual understanding of how to interpret ST (i.e. there are conceptual unclarities and even inconsistencies), or how to apply ST methodologically in empirical research. Based on these limitations, and the identification of a number of ‘black spots’ in the literature, we suggest several directions for future scholarly effort.     

Bringing back Thrift Week: Neo-liberalism and the rediscovery of thrift

The paper examines and compares the movements for promoting working-class savings in the modern USA and in Great Britain in the 19th century. It explores the use of savings as a technology for managing individuals’ behaviour and motives and the nature of the government objectives which are served by these parallel projects.     

On hypocrisy,the phronemos,and kitsch: A reply to our commentators

The commentators expressed a number of concerns regarding our paper and they provided useful insights by reframing our findings from a more exacting Kunderian perspective as well as from yet other, theoretical points-of-view. In our reply we address the three commentaries in turn, and we do so using a Kunderian lens. We conclude by highlighting a number of useful research directions to which the commentators alert us.     

Organizational legitimacy,conflict, and hypocrisy: An alternative view of the role of internal auditing

This article provides a commentary on Everett and Tremblay's (2014) analysis of ethics and internal audit by further exploring the role of the internal audit function within Nils Brunsson's model of organized hypocrisy (Brunsson, 1986, Brunsson, 1993, Brunsson, 2002). Specifically, we extend Everett and Tremblay's discussion of internal auditors as ‘moral’ actors and propose that the counter-coupling of an organization's primary outputs–talk, decision and action–provides internal auditors with the necessary tools to carry out conflicting ethical roles within the organization.     

Commentary on Bryer's “Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change”

This paper seeks to provide a general and informative commentary on Rose Bryer's paper, “Conscious practices and purposive action: A qualitative study of accounting and social change” (2011), which explores the role of accounting in the specific setting of empresas recuperadas (ERs). ERs (reclaimed enterprises) are businesses that have been brought back into operations as a cooperative by the workers when they were thought to be bankrupt. The commentary presented here focuses primarily on Bryer, but also discusses additional elements that may shed light on the unique phenomenon of ERs. As case studies, ERs provide an ideal context in which to research accounting change and test critical perspectives in accounting. This commentary focuses on the particularities of the socioeconomic environment that became the fertile ground of ERs, while also offering a long-term view of the phenomenon ten years after it was initiated. In particular, it undertakes a comparison between the initial situation and the situation in 2012. The commentary makes two key arguments: first, that accounting is an instrumental technology; and second, that the constructs that existed in 2001 have evolved significantly—and have even become partially obsolete—as diverse management forms emerged in successful ERs. This evolution is analyzed along five dimensions: (1) hierarchical organization; (2) property rights and the concept of profit; (3) community action and its links with access to financial resources; (4) the duality of members and non-members; and (5) the role of accounting reporting and discourse.     

Game-theoretic foundations of monetary equilibrium

According to theory, money supports trade in a world without enforcement and, in particular, in large societies, where gift-exchange is unsustainable. It is demonstrated that, in fact, monetary equilibrium breaks down in the absence of adequate enforcement institutions and it collapses as societies that lack external enforcement grow large. This unique result is derived by unveiling the existence of a tacit enforcement assumption in the literature that explains the advantages from monetary exchange, and by integrating monetary theory with the theory of repeated games and social norms.     

NGOs’ influence on MNEs’ social development strategies in varying institutional contexts: A transaction cost perspective

In this paper, we examine the effect of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on the transaction costs multinational enterprises (MNEs) assume in their nonmarket social development strategies. We develop propositions to predict the effect of three important aspects of the institutional context on how NGOs affect MNE transaction costs: institutional development, institutional distance and institutional dynamism. We also propose how these relationships are moderated by the level of civil society development in the countries in which these entities interact. We conclude with suggestions for further research.     

Inferring latent social networks from stock holdings

We infer the latent social networks of investors using data on their stock holdings. We map linkages to portfolio weights using a portfolio-choice model. The precision of an investor’s private signal about firm value is assumed to increase with his connections in the city where the firm is headquartered. Using money-manager data, we find that managerial linkages to a city are overly dispersed relative to the Erdös–Rényi model of i.i.d. connections. Managers at the tail of this distribution with non-i.i.d. linkages have more university alumni in that city. Their stock holdings there outperform their holdings in other cities.     

社会创投、资源获取与社会企业绩效关系研究

在社会使命和市场经济的双重驱动下,社会企业通过创新商业模式来解决社会问题。社会创投作为一种新型投资模式,解决社会企业发展难题。由于二者在国内起步较晚,学者们对社会创投如何影响社会企业发展的研究较少。借鉴风险投资和传统商业企业绩效评价体系,实证分析社会创投对社会企业绩效的影响,结果表明：社会企业在接受社会创投后绩效实现提高,并且资源获取在社会创投与社会企业绩效之间具有中介作用。这为社会企业绩效提升以及社会创投与社会企业的发展提供了理论参考和依据。     

Does the social security fund help non-financial enterprises to transform from the virtual to the real?

At its 19th National Congress, the Communist Party of China vowed to “strengthen the financial sector’s ability to serve the real economy.” However, many studies provide evidence of the opposite trend, a problematic “transition from the real to the virtual,” among Chinese enterprises. Meanwhile, the investment efficiency of China’s Social Security Fund (SSF), a public fund, attracts much attention. In this context, we use A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2018 to study the relationship between holding by the SSF and enterprise financialization. We find that SSF holding significantly inhibits financialization and that this effect is non-linear. Mechanism analysis indicates that SSF holding suppresses enterprises’ financialization mainly by improving their governance. Moreover, SSF holding more strongly inhibits small-scale (vs. large-scale), state-owned (vs. non-state-owned), and non-eastern (vs. eastern) enterprises in China. Furthermore, SSF holding can alleviate corporate value impairment caused by financialization. The conclusions enrich theoretical research and provide empirical evidence that may help regulatory authorities to guide investment by enterprises and prevent financial risks.