Micro-processes of justification and critique in a water sustainability controversy: Examining the establishment of moral legitimacy through accounting |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Economics and Management “Marco Fanno”, University of Padua, Italy;2. School of Business and Management, Centre for Research Into Sustainability (CRIS), Centre for Critical and Historical Research on Organisation and Society (CHRONOS), Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK;1. Shenzhen Audencia Business School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China;2. Audencia Business School, Nantes, 44300, France;3. Department of Finance, Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA;4. Department of Accounting, College of Business, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA;1. University Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo Artilleros s/n, 28032, Madrid, Spain;2. Santalucía and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain;3. Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico, Spain;1. School of Commerce, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia;2. Institute of Management Accountants, Montvale, NJ, USA;1. Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Department of Accounting, Finance and Banking, Manchester, M15 6BH, United Kingdom;2. Lancaster University Management School, Department of Accounting and Finance, Lancaster, LA1 4YX, United Kingdom;1. University of Sussex, University of Sussex Business School, United Kingdom;2. University of Portsmouth, Faculty of Business and Law, United Kingdom;3. University of Southampton, Southampton Business School, Department of Banking and Finance, United Kingdom |
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| Abstract: | To analyse the micro-processes of moral justification and critique, this paper explores how managers combine different moral principles through the use of accounting, in order to establish the moral legitimacy of water sustainability practices. Drawing on the Economies of Worth framework and based on an exploratory case study of a water utility, this paper reveals four micro-processes of justification and critique - neutralising, enlisting, summoning and sensegiving - that reflect the different ways of moral legitimation mobilised by the managers. It also reveals the presence of different orders of worth which refer to the market, industrial, civic and green moral principles, and the dynamic role of accounting as a test of worth used to combine and bring them together. The findings suggest that moral legitimacy is not necessarily a dichotomous variable, but that it operates on a continuum established by managers and negotiated through the use of accounting. The paper illuminates the role of accounting in the unfolding of moral legitimation processes, and advances the micro-analysis of moral legitimacy in sustainability accounting research. It also contributes to sustainability disclosure research by showing that external disclosure reflects internal deliberations, and together they participate in the establishing of moral legitimacy. |
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| Keywords: | Moral legitimacy Orders of worth Water Sustainability Micro-process Accounting |
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