Al Mahameed, M., Belal, A. orcid.org/0000-0001-6144-8907, Gebreiter, F. et al. (1 more author) (2021) Social accounting in the context of profound political, social and economic crisis: the case of the Arab Spring. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 34 (5). pp. 1080-1108. ISSN 0951-3574
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores how social accounting operates in the context of profound political, social and economic crises. Specifically, it examines how companies constructed strategies of action to produce and organise social accounting practices under different sociopolitical and economic contexts prior to and after the Arab Spring.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on Swidler's theory of “Culture Toolkit” and 43 semi-structured interviews with 17 firms and their stakeholders in the Arab region.
Findings
The study argues that context influences social accounting practices by shaping a cultural toolkit of habits, skills and styles from which companies develop their social accounting related strategies of action. During “settled” periods, companies draw on resources to develop their social accounting practices whilst they seek knowledge and feedback on boundaries and expectations of the socio-political and economic contexts. During “unsettled” periods, companies begin to adopt highly organised meaning systems (i.e. ideologies) from which new ways and methods of social accounting practices are deployed.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the extant literature by providing insights into social accounting practices in the under-explored context of the profound political, social and economic crises that followed the Arab Spring. In addition, we introduce Swidler's Culture Toolkit theory to the accounting literature.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal. This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | Arab Spring; Context; Culture toolkit; Social accounting; Crisis |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2020 15:46 |
Last Modified: | 07 Jun 2021 08:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Emerald |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1108/aaaj-08-2019-4129 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168291 |