Money, honour and duty: Global professional service firms in comparative perspective

Spence, Crawford; Zhu, Jingqi; Endo, Takahiro; Matsubara, Saori

doi:10.1016/j.aos.2017.09.001

Cited by 59 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…The Korean accounting field shared key attributes with the Japanese accounting field, as reported by Sakagami et al (1999), Matsubara and Endo (2017) and Spence at al. (2017), reflecting the history of Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1945.…”

Section: Cartography Of Korean Social Space and Accounting Fieldmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…A person's identity is constructed in a given historical and socio-economic context Brouard et al, 2017;Spence at al., 2017). Spence at al.…”

Section: Identity In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In conclusion, this review of the literature on accountant identity provides us with some understandings and directions: 1) The problems of identity insecurity and overtime have permeated the accounting profession (Ladva and Andrew, 2014;Lupu and Empson, 2015;Spence et al, 2015); 2) Accountants work on their identity by reflecting on how they are viewed by others (image perception) and by trying to improve their image by strategically choosing more rewarding roles and avoiding demeaning roles, thereby changing others' perceptions of their roles and image (Jeacle 2008;Warren and Parker, 2009;Morales and Lambert, 2013;Taylor and Scapens, 2016); 3) There is a need to factor in the esteem and prestige (which Bourdieu labelled 'symbolic capital') provided by accountants' designations/qualifications and workplaces and in particular how accountants strategically mobilise them, because strong symbolic capital can reduce the insecurity accountants feel. Thus they are expected to work on their identity by deploying and utilising their symbolic capital in order to enhance their security (Warren and Alzola, 2009;Guo, 2018); and 4) More research is needed to explore organisational, social and cultural contexts in which accountants operate to more fully understand how and why they take certain strategies (Spence at al., 2017;Broberg et al, 2018). To extend this body of literature, we explore how accountants who move to public service to solve their insecurity problems work on their identities by making strategic changes to their role or image and by strategically deploying or de-emphasising their CPA/CA designations/qualifications in the context of Korean public service.…”

Section: Identity Evolution Over Time and Incessant Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accountants’ incessant insecurity

Ahn

Jacobs

2019

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how and why accountants who moved from accounting firms to public service adapted their identities to reduce insecurity. The literature on accountant identity highlights insecurity caused by promotion criterion to partnership, which requires accountants to win new work for their employers and leads to overtime, as a serious problem which has permeated the accounting profession. However, there have been few studies that explore whether accountants who moved to the public service, where they have stronger job security and can enjoy work-life balance, have resolved the insecurity problem, although a neoliberalism turn accompanied by New Public Management-style reforms has increased the number of accountants in public service. Therefore, the authors of the current study aim to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the identity transitions of South Korean (hereafter Korean) accountants who joined the public service. Design/methodology/approach The authors theorise the nature of the process of identity adaptation with conceptual tools from Pierre Bourdieu, such as habitus and capital, and examine whether the accountants took a “vision-of-division” or a “di-vision” strategy in the public service to secure their identity. For this purpose, the authors interviewed accountants and their non-accountant colleagues, and investigated other written sources, such as newspaper articles and business cards. Findings The authors found that Korean accountants in Big-4 firms dealt with the same insecurity issues as accountants in western countries and perceived public service as an attractive alternative to remove this insecurity. However, accountants who joined the public service found themselves confronted with different types of problems, such as accounting/costing work being regarded as demeaning, which made their identity insecure. Therefore, some accountants took a di-vision strategy that makes the difference between themselves and typical public servants less visible by avoiding accounting/costing work, using bureaucratic designations and de-emphasising their accounting credentials. Accountants took this strategy because the symbolic value of their accountancy qualifications grew weaker over time, due to the increase in the number of qualified accountants, and because the public service field valued bureaucratic habitus and capital more highly than those of the accountants. Originality/value From a methodological aspect, the authors collected participants’ business cards and analysed which designations/credentials they chose in order to create a certain perception. This analysis helped the authors understand how accountants work on their identity by de-emphasising accounting credentials to secure their identity in an organisational field. In a theoretical dimension, the current study argues that the symbolic capital of accounting credentials is dependent on the organisational and social context in line with Bourdieu, and, contrary to Bourdieu, on the supply and demand in the professional labour market.

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Section: Cartography Of Korean Social Space and Accounting Fieldmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…A person's identity is constructed in a given historical and socio-economic context Brouard et al, 2017;Spence at al., 2017). Spence at al.…”

Section: Identity In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identity Evolution Over Time and Incessant Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accountants’ incessant insecurity

Ahn

Jacobs

2019

AAAJ

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“…Indeed, recent research shows that these concepts take on different meanings in different cultural contexts too (Spence et al, 2017). This leads us to suggest that professionalism be viewed as a form of symbolic capital that is de-essentialised and whose meaning is culturally contingent rather than pre-fabricated as an ideal type or corresponding to an institutional logic (a view that is increasingly prominent in professions literature).…”

Section: Classificatory Violence In Literature On the 'Professions'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 11 For Social Reflexivity in Organization and Management Theory

Carter¹,

Spence²

2019

The Production of Managerial Knowledge and Organizational Theory: New Approaches to Writing, Producing and Consuming Theory

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This chapter argues that while Organization and Management Theory (OMT) appears in good health it stands on the precipice of a crisis of its own making. This stems from an overly selfreferential and narrow focus on theoretical contribution, at the expense of a broader set of societal commitments. Paradoxically, this is particularly the case if a researcher is putatively engaging with broader societal issues. The central thesis advanced in this chapter is that researchers should be more socially reflexive about what they are researching, why they are researching it, and for whom. As a corollary, the chapter calls for researchers to interrogate the research that they are undertaking critically and to work out the broader social significance of their work. The chapter unfolds with concise analyses of two branches of OMT: the sociology of the professions and institutional theory. The chapter highlights how research into the professions runs the danger of being captured by the objects of its research: as researchers busy themselves examining pre-existing concepts, rather than exploring the power struggles that take place in particular fields. The chapter argues for a re-framing of research into the professions. The chapter highlights the rise of institutional theory to its current position of dominance within OMT. Institutional theory's recent move to study 'Grand Challenges' is welcomed but also problematised. The chapter closes with reflections on a course of action for making OMT matter.

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“…For example, in a study into how PSFs moved into the Russian market post-1989, interviews were undertaken with American, Canadian and British professionals rather than Russians (Cooper et al, 1998). This reflects the longstanding Anglo-Saxon prism through which much of the literature on PSFs specifically, and on professionals more generally, is viewed (Spence et al, 2017). There is clearly a need for more studies in this area that incorporate comparative elements into their research designs (Bryson and Rusten, 2008: 309).…”

Section: Transnational Professional Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%