The role of identity and image in shaping management accounting change
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 15 August 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of a new accounting system in the accounting department of a large retail company. The paper seeks to understand and explain how management accounting change can be shaped by the identity and image of particular groups in an organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal explanatory case study. An institutional framework was initially used to inform the research, but was subsequently extended using the concepts of identity and image.
Findings
By changing existing accounting systems, the accountants “inside” the accounting department sought to challenge their current “negative” identity and image. However, the case shows that the new accounting system was not well received by accountants “outside” the accounting department. The case illustrates that the differing identity and image of the two groups of accountants were crucial factors underlying the different perceptions of the accounting change.
Originality/value
The conceptual framework developed in this paper highlights the role which identity and image can play in shaping processes of change, and it enriches the understanding of the reasons for change, stability and resistance to change.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments made by two anonymous reviewers, and by participants at the 7th MCA/ENROAC/MACORG International Management Control Conference held in Paris in 2007 and the 32nd Congress of the European Accounting Association (EAA) held in Finland in 2009.
Citation
Taylor, L.C. and Scapens, R.W. (2016), "The role of identity and image in shaping management accounting change", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 1075-1099. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2014-1835
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited