The interaction of hierarchical and socializing accountability and the emergence of intelligent accountability in a classroom – a critical analysis
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 7 April 2023
Issue publication date: 31 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact on organizational members of team marks and peer feedback in a classroom as an organizational setting, where equals were engaged in a hierarchical form of accountability. It uses Roberts’s framework of hierarchical, socializing, and intelligent forms of accountability and discusses the viability of intelligent accountability in higher education, given the accountability structure for academics.
Design/methodology/approach
Autoethnography based on excerpts from the lecturer’s diary.
Findings
The blurred boundaries of hierarchical and socializing forms of accountability create both tensions and kinships for students, and these two forms of accountability constantly impact on each other. Although the accounting tools have an individualizing effect on some students, several examples of intelligent accountability are uncovered. It is concluded that academia’s audit culture, which focuses on immediate outcomes, and academics’ ever-increasing workloads make successful innovations less likely.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the accountability literature in revealing a constant dynamic between hierarchical and socializing forms of accountability through examination of a unique setting in which the boundaries between the two are completely blurred. By empirically examining how accounting individualizes and how intelligent accountability emerges, this study contributes to the limited empirical literature on the impact of accountability on individuals, and particularly to studies of classrooms as organizations, with implications for education policies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The Author appreciates the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers and suggestions by Carolyn Cordery (Guest Editor). She also thanks Geraldine Chopra, Ian Cornelius, Sylvia Dempsey, Peta Myers, Stewart Symth, David Yates, and participants at the 2022 BAFA Accounting Education SIG Conference in Glasgow for their helpful comments and suggestions, and is grateful to George Feiger who inspired her to write a diary, that later became the foundation of this study. Special thanks go to Emine Zinnur Kilic, who constantly supported the author through the difficult times during which this manuscript was written, despite her own difficulties.
Citation
Arikan, Ö. (2023), "The interaction of hierarchical and socializing accountability and the emergence of intelligent accountability in a classroom – a critical analysis", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 36 No. 7/8, pp. 1763-1789. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-01-2022-5646
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited