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Brief encounters: Calculation and the interaction order of anonymous electronic markets

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  • Preda, Alex

Abstract

Calculation has been recently discussed in relationship to market transactions as: (1) a set of operations, including classifications and computations, which support decision-making processes by economic actors; (2) action plans or strategies which can be evaluated against efficacy criteria; (3) broader social processes which induce behavioral modifications and transformations along (1) and (2). Calculations would appear as situated plans or strategies, bounded by institutional constraints, and anchored in classifications, computations, and evaluations, strategies which are implemented within trading interactions. Such plans make use of available resources and adapt to constraints, but are prior with respect to live trading interactions. Using a conceptual apparatus anchored in the work of Erving Goffman, I argue that calculation is situational action. Its features are shaped by the interaction order of trading, and it can be conceptualized as emerging from gaming encounters--i.e., competitive displays of the participants' socially relevant attributes. These arguments are supported with empirical data from online, anonymous financial trading. In these markets, gaming encounters make anonymous strangers present in the trader's situation, as a basis for assessing the relevance of displays on the trading screen and for reacting to these displays. At the same time, traders engage in repeated self-displays as a means for defining their own situation and for projecting subsequent action sequences.

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  • Preda, Alex, 2009. "Brief encounters: Calculation and the interaction order of anonymous electronic markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 675-693, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:34:y:2009:i:5:p:675-693
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    2. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & D. T. Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Post-Print hal-00676570, HAL.
    3. Aaron Z. Pitluck, 2016. "Performing anonymity: Investors, brokers, and the malleability of material identity information in financial markets," Working Papers 1, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    4. Vollmer, Hendrik, 2019. "Accounting for tacit coordination: The passing of accounts and the broader case for accounting theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 15-34.
    5. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & Danture Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Post-Print hal-01661685, HAL.
    6. Roberto Casarin & Niccolò Casnici & Pierpaolo Dondio & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2015. "Back to Basics! The Educational Gap of Online Investors and the Conundrum of Virtual Communities," Journal of Financial Management, Markets and Institutions, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 51-69, June.
    7. Ahblom, Per & Sjögren, Ebba, 2019. "Delivering performance: the capital market framing of financial numbers from a preparer perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102819, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Lambert, Caroline & Pezet, Eric, 2011. "The making of the management accountant - Becoming the producer of truthful knowledge," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 10-30, January.
    9. Vassili Joannides & Nicolas Berland & D. T. Wickramasinghe, 2010. "Post-Hofstede diversity/cultural studies: what contributions to accounting knowledge?," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676570, HAL.

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