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Accounterability and the problematics of accountability

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  • Vassili Joannides

    (Alternative forms of markets and organizations - GDF - Gestion, Droit et Finance - EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management)

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the emerging stream of literature on the problematics of accountability (Messner, 2009; Roberts, 2009; McKernan, 2011) and the possibilities of accounterability (Kamuf, 2007) by questioning whether and how accounterability can appear as a response to the problematics of accountability's operationalisation. To answer this question, this research considers the problematics of accountability found in the limits inherent to the giving of an account (Messner, 2009), in the ambiguous relationship between accountability and transparency (Roberts, 2009), and in the as yet unresolved contradictions of accountability (McKernan, 2011). Accounterability is seen as a practice of resisting accountability demands whilst giving an account. Alternative practices arising out of such resistance are inductively identified through an ethnographic study of the day-to-day practices of the Salvation Army used as an extreme case. This case shows how an ideal form of accountability raises more questions than it answers in practice, thereby leading individuals to develop their own counter-abilities. Because accountability to a Higher-Stakeholder appears to be an unreachable ideal, identifying to whom one should give an account of oneself becomes problematic. A working response to the problematics of accountability, accounterability emerges as the mechanism whereby the limits and contradictions of account giving are transformed into the conditions of its realisation: unreachable accountability is transformed into tangible day-to-day practices that may differ slightly from expected ideal conduct. It transpires from this study that the main strength of accountability lies in its ability to absorb and to override its limits and contradictions, transforming them into conditions of its possibility. As such, accounterability emerges as the ultimate manifestation of this strength.

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  • Vassili Joannides, 2012. "Accounterability and the problematics of accountability," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00676561, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-00676561
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00676561
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    2. Alexandra Rausch & Alexander Brauneis, 2015. "It’s about how the task is set: the inclusion–exclusion effect and accountability in preprocessing management information," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 23(2), pages 313-344, June.
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    4. Muhammad Wahyuddin Abdullah & Fetti Fatimah Yusuf & Andi Yustika Manrimawagau Bayan, 2020. "The Sustainability Governance: Reciprocation Accountability based Emotional Quotient," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 7(1), pages 183-200, May.
    5. Ruhaya Atan & Md. Mahmudul Alam & Jamaliah Said, 2017. "Practices of corporate integrity and accountability of non-profit organizations in Malaysia," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(12), pages 2271-2286, December.
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    13. Ezaaz Hasan & Anjani Mala & Glen Finau, 2015. "The Nature And Concept Of Accountability: A Case Study Of Three Entities In Fiji," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 9(2), pages 65-74.
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