Constructing audit society in the virtual world: the case of the online reviewer

Ingrid Jeacle

50 citations0/0 files storedAccounting Auditing & Accountability Journal

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Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance Digital Marketing and Social Media Accounting and Organizational Management

Abstract

Purpose Online user reviews have increasingly become a popular means by which the lay person can both procure advice and offer personal opinions. Amazon, the electronic retail giant, is a prominent example of a site which hosts such user generated content; the opinions of its repository of reviewers have become an important source of assurance provision. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that Amazon provides an example of how audit logics have entered new spaces. In Amazon, the author witnesses the construction of auditability in the virtual world. This may explain the popularity and authority seemingly enjoyed by user reviews. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the methodological approach of netnography (Kozinets, 2002). This new methodology has emerged in order to undertake ethnographic research within virtual communities. Applying this methodology to the case of Amazon involved becoming familiar with the operational features of the site and analysing its textual discourse. Findings The paper identifies in Amazon, Power’s (1996) three examples of how auditability is invoked: through rhetorics of measurability, auditable systems of control, and reliance on experts. The paper therefore argues that online user reviews are reflective of the extension of audit society into the virtual world. Originality/value The paper explores the possibilities of the virtual world for accounting research, a world which is an increasingly prominent feature of popular culture. In addition, the paper responds to recent calls to examine the processes of assurance provision beyond the traditional domain of financial audit.

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1968The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research.1990The consequences of modernity 2017Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design : Choosing Among Five Approaches 2020Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age 1991A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT FOR ALL SEASONS?2007Mail and internet surveys : the tailored design method 2004Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: What motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the Internet?1990The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor.

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2020Measuring the unknown 2021Audit and the Pursuit of Dynamic Repair 2020Back to basics or ready for take-off? The tensions on the role of management controllers in the digital age 2022Audit society goes viral: the rise of the online auditor 2024Social media in accounting research: A review and future research agenda 2020Peer-to-peer evaluations as narcissistic devices: fabricating an entrepreneurial community

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