Strategising identity in the accounting profession:

Andrea Tomo · Rosanna Spanò

14 citations0/0 files storedMeditari Accountancy Research

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Management and Organizational Studies Accounting and Organizational Management Accounting Education and Careers

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore how accountants manage the processes of identity (re)construction after identity crisis, resulting from increasing pressures and regulatory requirements, considering both introspective and the extrospective issues. Design/methodology/approach The study drew on an integrated framework drawing on Luigi Pirandello’s views about identity crises and the search for individual coherence and possible representation strategies. It used an ethnographic approach based on photo-elicitation, conversations and documentary sources to explore the identity reconstruction processes of Italian Commercialisti. Findings Several conditions caused an identity crisis among Commercialisti, including regulatory requirements, public administration demands and increasing power of IT providers. Commercialisti reacted to these circumstances by re-constructing their image through strategies designed to impress both themselves and others. Practical implications The paper has implications for the accounting profession in general and in Italy, suggesting that further pressure may result in rapid change efforts among accountants. It provides a broader and more systematic understanding of the threats to the role of accountants and suggests how they can manage complexity to create new opportunities. It also encourages accountants to focus on alternative roles as a possible new strategy that few have tried. Originality/value The paper provides a novel contribution to the understanding of identity crisis issues and related representation strategies in the accounting profession. Unlike past contributions, it made a full assessment of both the dynamics of an identity crisis and the micro-level responses to it, in a new, non-Anglo-Saxon context.

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2002THEORIZING CHANGE: THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF INSTITUTIONALIZED FIELDS.2002Understanding and Evaluating Qualitative Research 2002Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual 2006Constructing Professional Identity: The Role of Work and Identity Learning Cycles in the Customization of Identity Among Medical Residents 2003Managing Managerial Identities: Organizational Fragmentation, Discourse and Identity Struggle 2009Photovoice: A Review of the Literature in Health and Public Health 2014Identities and Identity Work in Organizations 2011UNDER THREAT: RESPONSES TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF THREATS TO INDIVIDUALS' IDENTITIES.

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