The performativity of accounting devices and the role of agents of amplification: evidence from a family firm following a takeover

Abstract

This study explores how the performativity of accounting devices unfolds within an organisation and examines the role of organisational actors in this process, scrutinising how they acquire and enact positional power. We qualitatively study a family firm acquired by a private equity fund, which hired new managers and introduced new accounting devices. Data collection consists of 18 semi-structured interviews conducted in two waves with founders, newly hired managers, employees, and investors, supplemented by extensive document analysis. Our findings demonstrate how organisational actors help to embed new accounting devices in an organisation, and act as ‘agents of amplification’. Specifically, we identify three practices they engage in, and through which they amplify the performativity of the accounting devices: specifying, showcasing and streamlining. Our study contributes to the performativity literature by empirically illustrating how agents of amplification navigate the tension between the allure of and the resistance to accounting devices, and by showing how positional power is co-produced through the interplay between accounting devices and actors’ practices. Additionally, we make an empirical contribution by providing a detailed account of the takeover and professionalisation of a family firm and provide insights into how accounting devices influence shifts in the firm’s social fabric.