Accounting as rhetorical devices during the Covid-19 pandemic

Evidence from Australian universities

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20201447
AutoresZahirul Hoque (0000-0002-8680-8523, Prince Sultan University, autor de correspondencia), Kate Mai (La Trobe University), Esin Ozdil (0000-0001-6967-2321, La Trobe University)
Año2022
Volumen34
Número6
Páginas168-192
Fecha de publicación2022-12-19
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Public Budgeting Accounting & Financial Management (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1096-3367 • E-ISSN: 1945-1814
EditorialEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/jpbafm-09-2021-0137
OpenAlexW4221040827
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas36

Purpose This paper has two purposes. First, it aims to explore how Australian universities used calculative rhetoric and practices through accounting numbers to persuade employees and legitimize their financial recovery plans to alleviate the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, it aims to analyze how the accounting-based solutions were legitimized through a well-blended pathos, logos and ethos rhetoric. Design/methodology/approach Building on a rhetorical theory of diffusion, we employed a qualitative research design within all 37 Australian public universities involving Internet-based documentary analysis. Findings This study finds that in an urgent crisis like the fiscal crisis caused by COVID-19, universities again found rescue in accounting tools, in particular budgets, as a rhetorical device to justify their operational and strategic choices such as job-cuts, programs closures and staff pay-cuts. However, in this crisis, the same old accounting-based solutions were even more quickly to be accepted by being delivered in management’s colorful blending of pathos–logos–ethos rhetoric. Research limitations/implications While this study is constrained to Australian public universities’ financial responses, its findings have implications for university decision-makers and higher education policymakers across the globe when it comes to university management using calculative devices in persuading employees to work their way through financial hardship caused by an extreme health crisis-like COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value This study adds more evidence that the use of budgets as a calculative tool continues to play a key role in organizations in the construction, mobilization and preservation of certain strategic and operational choices during volatilities. Especially, the same way of creating calculative-based solutions can be communicated via the colorful blending of different rhetoric to make it acceptable

Business · Economics · Ethos · Financial crisis · Originality · Pathos · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Social science · Sociology · Accounting and Organizational Management · Accounting Education and Careers · Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance · Law · Accounting