Corporate accountability during crisis in the digitized era
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 20 October 2022
Issue publication date: 4 April 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Despite an increasing trend in adoption of social media by for-profit organizations and their chief executive officers (CEOs), there is little understanding of how these new channels of communication are incorporated into the broader communication domain of a firm to discharge accountability during a crisis, when accountability is of critical importance. More importantly, research on how people perceive a crisis and voice their opinions to firms and CEOs on social media in reaction to that crisis is rather limited. Therefore, in this study the authors investigate these questions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a case. The authors focus on the biggest data breach in Internet history in a pioneer technology firm, the Yahoo data breach. The authors conduct descriptive and dramaturgical analyses informed by Goffman to investigate how Yahoo manages its several front stages (communication channels), including social media during and after the Yahoo data breach announcements, and how people respond to the Yahoo's front stage management.
Findings
The results show that, during this crisis, Yahoo engages in management of its front stages by first limiting them to a few, then by redrawing the line between its back and front stages, and finally by expanding its front stages to include two-way communication channels, including social media. An ongoing accountability process back stage guides Yahoo's management of its front stages and undermines Yahoo's accountability in front stages. However, social media audiences challenge Yahoo's control of its front stages by using various frames to make sense of the crisis, and to demand accountability.
Originality/value
This study furthers the understanding of how social media platforms are positioned in a firm's broader communication channels during a crisis. It also enhances understanding of accountability demand, especially during critical times in a digitized era.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate helpful comments from Merridee Bujaki, participants in the accounting group research seminar at Carleton University, participants in the 4th Qualitative Accounting Research Symposium, and the discussant Joanne Jones. The authors thank D'Arcy O'Farrell and Adam Abdulrahman for their excellent research assistance. Maryam Firoozi acknowledges financial support from PARG_CPA Ontario and Sprott School of Business research start-up grant. The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and the editor (Professor Lee Parker), whose constructive comments significantly improved this manuscript. The authors are also grateful to Yung Chun Chang for his help in data collection from Twitter. An earlier version of this paper was circulated under the title “Accountability on Social Media: CEO Narratives and Stakeholders' Responses at the Time of a Crisis.”
Citation
Firoozi, M. and Ku, C.H. (2023), "Corporate accountability during crisis in the digitized era", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 933-964. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2020-4509
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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