Exploring accountability of Australia and New Zealand's temporary labour mobility programmes in Samoa using a talanoa approach
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 17 September 2021
Issue publication date: 4 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Temporary labour mobility programmes (TLMPs) are initiated by high-income nations to fill their labour demands by offering temporary work opportunities to migrants from low-income nations. TLMPs also seek to contribute to economic development in workers' home countries. This paper aims to assess the accountability of New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme and Australia's Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in reaching their economic development objectives in one sending nation, Samoa.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study with RSE and SWP workers and key informants (collectively stakeholders) in Samoa was undertaken to assess the contributions of these schemes to economic development. An interdisciplinary research approach was taken using the Pacific methodology of talanoa. Talanoa was used to “operationalise engagement” and empower local stakeholder accounts.
Findings
Talanoa supported the elicitation of accounts that contributed nuanced insights into the accountability of TLMPs. Specifically, stakeholder accounts revealed limitations in the ability of the RSE Scheme and SWP to meet their economic development objectives for Samoan communities and workers. Adjustments are necessary to meet Pacific nations' economic development objectives.
Practical implications
This study responds to calls for on-the-ground accounts of stakeholders involved in TLMPs. It provides insights that may contribute to the development of more effective TLMPs, particularly regarding economic development in workers' home countries.
Originality/value
Drawing on dialogic accounting literature, which calls for engagement with the marginalised, a talanoa approach has been engaged to assess TLMPs via on-the-ground participant accounts in a specific context. This paper introduces talanoa to the critical and social accounting literature, to move beyond a typical accounting qualitative interview process and encourage greater engagement and collaboration with Pacific scholars and partners.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Associate Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem for her involvement in this research; colleagues at the University of Wollongong, especially Associate Professor Corinne Cortese, for their feedback, and most importantly all of our Samoan colleagues and networks who made this research possible, provided us with feedback and contributed to our research findings. Special thanks goes to all the Samoan research participants who agreed to take part in this study.
This work was supported by the University of Wollongong, Australia, under the Global Challenges Funding Scheme for the project titled: “Accounting for the effectiveness of development programs in the Pacific Islands: community perspectives on aid and remittances” Perkiss, S., Klocker, N., Dun, O and Underhill-Sem, Y (2019).
Dun, O. was also partly funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project “Transformative human mobilities in a changing climate” (LP170101136).
Compliance with Ethical Standards: This research involves human participation. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Wollongong, Australia, for the project titled: Accounting for the effectiveness of development programs in the Pacific Islands: community perspectives on aid and remittances, Human Research Ethics Committee # 2019/190. All participants in this study were provided with a Participant Information Sheet and informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Perkiss, S., Taule’alo, T., Dun, O., Klocker, N., Liki, A. and Tanima, F. (2022), "Exploring accountability of Australia and New Zealand's temporary labour mobility programmes in Samoa using a talanoa approach", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 1061-1092. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-09-2020-4925
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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