Making sense of cost-consciousness in social work
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 9 December 2020
Issue publication date: 22 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the introduction of new accounting information influences the understandings of cost-consciousness. Furthermore, the paper explores how managers use accounting information to shape organizational members’ understanding of changes, and how focusing on cost-consciousness influence professional culture within social services.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a case study, drawing on sensemaking as a theoretical lens. Top management, middle management and staff specialists at a medium-sized Danish municipality are interviewed.
Findings
The paper demonstrates how accounting metaphors can be effective in linking cost information and cost-consciousness to operational decisions in daily work practices. Further, the study elucidates how professionalism may be strengthened based on the use of accounting information.
Research limitations/implications
The study is context specific, and the role of accounting in professional work varies on the basis of the specific techniques involved.
Practical implications
The paper shows how managers influence how professionals interpret and use accounting information. It shows how cost-consciousness can be integrated with social work practices to improve service quality.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on how accounting information influences social work. To date, only a few papers have focused on how cost-consciousness can be understood in practice and how it influences professional culture. Further, the study expands the limited accounting metaphor research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
When collecting the data, Anne Kirstine Svanholt was an industrial Ph.D. student. The project was funded by Innovation Fund Denmark, KMD, COK and the Association of Municipality CFOs. None of the funders had any influence on the selection of research site, or the research process. We wish to thank the participants from the municipality for participating in this research project.
We are grateful for the helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers. Further, we are especially grateful to the editor Lukas Goretzki for his advice in the revision of the paper.
Citation
Bukh, P.N., Christensen, K.S. and Svanholt, A.K. (2021), "Making sense of cost-consciousness in social work", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 102-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-10-2019-0105
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited