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Online ratings and reviews have recently emerged as mechanisms to facilitate accountability and transparency in the provision of goods and services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and outcome of the accountability that online ratings and reviews create in the sharing economy.

The study draws on 30 face-to-face and Skype interviews with Airbnb guests and hosts as well as on secondary materials, including content from Airbnb data analytic reports.

The authors demonstrate that face-saving practices widely condition user ratings and comments. Face saving occurs when individuals attempt to preserve their own identity and the identity of others during a social interaction. At Airbnb, the authors find that reviewers adopt three distinct face-saving strategies: the use of private reviewing channels, the creation of tactful reviews and refraining from reviewing entirely. The authors also find that users are sceptical of rating metrics and public comments and draw upon a wide range of alternative sources, such as private messaging and other publicly available resources, in their decision making.

This paper highlights the overwhelmingly positive character of Airbnb ratings and reviews. It proposes the concept of crowdbased accountability as a limited, partial form of assurance for sharing economy users. Guests and hosts alike prioritise face-saving practices over reviewer responsibilities to provide authentic, reliable accounts to the public. Consequently, reviewers effectively remove the risk of sanctions for those in the network who underperform.

The disclosure of information on organisational knowledge resources and related knowledge management (KM) activities in annual reports has become a much debated issue within the intellectual capital (IC) discourse. This paper discusses the disclosure of IC information, and in particularly human capital information, in an Australian public sector organisation's annual reports. It contrasts and compares the case study organisation's internal IC management issues and practices with its external IC reporting practices. The empirical analysis demonstrates inconsistency between the organisation's internal IC management issues and practices and its external IC reporting practices. It shows that strategically important information about the organisation's management challenges, knowledge resources, KM activities and IC indicators was not disclosed to external stakeholders in the organisation's annual reports. The study exemplifies to external stakeholders the significance of the provision of information on IC and, in particular human capital, and highlights to public policy makers the relevance of extending existing reporting policies to incorporate disclosure requirements for organisations to include information on IC in annual reports.

This paper seeks to examine contemporary trends in enhanced business reporting (EBR) and the development of a policy agenda for EBR. The paper aims to build on a submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) advisory committee on improvements to financial statements (Pozen Committee).

The paper takes the form of a literature and policy review of intangible assets and intellectual capital.

Developments in the area of EBR will require to stand the test of practice, policy and research. The paper identifies five areas where recommendations would be welcome. First, the vast diversity in international EBR practice indicates that producers and users struggle with its implantation, suggesting concerns for international harmonisation. Second, the vast diversity in measurement and reporting models also suggests ambiguity about the content of EBR, raising questions as to how EBR techniques might be consolidated. Third, while experimentation with EBR has been increasing in several countries, limited practical insights have been derived from US companies. Fourth, greater visibility needs to be given to EBR, to increase its practical uptake. Fifth, research needs to be focus more on harmonisation. There is a need for further research about the barriers to, and consequences of, harmonisation including analyses of how the diverse frameworks “actually” differ.

This paper informs contemporary debate about EBR and especially the US SEC advisory committee on improvements to financial reporting (Pozen Committee).

This is a study into the contemporary international initiatives and relevant research into EBR, specifically from Europe and Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce alternative perspectives on “new” business reporting models as they appear in the “thought pieces” in this special themed section of AAAJ.

The paper employs a literature based analysis and critique. The paper is primarily a discussion paper.

There are several research issues examined in the papers in this special theme section which point to the need for researchers to reflect on their motivation, use of theory and values to ensure academic work is making a genuine contribution.

“New” models of business reporting are experimental and could be explored in greater depth in future studies.

The papers contribute to the growing debate on “value” and key underlying issues associated with the emergence of “new” accounting and reporting practices. Through this process of reflection, hidden assumptions can be exposed, “new” visibilities explored, and competing dilemmas opened up.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical account of the discourse‐practice nexus relating to an accounting for intellectual capital (IC) at an Australian public sector organisation (LandsNSW).

The paper is a case study. Data collection techniques comprised semi‐structured interviews, in situ observation of meetings and internal presentations, and reviews of documents such as internal memos, strategic plans, IC statements and business performance and annual reports.

Although ambiguity in discourse may reduce its ability to prescribe particular practices, the paper argues that such qualities allow discourse producers greater flexibility in attempting to shape action. At LandsNSW, IC discourse was given shape by those mobilising it. Specifically, constructing IC as a potential solution to practical concerns made IC more attractive to discourse consumers. By interesting and enrolling users in this manner, IC discourse was taken up where it had previously been discarded.

External factors that comprised IC discourse outside the organisation have only been given limited attention. It is also acknowledged that discourse consumers extend beyond practice manager level to also include employees in lower level operational positions and that these have not been explored in this study.

The paper provides useful information on enrolling discourse consumers to affect material intellectual capital practice.

This paper seeks to inquire into the theoretical assumptions that underpin much accounting‐strategy research and to develop an alternative way to approach such study.

Two theoretical lenses are discussed and contrasted. These are the ostensive and performative lenses.

Hitherto, most accounting‐strategy research has drawn on an ostensive lens, whilst only a few approach research from a performative perspective. Whilst the ostensive approach is beneficial and reduces the complexity and messiness of research sites, it also assumes that stability, orderliness and predictability characterise social life (e.g. strategy is “ready made” and remains constant during implementation). Furthermore, in this approach, accounting assumes a subordinate role and its main aim is to ensure “correct” implementation of predefined intents. This limits accounting to being an output of strategy, as opposed to, for example, an input and transformer. Greater diversity of definitions and new investigative approaches are needed. To this end, and as a key contribution, the paper develops an alternative approach drawing on Latour's performative theory. This proposes that strategy and accounting are somewhat fragile, even unstable, objects, which change depending on the hands through which they travel and the network within which they are located. Furthermore, accounting is not merely designed to follow or implement predefined intents. It is also a catalyst of expansion, transformation, even surprise.

The paper does not offer primary data.

The paper offers to scholars the possibility of studying accounting‐strategy as “relations” rather than “objects”, illustrates how this may be done, and proposes research questions to this end. It identifies a space of inquiry that needs further attention and that can provide new insights into the accounting‐strategy relationship.

The purpose of this article is to trace the techniques and consulting methods developed and deployed by an Australian project team during an investigation of a client organisation's intellectual capital management, measurement and reporting (ICMMR) practices. The article aims to highlight the benefits of adopting an integrated approach to investigating intellectual capital (IC) and proposes the Intellectual Capital Value Creation (ICVC) framework as an analytical model for extending the breadth and depth of existing management consulting and research practices into ICMMR.

The methods deployed by the project team during the consulting project included semi‐structured interviews and content analyses. Furthermore, the ICVC framework was developed and deployed as an analytical model to facilitate the investigation of the client organisation's ICMMR practices.

To the client organisation, the ICVC framework proved beneficial in that it enabled senior management to visualise their knowledge resources and how these contribute to organisational value creation. To the project team, the ICVC framework facilitated the identification of organisational knowledge management gaps, highlighting weaknesses in the client organisation's utilisation of its knowledge resources. The framework provides a structured approach for investigating organisations’ ICMMR practices and locating and analysing these within a strategic context.

The paper highlights to management consultants and others the importance of investigating client organisations’ ICMMR practices in an integrated manner and demonstrates to organisations the strategic significance of making “visible” their invisible sources of value creation.

The purpose of this paper is to present a structured literature review of the public sector intellectual capital (IC) literature. It is, in part, motivated by a recent review of the IC literature by Guthrie et al. (2012, p. 74), who found that the public sector is one of the least addressed areas of IC research.

This paper presents a structured literature review of public sector IC articles that is as up to date as possible. The authors use and update the dataset from Guthrie et al. (2012) to include another five plus years of data, including seven articles appearing in this special issue.

The public sector IC has a primary research focus on central government and central government agencies, education (especially universities), Europe (especially Italy and Spain) and empirical research using case studies mainly investigating management control and strategy. It appears public sector IC researchers are firmly entrenched in performative third-stage research, investigating “how” IC works in organisations rather than offering normative solutions.

Three areas offered as a way of forwarding public sector IC research. First, there is a need to expand public sector IC research from beyond the confines of education (university) research. There is also an opportunity for a study to synthesise the findings. Second, there is also a need for more longitudinal research in public sector IC because IC is not an event, but a journey. Third, there is an opportunity for researchers to undertake empirical research with organisations to develop and test IC frameworks and models in specific public sector contexts.

The authors call for researchers to consider helping public sector practitioners implement IC frameworks and models through interventionist research. In keeping with the performative third-stage IC research agenda, interventionist research makes it possible for academic researchers to act as a catalyst for implementing IC frameworks and models in practice.

This paper is a must read for IC researchers wanting to embark on public sector research. The paper outlines how public sector IC research has developed, offers critique and outlines future opportunities for research that has potential impact, rather than concentrating on already well-researched contexts.