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This paper aims to point to the shift in the temporal orientation, going from reporting on the past to creating insights about the future, which might be suggestive of perennial managerial attempts to push the boundaries of bounded rationality.

In this essay, the authors want to critically engage with the concept of “data-driven management” in the context of digitalization. To do so, they sketch the edges of current discourses around the emerging idea of data-driven management and its relationship with the inner workings of organizations from an accounting perspective. They question the often-times supposed objectivity and increased rationality of the concept and instead introduce the idea of becoming “data-curious” (before being data-driven).

The authors observe that this push also seems to be accompanied by trends of individualized decision-making and prevailing hopes of technology to solve organizational problems. They therefore suggest that it is valuable for current debates to take a moment to give attention, in practice and in research, to the role of temporality, benefits of collective decision-making and changes in professions (of accountants).

The aim of this paper is to spark curiosity and engagement with the phenomenon of data-driven management by outlining a novel set of potential future pathways of research and point towards methods that might help studying the questions arising for a data-curious approach.

Crises such as the 2015–2016 European refugee crisis and the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) represent creeping crises that public organisations manage. Yet both scholars and practitioners lack insight into how well public organisations manage creeping crises that lead to a new normal and whether professionals and volunteers differ in their crisis response.

Using survey data from 112 professional and volunteer emergency responders in Germany, this study examines how crisis-induced reforms and challenges during COVID-19 affected their crisis response. This study uses partial least squares structural equation modelling to evaluate the relationships among crisis-induced reforms and challenges and both crisis response proficiency and collaboration intention.

Crisis-induced reforms support both crisis response proficiency and collaboration intention, while organisational challenges weaken response proficiency. A group comparison reveals that whereas professional responders are more likely to manage crises better than volunteer responders, volunteer responders are more predisposed to engage in future stakeholder collaboration.

Public sector organisations need to embrace opportunities for better crisis response through crisis-induced reforms. Additionally, policymakers need to acknowledge the differing capabilities and support needs of both professional and volunteer emergency responders.

This study provides insights into creeping crisis management by analysing crisis response proficiency and collaboration for two typical crisis responders: emergency response professionals and volunteers. While demonstrating that crisis response proficiency is more realistic in a professional setting, whereas volunteers more strongly focus on collaboration, the study presents a differentiated view of public crisis responders.

This paper aims to examine the lived experiences of a professional accountant, exploring how he navigated the complexity of change in specific accounting processes in the UK housing association (HA). Using an autoethnographic approach, the authors seek to relate individual and collective insights into the changing of social housing organisational processes.

This autoethnographic account draws on participant and participant-observer reflections, as well as several materials maintained by the professional accountant, from a turbulent period in UK social housing. These data are analysed abductively, where the HA was perceived to be a constellation of ritual activities that underpinned a working community.

The professional accountant, who is one of the authors, sought to transform HA’s finance function to be “World-class”. Among others, allegedly outdated accounting processes in the HA seemed to require radical change to enable quicker yet more financially substantiated decision-making. Office rituals facilitated the associated accounting process changes by drawing on camaraderie and team/family bonding, which became amenable to new (accounting) rituals. However, the change process was complex and may well have undermined the existing camaraderie in the finance team. The paper reflects on this, with the professional accountant looking back on his actions within the HA after he had left the HA and had entered academia.

This study demonstrates the potential of autoethnographic reflections in accounting research when accounting is seen as ritualised activity. Hence, abductively, the reflection is theorised through the notion of “ritual” and its antecedent, “liminality”. This autoethnographic narrative may serve as an aid for others who may also face turbulent periods which require navigating change, while they experience personal struggles relating to this change.

This paper aims to critically examine the accounting and information systems literature to understand the changes that are occurring in the management accounting profession. The changes the authors are interested in are linked to technology-driven innovations in managerial decision-making and in organizational structures. In addition, the paper highlights research gaps and opportunities for future research.

The authors adopted a grounded theory literature review method (Wolfswinkel et al., 2013) to achieve the study’s aims.

The authors identified four research themes that describe the changes in the management accounting profession due to technology-driven innovations: structured vs unstructured data, human vs algorithm-driven decision-making, delineated vs blurred functional boundaries and hierarchical vs platform-based organizations. The authors also identified tensions mentioned in the literature for each research theme.

Previous studies display a rather narrow focus on the role of digital technologies in accounting work and new competences that management accountants require in the digital era. By contrast, the authors focus on the broader technology-driven shifts in organizational processes and structures, which vastly change how accounting information is collected, processed and analyzed internally to support managerial decision-making. Hence, the paper focuses on how management accountants can adapt and evolve as their organizations transition toward a digital environment.

This study aims to examine how the legitimacy of internal auditing is reconstructed during enterprise resource planning (ERP)-driven technological change.

The study is based on the comparative analysis of internal auditing and its transformation due to ERP implementations at two case firms operating in the food sector in Egypt – one a major Egyptian multinational corporation (MNC) and the other a major domestic company (DC).

Internal auditors (IAs) at MNC saw ERP implementation as an opportunity to reconstruct the legitimacy of internal auditing work by engaging and partnering with actors involved with the ERP change. In doing so, the IAs acquired system certifications and provided line functions and external auditors with data-driven business insights. The “practical coping mechanism” adopted by the IAs led to the acceptance (and legitimacy) of their work. In contrast, IAs at DC adopted a purposeful strategy of disengaging, blaming and rejecting since they were skeptical of the top management team's (TMT's) sincerity. The “disinterestedness” led to the loss of legitimacy in the eyes of the stakeholders.

The article offers two contributions. First, it extends the literature by highlighting a spectrum of behavior displayed by IAs (coping with impending issues vs strategic purposefulness) during ERP-driven technological change. Second, the article contributes to the literature on legitimacy by highlighting four intertwined micro-processes – participating, socializing, learning and role-forging – that contribute to reconstructing the legitimacy of internal auditing.

Anchored in the theories of brand gestalt and stakeholder perspectives, this study aims to undertake a comprehensive examination of the brand gestalt concept, emphasizing its multidimensional nature and the process of co-creation.

Focused within the context of the Wonderful Indonesia brand, the research draws upon a rich qualitative data set derived from in-depth interviews conducted with 18 international tourists, supplemented by netnography (or internet ethnography) of websites, social media and online articles related to Wonderful Indonesia. Using grounded theory methodology, the qualitative data undergo rigorous analysis to identify emergent themes and patterns.

The research elucidates the four dimensions (4S) comprising brand gestalt: storyscapes, sensescapes, servicescapes and stakeholderscapes. Each dimension is further delineated into essential categories, providing a comprehensive understanding of brand gestalt. This study highlights the collaborative nature of brand gestalt, emphasizing the involvement of multiple stakeholders in shaping the brand's identity and perception. Consumer perceptions of co-creation are identified as significant contributors to brand gestalt, enhancing the brand's value proposition.

Destination management and practitioners can use the insights from the research to refine their brand management and marketing strategies by leveraging the dimensions of brand gestalt. Recognizing the collaborative construct of brand gestalt can guide businesses in fostering meaningful relationships with stakeholders and aligning branding efforts with collective visions. Understanding the role of consumer co-creation in brand development can inform strategies aimed at enhancing brand equity and fostering consumer loyalty.

This study extends existing literature on brand gestalt by providing a comprehensive examination of its four dimensions and essential categories. By emphasizing the collaborative nature of brand gestalt, this study contributes to advancing the understanding of brand co-creation paradigms. The identification of consumer perceptions of co-creation as a significant factor in brand gestalt adds novel insights to the literature, offering valuable implications for brand management and marketing strategies.

The purpose of the study was to identify the inter-relationship of certain antecedents of innovative work behaviour (IWB). The antecedents identified for the study were workplace agility (WA), organizational identity (OI) and organizational solidarity (OS).

Data for the study were collected online using four standardized and validated questionnaires from 364 gainfully employed respondents from across Saudi Arabia. The respondents belonged to various forms of organizations like manufacturing, service, hospital and banking. The data collected for the study were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The study found a significant positive relationship between the identified concepts of WA, workplace identity, OS and IWB.

A detailed review of the literature found that no previous studies had examined the complex relationship between the identified constructs. The results of the study found a significant positive relationship between the constructs. The findings of the study have many theoretical and practical values and implications. It also enriches the literature about the antecedents of IWB. It is expected that the present study will act as a trigger for more empirical examinations in this interesting area.