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Purpose While the COVID-19 virus has been spreading worldwide, some studies have related the pandemic with various aspects of accounting and therefore emphasized the importance of accounting research in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on society as a whole. Recent studies have looked into such an impact on various industries such as retail and agriculture. The current study aims at applying a sociological framework, sociology of worth (SOW), to the gaming industry in Macau, the largest operator of state-allowed gambling and entertainment in China, which will allow for its development during the COVID-19 pandemic to be charted. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the theory of SOW as a framework and collects data from various sources, such as the government, gaming operators and the public, to create timelines and SOW frameworks to analyze the impact of the virus on the gaming industry and the society as a whole. Findings Detailed content analysis and the creation of different SOW matrices determined that the notion of a “lonely economy” during a time of a critical event may be ameliorated in the long term through compromises of the different worlds and actors of the SOW. Practical implications Though largely theory-based, this study offers a thorough account of the COVID-19 incident for both the government and the gaming industry to reflect on and to consider new ways to fight against degrowth caused by disasters or crises. Social implications The SOW framework divides society into different worlds of different worths. The current study shows how the worths of the different worlds are congruent during normal periods, and how cracks appear between them when a sudden crisis, such as COVID-19, occurs. The article serves as a social account of how these cracks are formed and how could they be resolved through compromise and reconstruction. Originality/value This study is a first attempt to apply SOW to a controversial industry (gaming) while the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are ongoing. It offers a significant contribution to the social accounting literature through its consideration of the combination of unprecedented factors in a well-timed study that pays close attention to analyses and theoretical elaboration.

Purpose Typhoon Hato attacked Macau in August 2017 and had caused fatalities and extensive damages. This study aims to analyze the reactions of the city’s six casinos after the natural disaster from the perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR), with particular emphasis on finding out which stakeholders had they directed their support mostly. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative content analyses of press releases, social media, company reports and websites of the casinos in relation to the disaster and their CSR activities were conducted and examined in depth. Furthermore, triangulation of the qualitative data was achieved with quantitative data through a regression analysis. Findings It was found that most of the casinos’ activities were delivered in the forms of donations, rebuilding the community, supporting staffs and calling for volunteer work, thus largely targeting on the community and employees. Practical implications The study serves as a practical lesson for the casino operators to better plan and implement risk and reputational management and to better proliferate their socially responsible side of the gaming business to the public. It also helps casinos to ponder upon better crisis management methods so as to attain sustainability of the industry itself. Social implications The study explains the CSR activities of casinos, which are in a controversial industry, and attempts to explore why do they engage in CSR. It can be seen that the wrestle between social pressure and voluntarism will eventually institutionalize casinos and other controversial businesses in promoting more CSR in various aspects. Originality/value Combining some established institutional and socio-psychological theories, including the theory of planned behavior and the theory of regret regulation, the current work serves as an exploratory study to look into how and why Macau’s leading industry reacts in response to a natural disaster through CSR.

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