Contextualised accountant stereotypes: understanding their social construction and reconstruction in Chinese society

Abstract

PurposeThis study seeks to understand how accountant stereotypes have been constructed and reconstructed at the macro-national and the structural level in Chinese society.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative investigation into China's social construction of accountant stereotypes employs Becker's (1963) labelling theory. Viewing stereotyping as a socially constructed practice, this study draws on a post-positivistic, reflexive epistemology in conducting 28 semi-structured interviews with accountants and related actors.FindingsChinese accountant stereotypes are constructed and reconstructed according to the rules created and enforced in different cultural-political periods. The accountant stereotypes constructed during the ancient Confucian period (500 BC – 1948) were replaced during 1949 and 2012 when the political focus shifted towards propagating socialism and later promoting economic growth. They also show how Confucian stereotypes of accountants resurfaced in 2013 but were reconstructed by the central government's cultural confidence policy of propagating Confucianism.Originality/valueEmpirically, prior literature has focused on what the accountant stereotype is and how accountants respond to such stereotypes, but it has neglected the ways in which these accountant stereotypes are politically and culturally constructed, diffused and legitimated. This paper fills in the gap by understanding the social practice of accountant stereotyping in a previously unexplored political-cultural context, namely Chinese society. In theoretical terms, by offering the first use of Becker's (1963) labelling theory in the accounting literature, it furthermore enhances our understanding of how accountants' identities and social standing are shaped by social rules.

The (Lack of) Progress in Accountancy Professionalisation: Insights from Non‐accountants in Portugal

“…There is an agreement in the literature that society has developed stereotypical images of accountants, which can be defined as generalised beliefs about this professional group (e.g., Kanahara 2006). Researchers have understood the relevance of these images to the future success of the accountancy profession and have thus engaged in studying the stereotypes of accountants (e.g., Dimnik and Felton 2006;Carnegie and Napier 2010;Parker and Warren 2017;Caglio et al 2019;Leão et al 2019;Christensen and Rocher 2020;Leão and Gomes 2022;Wang and Chen 2024). The literature in this field focuses on identifying the existing stereotypes and their main characteristics, meaning and impact in different contexts, revealing a social image largely comprised of a wide set of personality traits.…”

“…2019; Leão et al. 2019; Christensen and Rocher 2020; Leão and Gomes 2022; Wang and Chen 2024). The literature in this field focuses on identifying the existing stereotypes and their main characteristics, meaning and impact in different contexts, revealing a social image largely comprised of a wide set of personality traits.…”

“…This division between groups of accountants seems to persist in contemporary times. Kamla (2023), in a study based on local and migrant accountants in Dubai, identifies stigma and boundaries in the contemporary accounting profession, and Wang and Chen (2024), in a study of Chinese society, also find stratification in the social perception of Western and local accountants since the late 1970s.…”

“…Further, it provides the perspectives of non-accountants, whose views are relevant to understanding lay society's generalised beliefs that have the potential to shape the social images of modern accountants and influence their social mobility. This is an underexplored group, with the contributions through people's inquiries being concentrated on students and accountants (e.g., Parker and Warren 2017;Caglio et al 2019;Kamla 2023;Wang and Chen 2024). This research, based on data collected in Portugal at a time when accounting and accountants faced reputational challenges from several financial scandals (Carnegie and Napier 2013), provides a particular setting where the profession is the biggest in the country and well established but much younger than in the Anglo-American realities.…”