Digitally Networked Social Services: Mapping the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) online network in Queensland, Australia

Henman, Paul; DAI, DAN; Borg, Samantha J.; Hummell, Eloise; Foster, Michele; Fisher, Karen R.

doi:10.1017/s0047279422000691

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This paper draws on publicly available data to prove that using accounting techniques within digitised public policies, such as the NDIS, restricts individual autonomy and renders them amenable to intervention and control. In so doing, the paper connects the accounting literature with the studies on disability (see Loadsman and Donelly, 2021) and social policy (Henman et al, 2022) that discuss the issue of accountability associated with the NDIS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accounting and neoliberal responsibilisation: a case study on the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme

Nikidehaghani

2023

AAAJ

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PurposeThis paper aims to explore how accounting is fostering neoliberal citizenship through the participants of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). More specifically, this paper aims to understand how accounting discourse and the management accounting technique of budgeting, when intertwined with automated administrative processes of the NDIS, are giving rise to a pastoral form of power that directs people’s behaviour toward certain ends.Design/methodology/approachPublicly available data has been crafted into an autoethnographic case study of one fictitious person’s experiences with the NDIS – Mina. Mina is an amalgam created from material submitted to the Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on the NDIS. Mina’s experiences are then analysed through the lens of Foucault’s concept of pastoral power to explore how accounting has contributed to marketising and digitising public disability services.FindingsAccounting rhetoric appears to be a central part of rationalising the decision to shift to individualised disability funding. Those receiving payments are treated as self-governable, financially responsible subjects and are therefore expected to have knowledge of management accounting techniques and budgeting. However, NDIS’s strong reliance on the accounting concepts of funds, budgets, cost and price is limiting people’s autonomy and subjecting them to intervention and control.Originality/valueThis paper addresses calls to explore the interplay between accounting and current disability policies. The analysis shows that incorporating accounting into the NDIS’s algorithms serves to conceal the underlying ideology of the programs, subtly driving behaviours towards neoliberal objectives. Further, this research extends the Foucauldian accounting literature by revealing the contribution of accounting to reinforcing the authority of digital pastors in contemporary times.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In so doing, the paper connects the accounting literature with the studies on disability (see Carey et al. , 2021; Loadsman and Donelly, 2021) and social policy (Henman et al. , 2022) that discuss the issue of accountability associated with the NDIS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting and neoliberal responsibilisation: a case study on the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme

Nikidehaghani

2023

AAAJ

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Technology and homecare in the UK: Policy, storylines and practice

2023

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UK policy discourse presents technology as a solution to challenges facing care services, including issues of quality and the mismatch between care workforce supply and demand. This discourse characterises technology as ‘transformative’, homogenous and wholly positive for care delivery, eliding the diversity of digital devices and systems and their varied uses. Our paper draws on data gathered through 34 interviews with care sector stakeholders and four in-depth case studies of UK homecare providers to comparatively analyse ‘storylines’ of technological solutions expressed by policy (macro-level), sector stakeholders (meso-level) and homecare managers and care workers (micro-level) alongside enacted experiences of technology-in-use. The ‘storylines’ presented by care sector stakeholders and homecare managers converged with those of the policy discourse, emphasising technology’s capacity to enhance quality and efficiency. Our case studies however highlighted several implications for care work and organisational practice in homecare provision: the technologies we observed sometimes produced additional tasks and responsibilities, undermining the efficiency and quality storylines. The experiences of care providers and workers engaging with technologies in homecare warrant further investigation and greater prominence to challenge a discourse which is at times overly simplistic and optimistic.

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Digitally Networked Social Services: Mapping the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) online network in Queensland, Australia

Cited by 2 publications

References 38 publications

Accounting and neoliberal responsibilisation: a case study on the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme

Accounting and neoliberal responsibilisation: a case study on the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme

Technology and homecare in the UK: Policy, storylines and practice

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