Participatory budgeting as a form of dialogic accounting in Russia

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how participatory budgeting (PB), as a form of dialogic accounting, is produced in practice. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative case study of PB development for the period 2013-2016 in one Russian municipality. Based on triangulation of in-depth semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, videotape data and netnographic observation, the authors employ ideas of dialogic accounting and institutional work. Findings The study shows that the PB experiment, which began with dialogic rhetoric, in reality, had very limited dialogic effects. However, the authors also observed that the PB dynamics over time made the practice neither inherently monologic nor dialogic. The authors explained such transformations by the way in which the individual reflexivity of actors altered when carrying out institutional work. Curiosity reflexivity was the most essential, triggering different patterns of institutional work to set up the PB experiment. However, further, the authors demonstrated that, over the course of the experiment’s development, the institutional work was trapped by various actors’ individual reflexivity forms and in this way limited PB’s dialogic potential. Originality/value The study shows the importance of understanding and managing individuals’ reflexivity, as it shapes the institutional work performed by different actors and, therefore, influences the direction of both the design and materialization of dialogic accounting experiments such as PB. In a broader sense, this also influences the way in which democratic governance is developed, losing democratization potential.

Navigating netnography: A guide for the accounting researcher

“…In summary, netnography as a research method is still a new concept within accounting research. However, the accounting papers that have used it to date have found it a helpful methodological tool in furthering our understanding of the accounting profession (Guo, 2018; Miley & Read, 2012), calculative practices (Bialecki et al., 2017; Jeacle and Carter, 2011; Jeacle, 2017), and public sector accountability (Aleksandrov et al., 2018). The next section concludes the paper by advocating the importance of netnography for future accounting research.…”

“…If the internet is the chosen medium to achieve such budgetary participation, as it was in the study by Aleksandrov et al. (2018) discussed earlier, then netnography is an apt method for gathering these research data. More generally, netnography is a useful method for capturing communications between government and citizens and assessing their influence.…”

“…As will be argued in the subsequent section, netnography is a method particularly suited to investigating public management and accountability issues. An excellent example of this is the recent work of Aleksandrov, Bourmistrov, and Grossi (2018) in which netnography was one of multiple research methods deployed in their study of a participatory budgeting project launched in a municipality of Russia in 2013. The project was the first of its kind to be introduced in the country and therefore received a great deal of media attention as it became a forum for dialogue between public authorities and citizens.…”

Three decades of management accounting in Russia: the evolution of understanding of management accounting concept

“…Another group of studies focuses on either other domains of accounting (Antipova & Bourmistrov, 2013;Gaddy & Ickes, 1999;Goncharov & Zimmermann, 2006) or cultural and behavioral influence of management accounting (Aleksandrov, Bourmistrov, & Grossi, 2018;Keplinger, Feldbauer-Durstmüller, & Mitter, 2012). The most noticeable international contribution to the studies of the development of management accounting in Russia was written by Falko et al (Falko, Becker, Malikova, Baltzer, & Häusser, 2012;Falko, 2017Falko, , 2019.…”

Untitled

“…PB has rapidly spread across the developing world due to its success in the attainment of participatory democracy (Célérier & Botey, 2015;Sintomer., Herzberg, & Röcke, 2008). The most fundamental point is that countries with such unique participatory public budgeting arrangements are few (see (Aleksandrov, Bourmistrov, & Giuseppe, 2018)). Yet, studies documenting such success, especially in an African context, are inadequate.…”