Using photographs in interpreting cultural and symbolic meaning: A reflection on photographs of the Korean Association for Government Accounting

Abstract

Building on a sociological tradition of using photographs as a methodology, we suggest that accounting researchers more fully utilize photographs to understand accounting actors' everyday lives. While most accounting studies have focused on the photographic imagery in published documents, such as corporate annual reports, a few authors found photographs can highlight how physical artefacts can deliver symbolic messages. We explored photographs drawn from the Korean Association for Government Accounting (KAGA) to illustrate how social actors used physical artefacts. To guide our analysis, we relied on Bourdieu's theorization of how physical artefacts reflect forms of capital. We argue that the use of photographs as a methodology provides a deeper insight into the cultural and social meanings of physical artefacts as a form of language open to multiple interpretations by both the author and the reader. Highlights  Photographs taken by a professional association are useful research objects.  Physical artefacts can be considered objectified forms of capital that accounting actors use.  Banners are useful tools of triangulation when checked against written documents.  Arrangement of a national flag can enhance the significance of accounting events.  Deployment of flowers constructs and represents social connections and networks among accounting actors.

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“…In this sense, our analysis adds to the growing body of literature concerned with symbolism and meaning making in organizations by illustrating some of the ways in which websites produce and reproduce cultural norms (Acord, 2010) and deliver symbolic messages (Ahn and Jacobs, 2018) that value particular ways of being, and consequently devalue or disavow others (Cutcher et al, 2017). It extends this research by demonstrating, using the lap dancing industry as a notable example, that the production and reproduction of such organizational values and norms has implications for how particular forms of labour come to be understood and performed.…”

“…This is not to suggest, however, that the significance of symbolism for the meanings attributed to organizational encounters has been neglected. Indeed, a considerable wealth of literature has evolved in recent years focusing on the contribution of organizational symbolism to processes of meaning making (Acord, 2010; Ahn and Jacobs, 2018; Cutcher et al, 2017; Davison, 2010; Hancock, 2005; Hancock and Tyler, 2007; Mack, 2007). Picking up on these threads, this article seeks to bring together insights from a concern with the role of symbolism in shaping expectations of organizational exchange relationships.…”

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