Abstract
Purpose: In 2015, one university student in KC – a small town in regional Australia – unknowingly launched a resistance movement and national debate on modern wage theft. We apply labour process theory to analyse accounting’s role in this case.
Design/methodology/approach: We study multiple instances of wage theft in one Australian town. This case site reveals how wage theft can emerge in a developed economy with well-established legal and institutional constraints. We use Thompson’s “core” labour process theory to analyse accounting’s role via two
interrelated dialectics: (1) structure and agency and, (2) control and resistance.
Findings: Accounting was “weaponised” by both sides of the controversy: as a tool of employer control and as a vehicle for student resistance. Digital technologies enabled employee resistance to form unconsciously and organically. Proponents mobilised informally, with information and accounting the ammunition.
Social implications: Wage theft affects industrialised as well as developing economies, especially “precarious” workers. We show how accounting can conceal exploitation, but also how – with the right support – accounting can help vulnerable workers enforce their rights and entitlements.
Originality/value: The paper uncovers novel dynamics of exploitation and resistance at work under contemporary economic and technological conditions. Labour process theory can provide a more dialectical perspective on accounting’s role in these dynamics, including the emancipatory potential of informal and opportunistic counter-accounts.
Design/methodology/approach: We study multiple instances of wage theft in one Australian town. This case site reveals how wage theft can emerge in a developed economy with well-established legal and institutional constraints. We use Thompson’s “core” labour process theory to analyse accounting’s role via two
interrelated dialectics: (1) structure and agency and, (2) control and resistance.
Findings: Accounting was “weaponised” by both sides of the controversy: as a tool of employer control and as a vehicle for student resistance. Digital technologies enabled employee resistance to form unconsciously and organically. Proponents mobilised informally, with information and accounting the ammunition.
Social implications: Wage theft affects industrialised as well as developing economies, especially “precarious” workers. We show how accounting can conceal exploitation, but also how – with the right support – accounting can help vulnerable workers enforce their rights and entitlements.
Originality/value: The paper uncovers novel dynamics of exploitation and resistance at work under contemporary economic and technological conditions. Labour process theory can provide a more dialectical perspective on accounting’s role in these dynamics, including the emancipatory potential of informal and opportunistic counter-accounts.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 85-110 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | Oct 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 2020 |
Keywords
- Counter accounts
- Labour process theory
- dialectics
- precarious work
- wage theft