Moving beyond the invisible: hidden cost accounting as a mediating device for organizational change in crisis-stricken small family-owned businesses

Alexan Hagopian and C. Richard Baker

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 2026, 1-29

Abstract: PurposeThis study aims to examine how hidden cost calculations produced through the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) mediate organizational sensemaking and professionalization in a crisis-stricken small family-owned business.Design/methodology/approachAn intervention-research design using the SEAM and its Qualimetrics protocol, based on a longitudinal case study of a Lebanese industrial small family-owned business.FindingsHidden cost calculations made informal dysfunctions visible, discussable and connectable to managerial routines, functioning as mediating accounting representations rather than mechanically triggering change. Post-intervention figures are interpreted as part of the intervention record, not as causal proof of effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsAs a single intervention-research case, the findings are analytically rather than statistically generalizable. The hidden cost figures are negotiated estimates produced within the intervention and are not read as independent causal measurements of performance improvement.Practical implicationsFor owner-managers, hidden cost accounting may offer a route to professionalization by translating coordination delays, rework, skill gaps and idle time into financial terms, supporting prioritization without immediate bureaucratic expansion.Social implicationsBy making internal sources of loss visible and discussable, hidden cost accounting may help crisis-stricken firms protect productive capacity and shift from reactive cost cutting toward organizational learning.Originality/valueThe study contributes to interpretive management accounting and organizational change literature by showing how a socio-economic intervention can produce calculative representations through which crisis-stricken small family-owned businesses reinterpret internal dysfunctions and negotiate professionalization.

Keywords: Management accounting; Change; Hidden costs; Intervention research; Family business; Organizational change; Socio-economic approach to management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jaocpp:jaoc-01-2026-0067

DOI: 10.1108/JAOC-01-2026-0067

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