The myth of workforce reduction efficiency: The performativity of accounting language

Marie-Anne Verdier () and Jennifer Boutant Lapeyre
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Marie-Anne Verdier: LGTO - Laboratoire de Gestion et des Transitions Organisationnelles - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse
Jennifer Boutant Lapeyre: TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse

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Abstract: This paper draws on Austin's conceptualization of performativity to show how the accounting strategies implemented before a workforce reduction can contribute to performing the myth of workforce reduction efficiency. To address this issue, we use both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, through quantitative analyses on a sample of 117 workforce reductions announced by 101 French listed firms from 2007 to 2012, we shed light how, by not taking accounting strategies into account in their models, prior mainstream studies may have conveyed false knowledge about improved performances after the operation and performed the workforce reduction efficiency supported by economic theories. Second, through a case study, we provide an in-depth illustration of the performativity effect of these accounting strategies and more precisely of downward earnings management, which can be considered a calculation act that contributes to performing the myth of the efficiency of these operations. Overall, this paper contributes to the workforce reduction literature by providing a critical illustration of how accounting numbers construct efficiency through the performative role given to earnings management. It also contributes to the critical accounting project by notably participating in the debate on the use of quantitative and mixed research methodologies in the critical accounting project

Keywords: Workforce reductions; Critical accounting Earnings management; Performativity; Accounting language (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-09-30
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Published in Critical Perspectives On Accounting, 2021, n° 102380, ⟨10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102380⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03651409

DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102380

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