Ethical disputes, coordinating acts and NGO accountability: evidence from an NGO river-care programme in Malaysia

Ang, S. Y. and Wickramasinghe, D. (2023) Ethical disputes, coordinating acts and NGO accountability: evidence from an NGO river-care programme in Malaysia. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 92, 102416. (doi: 10.1016/j.cpa.2022.102416)

Abstract

We use the Theory of Orders of Worth (OW) espoused by Boltanski and his associates to understand how disputes emerge in situations and how such disputes themselves reach agreements in the context of community engagements by an NGO. Based on a nine-month period of fieldwork at an NGO river-care programme in Malaysia, we find that, in situations of disputes, coordinating acts are predicated upon moral justifications by social actors, making the programme accountable to multiple stakeholders. Moreover, these coordinating acts develop dialogic accounting and transform felt accountability forms into adaptive accountability forms. We conclude that NGO accountability in a developing country like Malaysia is a manifestation of the ability of moral justifications governed by multiple orders of worth and such adaptive accountability forms mediate to assimilate global development agendas into local policies and programmes.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ang, Dr Soon Yong and Wickramasinghe, Professor Danture
• Authors: Ang, S. Y., and Wickramasinghe, D.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School; College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
• Journal Name: Critical Perspectives on Accounting
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1045-2354
• ISSN (Online): 1095-9955
• Published Online: 26 February 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Critical Perspectives on Accounting 92: 102416
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy