Bounded ‘Emotionalities’ and Accounting in the Narratives of Organisational Change: The Case of a Heritage Railway

Abstract

This paper examines the central role accounting plays in changing and managing ‘volunteer emotions’ during a change process at a heritage railway. Informed by the ‘bounded emotionality’ framework, it shows how ‘accounting language’ interacts and conflicts with the defining characteristics of volunteer labour. We argue that in organizational contexts where actors express strong ‘emotionalities’ with their work and the prevailing organizational reality, the institutionalisation of new accounting and accountability systems involves a challenge to, and a regulation of, employee emotions.

Keywords: accounting change, organizational change, accounting language, bounded emotionality

JEL Classification: M41