Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook - repository civitas UGM

---eO ~

CO ERENCE
PROGRAM

baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

~ ~ JIHGFEDCBA

A s ia n A c a d e m ic A c c o u n tin g

16
BANDUNG,

th

Annual

C o n fe re n e
JA W A

B A H A T , IN D O N E S IA .

W ith c o n fe re n c e

NOVEMBER,

to p ic s o n :

A C C O U N T IN G ,
FRAUD,
C O R R U P T IO N , A N D
E A R N IN G S D E C E P T IO N

y.-, ..,,~
, ,..•

-\.."

"

)~

-:.':"L
.. :~ -J .~

'- " " '1 "

__

~ .....

--..

.

,

-

Association

,

1 5 -1 7 ,2 0 1 5

:.

Afift~~~'· . JIHGFEDCBA

£ jG )A m t,I!~ " . baZYXWVUTSRQP

'C E R T J ,'F :tC A T E '
~

.

! , '! , ;

. ." .

"

.;

'A W A '~l)"E "b!'::Td'

i

•

-

-

"0

\

\"

•

\'.

,"
.

I

•

;

."

~\."/

, ..

'I

,"-

. '1 .

',>.

'..,.':

'~.

..

; ' . ~ . \ i . :. ., : : \ \ . - "

\,:

(,

[>

. :',

.,.....

~\ .'.... ;. " ",,"'.

. \

.\

\ '/

...~ . r

'.

' ':,','\(
,

..

";' .:, >.' '

"

".'.\

"

':

..

,

;

\ ,,- ,' " \" ',', /, \ " " ,

'.

" .','~

'

/

!,

\

\i',

i

':'.

!

.,

.:'

\" "

"M" "'A'" "'H;;'" ':"F"':' U··,":,··O':,"'i"S·'· ....·····'Hi"':'.,,/().'i.. )t·"L'· 'I""'H"'" "I"N' ,

, '

\'

I

ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
.\ . , ( , . ;.

,;

.

• ....

:

~ !,;

~ '. . .C. o n fe re n c eONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

!.

.

- '.

,,', i,

l.

....

.• '

i" ,

I'~

\ .

"

.
..

.: ,

"

,

.'

', '

a sa
'.' , P R E S ;E ,N ,~ E 'R
:

.

I

(

.

r

"

,': /

....

..

'. ,

..

\'

. : . . '" ' ~ ,' . - ) . .

., /. \.

",

'.\ ..

\

,.,,'

-,,'

;

"

Asian'Ac;aderrtk'Accounting A~sotiatJ~~'!16~A"riual'C o n feren ce

"

B A N O 'U N G ~ J A W A B A R A T IN O O N E S IA ;
N O V E M 8 .E R , 15-17~2 0 1 5 .. ' '

.

.~

. D r . A n c e lla
.

'I;> ir e c to r o f A c c o u n tin g

"
.

.

'..

H e rm a w a n ,

a h ro k h M . S a u d a g a r a n

M BA, CA

S ~ c re ta ry 'G e n e r a l, A s ia n A c a d e m ic

'D e p a r tm e n t

/....

"

-

';".

,'..'

"

A c c o u n tin g

A s s o c ia tio n

Selamat Datang!
Welcome to the 16 th Annual Conference of the Asian Academic Accounting

Association

(4A).

We are delighted to be holding a 4A conference in Indonesia for the third time. Indonesia joins
Malaysia as the only countries with the distinction of hosting the conference three times.
The 4A was launched

in 1998 to serve as the professional

organization

for accounting

academics in Asia and beyond. It brings together colleagues from many countries to share their
research as well as to discuss pedagogical
to facilitate collaborations
an organization

and other issues of mutual interest. Our mission is

and programs to enhance accounting education and research. We are

of our members and for our members. I urge you to participate

in the current

activities of the 4A as well as to suggest additional programs and activities that are of interest
to you.
On behalf of the 4A Executive Committee and all 4A members, I thank our colleagues at the
University

of Indonesia for hosting this year's conference.

I particularly

thank Dr. Ancella A.

Hermawan

and her dedicated team of Organizing Committee members for their planning and

dedication

in putting together a superb conference.

I also take this opportunity

to thank our

sponsors, our keynote speakers and our honored guests.
I hope that you will take advantage of the wonderful program that they have arranged and take
the opportunity to renew acquaintances
professional
conference

with old friends, to make new friends, and to grow your

networks during the conference. I wish all participants

a productive and enjoyable

and visit to Indonesia.

Shahrokh M. Saudagaran
Secretary General, Asian Academic Accounting Association baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Page

I 1 NMLKJIHGFEDCBA

A s S .n

4cCOl.Ut~As.UCtiJfto"

~

Annual
Conference

t1.....F E B

ONMLKJIHGFE

U I\I\U lit W

B A N O U N < i,

JA W A

BARAT

lN D O H e S I A

.IN)().:oDtA

~.1s..,e.,2015

~

-," ,,.=

Selamat Datang!
All praise and glory be to God for all His blessings upon us. We would like to thank the Asian
Academic

Accounting Association for letting us organize the event.

The 16th Asian Academic

Accounting

Association

(AAAA) Annual Conference

is held in

Bandung, West Java, Indonesia hosted by Universitas Indonesia. This year Annual Conference
addresses the latest issues in accounting covering wide research areas such as Corporate
Responsibility
Accounting,
Education,

and Corporate Governance, Financial Accounting and Reporting,
Auditing and Internal Controls, Management

Corporate

Finance and Capital Markets,

Public Sector Accounting, Forensic Accounting,

Accounting,

International

Taxation,

Social and Environmental

Islamic Accounting,

Social

Accounting

Accounting
Accounting,
Information

Systems, and Case Studies and Issues in Accounting. The conference brings together a diverse
group of accounting and finance educators and professionals

from throughout

Asia and the rest

of the world.baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The Committee
conference.

received

136 paper submissions

and 88 papers will be presented

during the

We hope that this conference will bring positive and shared discussions

to enhance

the optimal outcome towards your research publications.
We hope that all of the participants could enrich their knowledge
atmosphere

as well as enjoy the beauty

of Bandung during the conference.

Dr. Ancella A. Hermawan
Steering Committee

Page

I

2

ttl

!~ = ~ NMLKJIHGFEDCBA
FEB

•

16

th

ANNuAL

CONFERENCE

A S IA N A C A D E M IC
A C C O U N T IN G

A S S O C IA T IO N

O R G A N IZ IN G
S T E E R IN G

C O M M IT T E E

Dr. Ancella A. Hermawan, CA

C O M M IT T E E

Prof. Siddharta Utama, Ph.D., CFA
Prof. Akhmad Syakhroza, Ph.D., CA
Prof. Dr. Lindawati Gani, CA NMLKJIHGFEDCBA

C H A IR

Dr. Dyah Setyaningrum

VICE CHAIR

Selvy Monalisa, MBA, CA

C O M M IT T E E

M E M B E R S baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Elvia R. Shauki, PhD

Christine, M.Int.Tax, CA
Desti Fitriani, MA, CA
Rahfiani Khairurizka, MAce, CA
Agustin Setyaningrum, M.S.Ak., CPMA
Rallyati, MAk, CA
Edward Tanujaya, MBA, CA
Elfina A. Sambuaga, M.S.Ak.
Nur Aulia Rahmah, MSc
Luluk Widyawati, MBus
Nurul Husnah, M.S.Ak., CA
Teguh Iman Maulana, M.S.Ak., MSc
Panggah Tri Wicaksono, MSc
Dian Nastiti, MCom, CA
Rafika Yuniasih, M.S.M., CA
Dahlia Sari, M.Si., CA
Desi Adhariani, PhD, CA

Page

I

3

.,
i).

th

111 F E B

.. .-,,-_
- ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
Annual
, Conference

(i
· 1 6 =,~~_
~.

\

~

!~~~

-

tn

,-

l-C Accounting Education Issues
Prof. Dr. Normah Omar,ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
U n iv e r s iti T e k n o lo g i M A R A

Moderator:
•

Berlian 3 Room

The Impact of Ethics

Education

on Earnings

Management

Judgment:

A Quasi-Experimental

Approach
M a h fu d

S h o lih in ,

Ahm ad

E k o S u w a r d i,

•

G a d ja h

Z a k i, G a d ja h

Assessing

G a d ja h

Graduate

M ada

M ada

U n iv e r s ity

U n iv e r s ity

M ada

U n iv e r s ity

Employability:

Perception

of Employers,

Junior

Auditors,

Lecturers

and

Students
D yah

S e ty a n in g r u m ,

D ia n

N a s titi,

A n c e lla

•

U n iv e r s ita s

U n iv e r s ita s

H erm aw an,

Accounting

Students'

In d o n e s ia

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

Perception

In d o n e s ia

of the Benefits of Student Centered

Learning

Methods

to Soft

Skills Development
Rahm i

S e p tia n i

D yah

•

P u tr i,

U n iv e r s ita s

S e ty a n in g r u m ,

Legitimizing
E lv ia

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

Higher Degree Actions in Enhancing

S h a u k i,

U n iv e r s ita s

Sharon

Y a m , U n iv e r s ity

A n c e lla

H erm aw an,

Graduate Employability

In d o n e s ia /U n iv e r s ity

o f S o u th A u s tr a lia

o f S o u th A u s tr a lia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

I-D Auditing Issues
Moderator:
•

Dr. Ancella A. Hermawan,

The Determinants
Agung
R a is a

•

Saphire 2 Room

N ur P robohudono,
N anda

Government

B a r lia n ,

Determinants

Agung

•

S e b e la s

S e b e la s

W id a g d o ,

D in i M e iy a n ti,

Rudy

Page

M aret

M aret

S e b e la s

S e b e la s
M aret

U n iv e r s ity

U n iv e r s ity

M aret

Evidence from Indonesia

U n iv e r s ity

U n iv e r s ity

of Settlement Audit Recommendation

H a r ta n to ,

S e b e la s

M aret

N ur P robohudono,

Review of Money Laundering
Z u r a id a h

M ohd

N o r a z id a

M oham ed,

N oor

In d o n e s ia

Auditors Ethical Decision-Making:

A ri K uncara

•

U n iv e r s ita s

of the Auditor Comments ofthe Audit Board ofIndonesia

S y a jiq a h

I 6 JIHGFEDCBA

S a n u s i,

M ohd

ofthe Audit Board of the Republic

U n iv e r s ity

S e b e la s

M aret

U n iv e r s ity

Cases under AMLA TF A 2001 by Bank Negara Malaysia
U n iv e r s iti

U n iv e r s iti

T e k n o lo g i

T e k n o lo g i

N oor A zm an,

M ARA

M ARA

U n iv e r s iti

T e k n o lo g i

M ARA

:~ .. '_ """
th

(J1 6

.• .

Annual

M

g ; ,~ ; ,,~

ofIndonesia

,
,

15.45-17.15 NMLKJIHGFEDCBA
C o n c u r r e n t S e s s io n
5 -A

E n v ir o n m e n ta l

M o d e r a to r :

•

Issu es

Environmental
R o m la h

Z a k i,

M a h fu d

•

Impression

Management

Theory

M a la y s ia

K ebangsaan

G a d ja h M a d a

M a la y s ia

U n iv e r s iti

K ebangsaan

M a la y s ia

G a d ja h M a d a

A c c o u n tin g

U n iv e r s ity

Issu es

B e r lia n

I s m a il, In te r n a tio n a l

A n c e lla

Financial

K a r tik o ,

Infrastructure,

U n iv e r s ity

2 R oom

M a la y s ia

External Audit, and Legislative

Oversight

Structure on

in Indonesia

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

of Local Government:

A Study

on Local

Government

Characteristics,

and Financial Condition

W in a r n a ,

A ri K uncoro

Correlation

U n iv e r s ita s

A . H erm aw an,

Distress

Jaka

Is la m ic

of Local Government Budget Implementation

W ahyu

in Facebook

U n iv e r s ity

The Effect of Internal Audit Intensity,

S ig it

•

U n iv e r s iti

C he Abdul Rahm an,

D r . S u h a iz a

Performance

•

U n iv e r s iti K e b a n g s a a n

S h o lih in ,

G o v e r n m e n ta l

M o d e r a to r :

U n iv e r s ity

Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication

Ahm ad

5 -B

B u n d a M u lia

A d in e h z a d e h ,
R id h u a n

Evaluating

U n iv e r s ity

Performance and Disclosure:

J a ffa r ,

R a z ie h

•

K la b a t

Sam buaga,

M ara

1 R oom

among Aspects of Triple Bottom Line: Empirical Study i n Indonesia

Relationship

Ik a P r a y a n th i,

•

B e r lia n

ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
U n iv e r s ity

A n is , T r is a k ti

I d r ia n ita

E lfin a

5

U n iv e r s ita s

W id a g d o ,

S e b e la s

U n iv e r s ita s

between Performance

M aret
S e b e la s

Measures

M aret

and Development

Output: Relationship

Analysis of

EKPPD and ONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
HDI
D w i JIHGFEDCBA
M a rta n i, U n i v e r s i t a s
Jayu

•

P ram udya,

E-Government,
Ram a
A n c e lla

Page

I 15

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

in Indonesia baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
.-Accountability and Performance of Local Government
:..

P r a ta m a ,

U n iv e r s ita s

A . H e rm a w a n ,

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

~"A.c~~dnigA$$CIC'"'ttO"

Annual
Conference
BANO UHG , JAW A SARAT
N o w rn b e r. ts -te , 2 0 1 S

IN D O H E S lA

$1
==~

FEB

2-E Disclosure Issues
Dr. Aidi Ahmi,ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
U n iv e r s iti U ta r a M a la y s ia

Moderator:
•

Mirah Room

The Analysis

of Impact of Financial

Level of Environmental
D in y

S u lis ty o w a ti,

R a tn a

•

U n iv e r s ita s

W a r d h a n i,

Disclosure

Performance

Performance

U n iv e r s ita s

to Carbon Emission

and Governance

as Moderating

Disclosure

with Country

Variable

In d o n e s ia
In d o n e s ia

and Implementation

of Corporate

Social Responsibility

Practices:

Case of an Islamic

Bank
N e y s h ia

A m a lin a ,

U n iv e r s ita s

G a d ja h

M ada

M a h fu d

S h o lih in ,

U n iv e r s ita s

G a d ja h

M ada

A h m a d JIHGFEDCBA
Z a k i, U n i v e r s i t a s

•

G a d ja h M a d a

The Role of Intellectual Capital Disclosure in Relation between Underwriter

Reputation and Under-

pricing: Empirical Evidences from Indonesia
W ahyu

W id a r jo ,

R a h m a w a ti,
Bandi

Tunas P em bangunan

S e b e la s

S a r d jo n o ,

A ri K uncara

M aret

S e b e la s

W id a g d o ,

U n iv e r s ity

U n iv e r s ity

M aret

U n iv e r s ity

S e b e la s

M aret

U n iv e r s ity

19.00 - 22.00

Gala Dinner and Cultural Performances

08.00 - 08.30

Registration

08.30 - 10.00

Concurrent Session 3

3-A Earnings Management Issues
Moderator:
•

Dr. Budi Frensidy,

The Effect

of Bali Bombing

Management

Practices

Companies

In d o n e s ia

I, Bali Bombing

in Transportation

II, And Mega Kuninga~

Sector

and Hotel,

Bombing

Restaurant,

and

on Earnings

Tourism

Sector

in Indonesia

Jauza

A z a r ia ,

U n iv e r s ita s

D e s i A d h a r ia n i,

•

Berlian 1 Room

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

Earnings Breaks and Earnings Management
O w Y o n g , S in g a p o r e M a n a g e m e n t U n iv e r s ity
K e v i n baZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

•

Beating Earnings Threshold Targets with Earnings Management
P radyot
M ary
Jens

•

( P .K .) S e n , U n iv e r s ity

M in d a k ,
S te p h a n ,

The Association

D eP aul

o f W a s h in g to n

B o th e ll

U n iv e r s ity

U n iv e r s ity

o f E a s te r n

M ic h ig a n

between National Culture and the Earnings Management:

The Study in ASEAN

Five
A ryana

S a tr y a ,

A n c e lla
R a fik a

A . H erm aw an,
Y u n ia s ih ,

D ahyang

Page

I

9

U n iv e r s ita s

U n iv e r s ita s

U n iv e r s ita s

Ik a L e n i,

In d o n e s ia
In d o n e s ia

In d o n e s ia

U n iv e r s ita s

In d o n e s ia

(l
.. U j ?.
.

th

.....
~--..-

Annual
, Conference

= .'1 :':1 :'_

tli
==~

FEB

NMLKJIHGFEDCBA

E v a lu a tin g

D ia lo g ic

Engagem ent

v ia C o m m u n ic a tio n

o f a M in in g

Com pany

in F a c e b o o k qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFED

Mahfud Sholihin
Ahmad Zaki

Accounting Department
Faculty of Economics and Business
Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia

P re p a re d

fo r th e 1 6 th A s ia n

A c a d e m ic

Bandung,

A c c o u n tin g

1 6 -1 8 N o v e m b e r

A s s o c ia tia o n

C o n fe r e n c e

2015

Correspondence:
Mahfud Sholihin
Accounting Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas
J I. Sosio Humaniora No .01, Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
Telp: +62274 548510
Fax: +62274563212
Email: mahfud@ugm.ac.id

Gadjah Mada

E v a lu a tin g

D ia lo g ic

Engagem ent

v ia C o m m u n ic a tio n

o f a M in in g

Com pany

in F a c e b o o k

A b s tr a c t
- qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
The purpose of this study is to attempts to evaluate

the extent of dialogic
engagement that exist in mining companies Facebook fan page disclosures.
P u rp o s e

Critical analysis upon 48,751 BP Facebook fan page interactions is employed to
evaluate the dialogic engagement implementation. To do this, several enactments of Brown
(2009) dialogic accounting framework are reviewed by referring to all studies citing her.
These enactments are then employed to the interactions abductively.
D e s ig n

-

- Facebook fan page has been utilised by BP in facilitating broaden stakeholder
base. Moreover, it also has supported stakeholders' participation triggered by various type of
information reaching various types of stakeholders needs. However, commenting policy on
BP Facebook fan page and a very low interaction between BP and its stakeholders are the
most crucial challenge needed to fully address the principles. Several ways in enacting these
principles are also elaborated in this study.

F in d in g s

im p lic a tio n s
-This study might be useful both for future research and
practitioners conducting a social media approach to research in general, and a Facebook
approach in particular. This study might provide a foundation on how dialogic engagement
applied in practice as well as initiate several insights into how companies should deal with
social media in agonistic context.
P r a c tic a l

O r ig in a lity /v a lu e
- This study extends the work of Brown (2009). Drawing a critical analysis
of dialogic engagement practice is a new approach in dialogic engagement topic.cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG

K e y w o rd s :

D ia lo g ic

e n g a g e m e n t,

c ritic a l, d is c lo s u re ,

B P , Facebook

2

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of A Mining Company
via Communication

in Facebook

1. Introduction

Reading of the Social and Environmental Accounting (SEA) literature suggests there has
been a wide range of theoretical discussions on the potential of dialogic engagement to
enhance accountability (e.g. Adams et aI., 2007; Bebbington, Brown, & Frame, 2007;
Blackburn, Brown, Dillard, & Hooper, 2014; Brown, 2009; Brown & Dillard, 2013; Dillard &
Brown, 2015; Frame & Brown, 2008). Dialogic engagement, which will enable company to
involve wider stakeholder base, is argued to be able to fulfil some limitations of cost-benefit
analysis as it moves from a monetary oriented calculation to a more varied fact
representation (Bebbington et aI., 2007).
One of the emerging work on this topic is that of Brown (2009) who has developed a
framework for designing,

implementing,

and evaluating

dialogical

approaches.

The

framework consists of eight principles ranging from ideological orientation to a new form of
monologistic resistance mainly aimed as a tool to design, implement, and evaluate company
dialogic engagement (Brown, 2009). The framework has been further developed in other
settings (i.e. Blackburn et aI., 2014; Dillard & Brown, 2012; Dillard & Yuthas, 2013).
Following Brown (2009), Dillard and Yuthas (2013) and Blackburn et al. (2014), for example,
propose a critical dialogic framework for accounting information system research and
practice. Recently, Brown and Dillard (2015) notice that the framework was built to answer
limitations of current accounting system in acknowledging a diverse range of societal actors
and divergent ideolo gical position.
Several studies have been conducted in dialogic engagement theme, arguing that
online disclosure has the potential to provide dialogue with stakeholders (e.g. Gallhofer,
Haslam, Monk, & Roberts, 2006; Unerman & Bennett, 2004). Unerman and Bennett (2004),
for example, conduct research on web forum communication. Studying 1,015 Shell total
postings for a two and half year period, they found that Habermasian discourse ethics has

3

the potential theoretical model in stakeholders engagement. Their study further reveals that
web forum can also be employed to reach a mutual understanding between companies and
their stakeholders. However, their study has been criticised as it fails to provide a political
nature in a more realistic context during the dialogue. Whilst the aforementioned studies
advance our theoretical understanding on the importance of dialogic engagement, the
essential question of how dialogic engagement is applied in practice remains under studied.
Therefore, this topic is worth of study as suggested by Brown and Dillard (2013). They
contend that "there is significant potential for the SEA community to join with academics and
groups developing agonistic practices in communicative planning, development studies and
political theory" (p. 15). Furthermore, they noted that "in an attempt to apply agonistic
pluralism to overcome discourse capture by dominant groups, one way to proceed might be
to spell out the eight principles as part of the preliminary agenda for establishing processes
by which policy alternatives are developed, implemented and evaluated." (Brown & Dillard,
2013, p. 13).
This research responds to these calls and is different from previous research. This
research aims to extend the work of Unerman and Bennett (2004) using a different data set
and theoretical background showing dialogic process of companies' communications.
Furthermore, this research also attempts to expand the work of Brown (2009) to evaluate
dialogic engagement between companies and stakeholders. In more detail, this research
explores dialogic engagement of BP via communication in Facebook. This objective is
achieved through examining this specific question: (1) to what extent does dialogic
engagement exist in BP Facebook fan page disclosures in terms of dialogical engagement
interactions?
This research contributes to the SEA literature. Whilst previous studies on dialogic
engagement (Blackburn et aI., 2014; Brown, 2009; Brown & Dillard, 2013; Dillard & Brown,
2014, 2015; Dillard & Yuthas, 2013) merely develop and elaborate theoretical discussions on
dialogic engagement, to this date, none has investigated its application in practice. This

4

study employs Brown (2009) dialogic framework to analyse the extent of dialogic
engagement between a company and its stakeholders. Furthermore, even though several
studies have attempted to assess stakeholder dialogue through online reporting (e.g.
Unerman & Bennett, 2004), there is little research evaluating dialogic engagement from a
critical perspective. This study presents and demonstrates a critical approach to the analysis
of corporate disclosure in the form of critical discourse analysis. The critical analysis of BP
Facebook fan page disclosure aims to highlight the potential of Facebook fan page to
contest existing hegemonies of corporate disclosure. In addition, it will highlight the
institution of new counter-hegemonic projects that bring opportunities to alter or transform
power relations (Bond, 2011). From a practical perspective, this research may provide
insight into how far social media should be managed in more seriousness to support dialogic
engagement. Previous studies have shown that many executives tend to ignore this form of
media due to their limited understanding (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre,
2011); even though its ability to shape strong relationships with customers has been deemed
significant (Sashi, 2012).
The rest of the study is organised as follows. Next section is reviews the literature. It
provides review of accounting literature on online reporting and discusses how agonistic
political theory supports dialogic engagement. This section is followed by an explanation of
the research design covering types and source of data and data analysis techniques.
Further, the findings and discussions will be divided into two parts; actors involved in BP pic.
Facebook fan page for the year 2014 and the extent of dialogic engagement between BP
pic. and those actors. This study ends with conclusions and suggestions for further study.

2. Literature review
2.1.

Accounting literatu re on online reporting

A broad range of areas are identified in the accounting literature exploring issues related to
online reporting such as webpage disclosure (Gallhofer et aI., 2006; Hooks & van Staden,
2011) and social network (Alexander & Gentry, 2014; Kim, Hsu, & de Zuniga, 2013).
5

Compared to hard copy reports, online reporting has several benefits: it is able to reach
geographically dispersed users, provide greater volumes of information with less printing and
distribution costs, and offers a mean of instantaneous, two-way communication (Rowbottom
& Lymer, 2009). Furthermore, A theoretical and empirical argument by Gallhofer et al. (2006)
suggests that there is the potential of online reporting towards counter accounting in
stimulating the dominance of official and hegemonic accounting.
Social media is considered as the "next milestone" in online reporting strategy of
corporations (Benson & Flores, 2011). Being first introduced in 2004 (Kaplan & Haenlein,
2010), social media offers an opportunity to build places for people to learn together and
share their experiences (Ella, Margherita, & Taurino, 2009). Simultaneously, it provides an
interactive platform for sharing, co-creating, discussing, and modifying user-generated
content through mobile and web-based technologies (Kietzmann et aI., 2011). Social media
is underpinned by principles of participation (Effing, van Hillegersberg, & Huibers, 2011), as
well as dynamism, interaction, collaboration and trust (Chu & Xu, 2009), explaining its
difference with webpage disclosure.
The main subset of the literature on online reporting which is relevant to this study is
its dialogic role. The articles exploring this topic argue that the dialogic potentials of online
reporting can be applied in various organisations (see Madichie & Hinson, 2014 for a review
of these literatures). Pavitt (2012), in particular, finds that social media has the ability to
provide individuals with the opportunity to report on organisations' unethical behaviour and
share that information with the public. In line with previous findings, Buchanan-Oliver and
Fitzgerald (2014) reveal that social media technologies raise the necessity of a total
stakeholder approach through the implementation of dialogic communication. However, the
literature also acknowledges that online reporting may have some limitations, particularly in
its selectiveness of audience as a lack of access to technology, infrastructure, education
and/or language necessary to utilise company websites may be encountered by some
stakeholders (Unerman & Bennett, 2004). Effing et al. (2011) also note that findings of

6

existing literatures still shows limited efforts being done in shaping public participation using
Internet tools.
2.2.

Agonistic political theory and dialogic engagement

Taking the view that social media can provide dialogic engagement through its dialogic role
and enhance public domain and democracy (Gallhofer et aI., 2006) which in turn promote
corporate accountability (Rowbottom and Lymer, 2009); agonistic political theory may thus
provide a dynamic perspective to understanding online reporting practices. Moreover,
agonistic theory also offers concepts to explore how those notions work in practice as it is
argued that it can provide arenas to contest information, ideas, values, and subjectivities
between (uneven) adversaries, and for emerging new contexts (Rahimi, 2011). Hence, this
idea is in line with Cooper

and Owen (2007) who argue that an open equal

dialogue/discussion with stakeholders is the only way to achieve accountability.
Agonistic political theory is widely known as a branch of democratic theory describing
how democratic dialogue is the key to progressive social change. Taking the view of Laclau
and Mouffe (2001), agonistic theory provides the theoretical socio-political basis for
hypothesizing and sustaining diversity within a pluralistic and democratic context (Dillard &
Yuthas, 2013). Agonistic approach is favoured over other approaches in participatory
democracy, such as deliberative democracy, since the latter does not account for
disagreement and differences adequately (Dillard & Brown, 2012). In particular, an agonistic
approach is favoured to Habermas' communicative action as it provides a more realistic
context by recognizing the political nature of the decision making processes and the inherent
contingencies and antagonisms in social relationships (Bond, 2011).
Agonistic political democracy has started to be extensively proposed for SEA in a
number of studies (e.g. Blackburn et aI., 2014; Brown, 2009; Brown & Dillard, 2013; Dillard &
Brown, 2012; Dillard & Yuthas, 2013). Brown and Dillard (2013), for example, argue that
limitations of SEA can be solved by "agonising over engagement". They also argue that SEA
community and society in general, can take advantage of a more blatant political standpoint

7

provided by agonistic pluralism that provides more visible conflictual aspects of pluralistic
relations. Brown (2009) brings this theory into the accounting literature and proposed a
framework to design, implement, and evaluate company dialogic engagement. The key
components of this framework are: (1) recognizing multiple ideological orientations; (2)
avoiding monetary reductionism; (3) being open about the subjective and contestable nature
of calculations; (4) enabling accessibility for non-experts; (5) ensuring effective participatory
processes; (6) being attentive to power relations; (7) recognizing the transformative potential
of dialogic accounting- (re)constructing the language; and (8) resisting new forms of
monologism (Brown, 2009).
This research focuses on how dialogic engagement is enhanced through agonistic
political democracy guided by Brown (2009) dialogic framework in promoting democratic
dialogue and accountability for companies. As current accounting systems are found not to
capture essential information for alternative accounting, dialogic accounting arguably can
allow a varied range of societal groups to develop accounting that acknowledges divergent
ideological positions (Brown & Dillard, 2015). Dialogic theorists also note that dialogic
engagements "extend beyond notions of communication" (Adams et aI., 2007); and "views
accounting more like an on-going conversation among competing interests that hold different
perspectives about the empirical phenomena themselves" (Dillard & Yuthas, 2013, p. 14).
Bryer (2014) observes that an effective participatory process and accessibility for nonexperts can be ensured and gained through dialogic engagement principles. These
principles, in turn, will support knowledge-making processes that may lead to improved
accountability (Brown & Dillard, 2015).

3. Research design

This research involves case study design to answer the research question. In general terms,
a case study aims to investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real context (Yin,
2013). Further,Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2011) state that case study design allows for
thorough understanding of social phenomena. Accordingly, Saunders, Saunders, Lewis, and

8

Thornhill (2011) argue that case studies could provide the answer of 'what' and 'how'
questions. Therefore, a case study design was considered the most appropriate approach
selected as the frame to answer the research questions.
3.1.

Research object

This study focuses on the social media disclosure of BP, one of the world's leading
integrated oil and gas companies, for a period of the year 2014. BP is chosen as the case
study due to several reasons. First of all, it operates in an environmentally sensitive industry.
Oil and gas companies are widely known by its characteristics as the most pollutant
sectors(Perego & Kolk, 2012), therefore it has a moral obligation to disclose its contribution
towards environmental issues to its stakeholders. Secondly, BP has experienced one of the
largest offshore oil spills in history in 2010, triggering several conflicts and debates among
stakeholders (Rotemberg, 2012; Shultz, Walsh, Garfin, Wilson, & Neria, 2015). Thus, the
lengthy discussions and debates that occurred can be effectively reviewed and analysed in
relation to its dialogic engagement aspect. Third, BP has participated in Sustainability
Assessment Model (SAM) project development (Bebbington et aI., 2007). SAM is argued to
be a potential tool to support the dialogue between companies and stakeholders. In addition,
recent price fluctuation in the global crude oil market since June 2014 (Baumeister & Kilian,
2015), as well as its high volatility, create the need for additional communications between
the company and its stakeholder With those reasons in mind, conducting research in BP
would direct towards a comprehensive picture on how dialogic engagement exists in
company and stakeholders interactions.
The Facebook fan page is the widest stakeholders' dialogue mechanism employed
among BP social media channels, with 170,542 total page likes. BP has created the
Facebook page to engage the public in an informative conversation about BP's on-going
commitment to the culture, community, and environment. The goal of the page is to facilitate
constructive dialogue, and to be an appropriate forum for all of its stakeholders. The first
activity on the BP fan page was dated 4 December 2012 by updating its fan page cover

9

photo. Table 1 presents the summary of 48,751 overall interactions of BP Facebook fan
page in terms of months for the whole period in 2014.
During the period studied, BP has made 360 postings initiated on 2 January 2014 at
12:17 describing a recent issue in the North American gas business. This first posting gained
4 comments and 118 likes. Following this postings, several other postings have also
attracted debates and discussion among BP stakeholders. Postings about sustainability on
25 March 2014 was the most popular postings, attracting the highest number of interactions
of 4,056 overall interactions. This posting also reached the highest number of total
comments with 3,939 comments. However, there were several postings which did not
receive any stakeholder attention.

3.2.NMLKJIHGFEDCBA
T y p e a n d s o u rc e

o f d a ta

To explore the extent of dialogic engagement, this research gathered data of "wall postings",
comments, and likes of the BP Facebook fan page as a means of dialogic engagement with
stakeholders (Greene, Choudhry, Kilabuk, & Shrank, 2011). Data on the BP Facebook
account as well as their stakeholders' (e.g. username and profile description) and topics
discussed were gathered using NodeXL (Hansen, Shneiderman, & Smith, 2010). NodeXL, a
plugin for Microsoft ExcelcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
2 0 0 7 /2 0 1 0 , is a widely used tool in social network analysis
research (e.g. Ahn, Taieb-Maimon, Sopan, Plaisant, & Shneiderman, 2011; Himelboim et aI.,
2014; Sharma, Khurana, Shneiderman, Scharrenbroich, & Locke, 2011) and allows
researchers to import archived network data directly from Facebook.
Even though both Facebook and Twitter are amongst the most growing social media
in popularity, Facebook is found as the platform with the highest number of studies
conducted (Leung & Bai, 2013). Furthermore, Facebook is favoured since it tends to be used
for political contestation, while Twitter, are mostly used for interpersonal dialogue (Enli &
Skoqerbe, 2013). This characteristic is also considered as a rationale in opting to use
Facebook as it can provide a rich picture of dialogic practices between companies and
stakeholders from a critical viewpoint.
10

Table 1 Description of BP Facebook fan paqe '
No

Month

Total

postings

created

Total

Total

Comments

official

BP

Total

non-BP

Total

Likes

comments

Total
Interactions

comments
1

January

28

511

30

481

2,329

2,840

2

February

22

559

34

525

2,124

2,683

3

March

17

5,162

213

4,949

1,837

6,999

4

April

23

2,146

77

2,069

1,905

4,051

5

May

32

1,945

32

1,913

2,455

4,400

6

June

41

436

27

409

2,767

3,203

7

July

41

881

33

848

2,686

3,567

8

August

29

417

11

406

2,947

3,364

9

September

29

1,159

46

1,113

3,240

4,399

10

October

45

1,598

24

1,574

4,645

6,243

11

November

30

339

33

306

1,961

2,300

12

December

23

1,777

45

1,732

2,925

4,702

30

1,411

50

1,360

2,652

4,063

Average
Overall

1

interactions

48,751

https://www.facebook.com/bpuk?brand_redir=345463602161853
11

3.3.NMLKJIHGFEDCBA
D a ta a n a ly s is te c h n iq u e s qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
This research considers the Facebook fan page as a medium through which the organisation
and its stakeholders may attempt to contest existing corporate disclosure hegemonies. The
approach is referred to as critical discourse analysis (CDA) (See Makela & Laine, 2011 for
overview in accounting disclosure). CDA, which is built to identify and remove domination
practice in axiology research paradigm level (Merkl-Davies, Brennan, & Vourvachis, 2011),
is argued to be suitable for official and unofficial texts and media account types of data
(Mabry, 2008). As CDA in corporate narrative reporting research aims to show the used of
corporate discourse in constructing and sustaining unequal power between groups in
society, this research relies on Brown (2009) dialogic engagement framework which draws
heavily from Laclau and Mouffe's agonistic political democracy theory. From a range of
Brown (2009) dialogic engagement argument in accounting, the framework can be best
enacted through explanation provided in Table 2. The explanation is gained from reviewing
all studies referring to Brown (2009) particularly on these selected main studies: Dillard and
Brown (2012), Dillard and Brown (2014), Dillard and Brown (2015), Dillard and Roslender
(2011), Brown and Dillard (2013), Dillard and Yuthas (2013), and Blackburn et al. (2014).
To support dialogic content evaluation, this research also considers the number of
responses i.e. "comments" and "likes" to particular "wall postings" to measure the level of
interaction intensity of dialogues between BP and its stakeholders and among stakeholders.
Following (see also Goodman & Dekay, 2012; Viswanath, Mislove, Cha, and Gummadi
(2009», it is then

assumed that the responses to particular "postings" show how

stakeholders challenge companies information.

12

Table 2 Framework for analysis of Facebook interactions
No.

Dialogic

themes

1

Recognize

multiple

Identification

ideological

orientations

socio-political

Explanation
and recognition
perspectives

of neoliberal
of human rights,

& Dillard,

movements

(Brown

Recognition

of workers,

government,

suppliers,

market-based

approaches

labour,

feminist

public

interest

and others

and environmental

2013).

the local community,
and customers

at the same degree

groups,

local

as stockholders

and

creditors.
Establishment
Engagement
2

Avoid

monetary

reductionism

Capturing

of a broad stakeholder
in stakeholder

and presenting

including

both monetary

principle.

Presenting

analysis
information

base (Brown,

& Yuthas,

(Dillard

via quantitative

and non-monetary

information

2009).

through

2013).
and qualitative

modes

data is the main issue raised
photo and video

(Blackburn

by this

et aI.,

2014).
Developing

a plan for gathering

incorporating
3

them into the decision

Be open about the subjective

Transparent

and contestable

with scientific

nature

of

these different

calculations
uncertainty

processes

and assumptions

sources
(Dillard

of information

& Yuthas,

and

2013).

that are the basis of viewpoint,

in an open manner

(Blackburn

or deal

et aI., 2014).

calculations
4

Enable
experts

accessibility

for non-

Representations,
accessible

rules,

and implications

to the non-specialists

in multiple

approach

and in more technical

forms

and format
(Dillard

that are

& Yuthas,

2013).
Participatory

review

and acceptance

by both experts

and non-experts

is also
13

---.--'

No.

Dialogic

themes

Explanation
accounted

5

Ensure

effective

participatory

-

processes

for as an application

Stakeholders

and implementation
Efficacy
dialog

Be attentive

to power

-

relations

in the whole

and ensure

of the participation
among

providers
6

are involved

the various

(Dillard

Recognition

community,

process

on-going

hinges
groups

& Yuthas,

on alternative

environmental,

of the principle.
of procedural

dialogue

among

on an interactive,

as well as among

rules development

the interested

dynamic,

groups.

and on-going

the groups

and the information

2013).
power

arrangements

customers,

suppliers,

(e.g. owners,

workers,

civil society)

& Yuthas,

(Dillard

2013).
Recognition
articulate
7

Recognize
potential

the transformative

-

of dialogic

of a need for capacity
currently

Recognition
groups

marginalized

of the potential

is argued

building
voices

for on-going,

to be an enactment

(e.g. developing

in accounting
interactive

of this principle

terms)

skills

(Brown,

discussions
(Dillard

and means

to

2009).

among

& Yuthas,

affected
2013).

accounting
8

Resist

new forms

monologism

of

-

Opening
agreed

question,
upon,

the inevitable

critique,

they should
unequal

and possibly
be immediately,

power

relationships

change

to some set of decisions

recognizing

the voices

that subordinated

those

were

not heard and
voices

(Dillard

& Brown, 2014).

14

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook

The first stage of this research was completed by the researcher alone through
reading all the "wall postings" and their following interactions. During the reading, all content
which could somehow be considered principle related were marked. The final interpretation
of the first stage was subsequently formed in a recurrent process, with constant attention to
postings and comments representing the framework employed.
The second stage involved a second reviewer in conducting interpretation directly
after the original interpretation has been made. During this second stage of reading, the
second reviewer conducted an interpretive textual analysis independently on a random
sample of the dataset using the same format used in stage one, provided by the researcher
which covers the framework used and its explanations. Careful comparisons were then
carried out between analysis done by the researcher and second reviewer, complemented
by lengthy discussions when disputes were found. Disputes were then resolved, and the
original dataset were read through once more with the comparison of notes from the first and
second stage of analysis. Finally, revisions of the original interpretation were made if
additional points arise through the comparison and discussions warranted the need for it.
The whole process of interpretations have been made through a process of subjective
sense-making, which included highly deep engagement with the texts and various attempts
to systematise the findings into a coherent critical interpretation.NMLKJIHGFEDCBA

4.

4.1.

F in d in g s

and discussions

E m p ir ic a l

fin d in g s

This section evaluates how far the BP Facebook fan page moves towards the fulfilment of
dialogic engagement principles highlighting the contestation of existing hegemonies of
corporate disclosure. This section also intends to highlight the institution of new counterhegemonic projects that brings opportunities to alter or transform existing power relations
between parties. Consistent with Dillard and Brown (2015), four of the principles concern
about characteristics of communication and engagement where dialogic engagement can be
enacted (principle 2, 3, 4, and 5). The remaining four principles describe the accountability
15

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook

systems within which dialogic engagement is supposed to be considered and implemented
(principle 1, 6, 7, and 8). For the purposes of framing the following findings, analysis will be
drawn on this order. To highlight the credibility of the study, researcher engagement with text
and its context will be demonstrated by presenting examples of the postings and its following
interactions.cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
A v o id in g m o n e ta ry re d u c tio n is m

Avoiding monetary reductionism is the first principle showing the dialogic engagement
communication and engagement characteristics. Recognition of the narrowness of traditional
reporting by presenting quantitative and qualitative modes of information is argued to be the
B P postings on
main enactment of this principle (Dillard & Yuthas, 2013). Evaluation of 360NMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Facebook fan page during 2014 reveals that postings were mostly embedded with photos,
videos, or figures showing a wide range of BP's information communication ways. The
availability of links in about 57% of BP's total postings seems to also support the information
posted in which some of them were in monetary form.
Presenting postings with videos is an interesting way that B P undertook to provide a
more interesting way of providing facts to its stakeholders. Brown (2009) calls this as not
advocating single bottom line solution for stakeholders, which will be explained further.
Throughout the dataset, videos were mainly related to workers profile, program profile, or
business process of the company.

Watch how the process unit is taken apart and put back together in this timelapse video filmed during a 54 day turnaround at Bulwer Island #Refinery in
#Australia

#BP

h ttp s ://w w w .fa c e b o o k .c o m /3 4 5 4 6 3 6 0 2 1 6 1 8
F e b ru a ry

(P o s tin g s

53_677127852328758,

URL:

26

2014)

Referring to Brown (2009), videos seem to be a reverse of some monologic
engagement information characteristics where representations are most exclusively in
monetary form. Stakeholder who are presented with the environmental impact of oil and gas

16

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook

exploration video certainly will have different levels of understanding to those who are only
provided with monetary term explaining the same issue.
Taking an idea that dialogic engagement sees quantitative and monetary form of
information as a kind of simplifying fact (Dillard & Brown, 2014), Facebook fan page has the
potential to go beyond this and provide transparent and understandable representations. By
the structure of the web, Facebook fan pages mainly facilitate texts, photos, and videos
sharing. These types of communications can facilitate a range of participant pluralistic
democracy communication ways suggested by (Norval, 2007) consisting of testimony, story,
narrative, art, poetry and the like.
In light of effective communication provided by BP in regards to dialogic engagement
presented beforehand, it must be noted however that a deeper analysis on BP Facebook
pan page exposes that BP seems to only provide these various way of communication on a
superficial basis. Photos, the most frequent postings representation, seem to only be used
as a means of stakeholders' curiosity attractions. Postings on statistical review of world
energy 2014, for example, were only accompanied with a picture presenting a link to the
postings. In several cases, the picture did not even have any correlation with the substance
of the postings. Therefore, according to the previous discussion, even though BP has shown
a general enactment of this first principle, what BP provided seems to be far from the idea of
monetary reductionism avoidance. Furthermore, as various ways of communication were
mostly presented superficially, the purpose to facilitate stakeholders in making their own
monetization seemingly needs more attention.cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
B e in g o p e n a b o u t th e s u b je c tiv e

a n d c o n te s ta b le

n a tu re

o f c a lc u la tio n s

The second characteristic of dialogic engagement communication requires information
presented to be open for the subjective and contestable nature of calculations. Inspired from
social constructivist epistemology, this principle acknowledges preferences of particular
calculations. Hence, this principle argues that subjectivity and uncertainty are an important
part of the dialogic process (Brown, 2009). According to Blackburn et al. (2014), reporting
17

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook

estimates in terms of ranges rather than single number is among the enactment of this
principle as represented in several BP postings. Postings about reviews of particular
company decisions also showed how BP fulfils this principle. Blackburn et al. (2014) states
that review of a company's decision can provide transparent calculations followed by
assumptions underlying them.
BP Facebook fan page seems to successfully fulfil the characteristic of subjectivity
and contestable nature of calculations communication as elaborated above. However, when
comparison of these enactments was made with other studies (i.e. Brown, 2009; Dillard &
Brown, 2014), it requests the recognition of divergences viewpoints among groups of experts
and socially constructed representation. This directs into some missing communications
characteristics that BP fails to present. Therefore, it can be suggested that in regards to this

principal, BP could only partially fulfil its engagement role towards its stakeholders.cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM
E n a b lin g a c c e s s ib ility

fo r n o n -e x p e rts

Dialogic engagement information is not only intended for experts, as marginalised groups
also need to make decisions using their own voice. Accessibility of the non-experts principle
mainly focuses on the availability of representations, rules, and implications in several ways
in forms that are accessible to the non-expert and more technical (Dillard & Yuthas, 2013).
Some official postings from BP acknowledged this principle by providing thematic postings
several times using several ways of communications. In the case of Energy Outlook 2035,
for example, a first attempt was made by posting about outlook launching with the link to the
report, while the second attempt was presented using a video overviewing the outlook.
Accordingly, the following attempts were made in several ways including video containing
speech about the outlook and several country insights as part of the outlook.

BP launches Energy Outlook 2035. Read it here: http://bit.iy/bpenergyoutlook
#BP

#BPstats

h ttp s ://w w w .fa c e b o o k .c o m /3 4 5 4 6 3 6 0 2 1 6 1 8
J a n u a ry

(P o s tin g s

53_ 6 5 6 5 6 8 2 6 1 0 5 1 3 8 4 ,

URL:
15

2014)

18

Evaluating Dialogic Engagement of a Mining Company via Communication in Facebook

Are you watching the live webcast of our Energy Outlook 2035? Do you have
a question about the data? Post it in the comments below and we'll try and
have

it

answered

for

#BPstatscbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA
(P o s tin g s
URL:

you.

h ttp s ://w w w .fa c e b o o k .c o m