ABSTRACT

The paper advances the symbolism debate drawing on a family governance setting in an emerging economy. The paper extends the practice turn literature, focusing on how key actors skilfully manoeuvre organisational practices, rendering audit committee (AC) toothless or symbolic. Relying on qualitative data through face-to-face interviews with key actors and archival and documentary survey, the paper demonstrates symbolism surrounding the implementation of ACs in a context in which listed companies are run by family shareholders. Non-family AC members find themselves in a practice where practices are symbolically manipulated to signal compliance while causing minimal disruption to the power and control of owner families. The paper also provides a theoretical account of symbolism contributing to a relatively underdeveloped area of AC research. Drawing on Schatzki’s (2006, p. 2010) notion of practice memory, the paper brings to the fore the skilled manoeuvres of actors rendering AC toothless. The paper will spawn further theoretical and empirical attempt to develop the practice turn in AC literature especially in family governance settings.

摘要

本文利用新兴经济体中的家庭治理环境，推进了象征主义辩论。本文扩展了实践转向文献，重点关注关键参与者如何巧妙地操纵组织实践，使审计委员会 (AC) 失去作用或具有象征意义。本文依靠对主要参与者的面对面访谈以及档案和文献调查所获得的定性数据，展示了在上市公司由家族股东经营的背景下实施审计委员会的象征意义。非家庭 AC 成员发现自己处于一种实践中，这种实践被象征性地操纵以表明遵守，同时对所有者家庭的权力和控制造成最小的干扰。本文还对象征主义对交流研究相对欠发达的领域做出的贡献提供了理论解释。这篇论文借鉴了 Schatzki（2006，p.2010）的练习记忆概念，突出了演员让 AC 失去牙齿的熟练技巧。本文将引发进一步的理论和实证尝试，以发展AC文献的实践转向，特别是在家庭治理环境中。