The entangled relationships between accounting information systems innovations and corporate governance dynamics: a performative perspective

Abstract This paper contributes to a stream of research that has emphasised the importance of understanding the interplay between management accounting practices and corporate governance dynamics, investigating how accounting information systems (AIS), acting as calculative practices, influence corporate governance dynamics. Drawing on a longitudinal case, we explore how AIS innovations become constitutive of new organisational realities, driving ongoing processes of change and discovering new opportunities. A case study investigates a company that operates in civil and infrastructural engineering in Italy, which is strongly committed to flexible decision-making and rapid responses to stakeholders’ needs. Our findings highlight the dynamic nature of AIS innovations, which serve as non-human actors that mediate intra and inter-organisational corporate governance dynamics. In particular, through their relational agencies, AIS innovations shape and transform the governance landscape, mobilising organisational actors and generating unforeseen consequences. The performative perspective and sociomateriality literature underpin our analysis, emphasising the collaborative decision-making inspired by AIS reports and the creation of new spaces for accommodating different interests through data visualisation. This paper underscores the importance of viewing AIS as an open system that evolves over time, redefining internal and external constituents and inspiring further innovations. By placing AIS at the centre of a diffuse network of human and non-human actors, we highlight the transformative potential of AIS in driving corporate governance dynamics towards new and unexpected outcomes. Our research contributes to the existing literature on management accounting practices, corporate governance dynamics, and AIS innovations, offering new insights on their interdependencies and implications for organisational change.