Purpose

During choir rehearsals, a conductor continuously holds choir members accountable for what they do and how they sing. Hence, members are held accountable through action. This allows a conductor to emphasize his/her expertise and underline his/her authority. Choir members typically respond in certain ways when this is done, for instance by commenting on the feedback they receive or by trying to improve their singing. The interplay between these accounts, how they develop over time, and what they (do not) accomplish in terms of human relatedness are the focus of this study. We use Bauman's (1993) conceptualization of social space to investigate these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

By providing reasons for their conduct and behaving in a certain way, a conductor and choir members, but also a choir's management, can alter their position in social space. Thereby, they solidify or change how they relate to other individuals in the choir. Bauman assumes that processes of social spacing require so-called “misunderstandings”. We examine seven misunderstandings that occurred in a particular rehearsal of a top-level amateur choir, analyzing their impact on human relatedness. Video analysis methods, interviews and photo-elicitation are the main research methods used.

Findings

We find both short-term and long-term effects of misunderstandings on human relatedness, and offer two extensions of Bauman's (1993) conception of social space. Firstly, we assert that there is a reflective side to processes of social spacing that needs to be taken into account when changes in human relatedness are discussed. Secondly, we find that the emotional impact of accountability on how individuals behave ought not to be underestimated, as this can have lasting effects on how people relate to one another.

Originality/value

This research makes two contributions to the extant literature. It is shown how accountability through action unfolds when people engage in leisurely activity, and how this affects the way they relate to one another – in sometimes unintentional and unpredictable ways. It also extends a well-known theoretical framework on social space that has seen little application in the accounting literature. This framework is adapted so that it may be used more fruitfully in future accounting studies.

中文翻译：

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“多么美妙的世界！”：通过在顶级业余合唱团中的行动体现人与人之间的关系、社会空间和责任感

目的

在合唱团排练期间，指挥不断要求合唱团成员对他们所做的事情和唱歌的方式负责。因此，成员通过行动被追究责任。这使得指挥可以强调他/她的专业知识并强调他/她的权威。完成后，合唱团成员通常会以某种方式做出回应，例如评论他们收到的反馈或尝试改进他们的歌唱。这些帐户之间的相互作用、它们如何随着时间的推移而发展，以及它们（没有）在人类相关性方面完成了什么，是本研究的重点。我们使用 Bauman (1993) 的社会空间概念来研究这些问题。

设计/方法/方法

通过为他们的行为和行为提供理由，指挥和合唱团成员以及合唱团的管理层可以改变他们在社会空间中的位置。因此，他们巩固或改变了他们与合唱团中其他人的关系。鲍曼假设社会间隔的过程需要所谓的“误解”。我们研究了在顶级业余合唱团排练中发生的七种误解，分析了它们对人类相关性的影响。视频分析方法、访谈和照片引出是使用的主要研究方法。

发现

我们发现误解对人类相关性的短期和长期影响，并提供了 Bauman (1993) 社会空间概念的两个扩展。首先，我们断言，在讨论人类相关性的变化时，需要考虑社会间隔过程的反思方面。其次，我们发现不应低估问责制对个人行为方式的情感影响，因为这会对人们之间的关系产生持久影响。

原创性/价值

这项研究对现有文献有两个贡献。它展示了当人们从事悠闲活动时如何通过行动展现责任感，以及这如何影响他们彼此之间的关系——有时是无意和不可预测的方式。它还扩展了一个众所周知的社会空间理论框架，该框架在会计文献中几乎没有应用。该框架经过调整，可以在未来的会计研究中更有效地使用。