حسابداری و ارتباطات بازاریابی در تعامل هنرها: یک تحلیل گفتمانی

Roles of accounting and marketing communications in official documents concerned with widening arts engagement in England are examined. Four discourses are identified in a framework as interpretive lenses: metaphysical, modern, postmodern and post-metaphysical. Accounting and marketing communications were associated with all four discourses to some degree. However, accounting was primarily conceptualised by the authors of the documents as a modern discourse, whilst they primarily portrayed marketing communications as a purveyor of postmodern and post-metaphysical discourses. Accounting and marketing communications demonstrated ambiguity and overlapping roles in attempts to legitimise frequently contradictory positions, thus reflecting a Habermasian tension between facts and norms.

In recent years, widening engagement in the arts has become an important concept in government thinking. Within the current climate of austerity involving cutbacks for many arts organisations, this paper highlights the broader value of art and considers specific issues regarding the communication and implementation of arts policy. It focuses on understanding the ways in which accounting and marketing communications are portrayed in policy documents concerned with widening arts engagement (including access and participation) in England. Widening engagement is seen as a force to enhance individual wellbeing and social inclusion. In addition to increasing the academic attainment of children and improving the behaviour of offenders, it is argued to be significant in generating economic wealth and nurturing urban regeneration, thus contributing to employment (Department for Culture, Media and Sport – Access to the arts, 2008). Widening arts engagement is an important research strand because it arguably has the potential to significantly improve the lifeworld (values, culture and subjective experiences) of individuals and society. Moreover, the ways in which accounting and marketing communications are portrayed and conceptualised are potentially crucial in supporting this endeavour. Accounting in arts engagement has been subject to criticism by arts managers (e.g. Tusa, 2000) and academics (e.g. Durrer & Miles, 2009), thus adding to its research significance, and it has been seen as indifferent to quality art unless such quality can be ‘quantified on a balance sheet’ (Tusa, 2000, p. 30). This is of particular interest since previous research has suggested that stakeholders may question the narrowly modernistic, objectifying, economic rationality of accounting (e.g. Gallhofer & Haslam, 1991). The current paper is based on the supposition that accounting and marketing communications can potentially be associated with four discourses: metaphysical, modernism, postmodernism and post-metaphysical, brought together in a theoretical framework to interpret the empirical data. Post-metaphysical discourse is treated as the overarching discourse because of its epistemological and critical strengths discussed in Section 3.4. The paper proceeds with a theoretical discussion, literature review and methods section. The first three discourses are then discussed in chronological order of significance for Western thought from metaphysical and modernism to postmodernism. This takes the form of a discussion of key themes within each discourse followed by a discussion of supporting evidence from the documents. Post-metaphysical themes are then discussed followed by evidence. The discussion and conclusions consider potentially transformational implications of post-metaphysical discourse for widening engagement policy, accounting and marketing communications.

The current paper has identified the presence of four significant discourses in widening engagement documents and has noted a strong link between post-metaphysical discourse and widening engagement policy. It has been suggested that the roles of accounting and marketing communications have been shaped by accountability to diverse groups. We have indicated that post-metaphysical discourse has particular strengths over the other three discourses, justifying its adoption as an overarching lens in the analysis. The documents reflected a wider debate concerning the nature of quality art and the type of art that merits public funding. A post-metaphysical approach suggests that when considering what types of art should be funded, this would be determined through deliberative democracy supported by public access to relevant information. Improvements would include developing public awareness and knowledge of the arts through education and the media, in addition to providing forums for democratic on-going public discussions in identifying quality in art, leading to consensus or compromise. Combining democratic processes with improved access to information through education would satisfy Habermas’ universal discourse principle for developing norms, and would avoid Tusa's (1999) concerns regarding postmodern relativism in art where any form of art is sanctioned. A more equitable and emancipatory approach to arts policy would thus be possible if stakeholders were well informed, genuinely involved in defining quality art, and fully participating in discussions and decisions regarding resource allocation. One potentially positive role that accounting could play in identifying quality arts would be to foster more democratic processes in arts budgeting and accounting decision-making. Some research has suggested that accounting could be conceived in more creative and less modernistic ways in order to encourage more emancipatory forms of accounting (e.g. Gallhofer and Haslam, 1991, Gallhofer and Haslam, 1996, Lehman, 2006 and Lehman, 2007) with the potential to facilitate post-metaphysical Habermasian ideals. We suggest that arts policy makers should look beyond the traditional roles of accounting and develop links with other discourses less associated with modernistic economics, albeit with an awareness of accounting's potential for being implicated in unintended consequences. A more genuinely post-metaphysical accounting would include a new type of legitimacy that acknowledges the frailty of the knowledge claims of accounting, emphasises values of self-reflection, promotes democratic processes, encourages enhancement of the lifeworld of individuals and groups, and considers others before ourselves (Macintosh, Shearer, & Riccaboni, 2009). This would need to be supported by education, critical information (Lehman, 2002) and appropriate forms of marketing communications to promote debate and critical reflection. Such approaches would help to counter any reductive assessment of the broader value of the arts to conventional cost-benefit analysis, risk calculus or the dictates of the market. In pursuit of a post-metaphysical Habermasian ideal, future research examining possible integration of marketing and accounting techniques could consider those elements of marketing communications that should be included, adapted, or excluded. Whilst McMaster (2008, p. 18) discussed the benefits of social-networking and viral marketing in encouraging online interaction between arts audience members, future arts engagement research could consider how communication technologies may provide the opportunity to enhance Habermasian deliberative democracy (McPhail, 2009) by involving stakeholders in defining quality art and identifying the types of art projects that should be funded. Such research could also consider how communication technologies may be used to foster discussion of alternatives to modernistic conceptions of accounting in the arts field.