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From Cadbury to Kay: discourse, intertextuality and the evolution of UK corporate governance

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Price
  • Charles Harvey
  • Mairi Maclean
  • David Campbell

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to answer two main research questions. First, the authors ask the degree to which the UK corporate governance code has changed in response to both systemic perturbations and the subsequent enquiries established to recommend solutions to perceived shortcomings. Second, the authors ask how the solutions proposed in these landmark governance texts might be explained. Design/methodology/approach - The authors take a critical discourse approach to develop and apply a discourse model of corporate governance reform. The authors draw together data on popular, corporate-political and technocratic discourses on corporate governance in the UK and analyse these data using content analysis and the historical discourse approach. Findings - The UK corporate governance code has changed little despite periodic crises and the enquiries set up to investigate and make recommendation. Institutional stasis, the authors find, is the product of discourse capture and control by elite corporate actors aided by political allies who inhabit the same elite habitus. Review group members draw intertextually on prior technocratic discourse to create new canonical texts that bear the hallmarks of their predecessors. Light touch regulation by corporate insiders thus remains the UK approach. Originality/value - This is one of the first applications of critical discourse analysis in the accounting literature and the first to have conducted a discursive analysis of corporate governance reports in the UK. The authors present an original model of discourse transitions to explain how systemic challenges are dissipated.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Price & Charles Harvey & Mairi Maclean & David Campbell, 2018. "From Cadbury to Kay: discourse, intertextuality and the evolution of UK corporate governance," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(5), pages 1542-1562, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:aaaj-01-2015-1955
    DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-01-2015-1955
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Harvey, Charles & Maclean, Mairi & Price, Michael, 2020. "Executive remuneration and the limits of disclosure as an instrument of corporate governance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. John Roberts & Paul Sanderson & David Seidl & Antonije Krivokapic, 2020. "The UK Corporate Governance Code Principle of ‘Comply or Explain’: Understanding Code Compliance as ‘Subjection’," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(4), pages 602-626, December.
    3. Harvey, Charles & Yang, Ruomei & Mueller, Frank & Maclean, Mairi, 2020. "Bourdieu, strategy and the field of power," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

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