Accounting Forum 39 (2015) 34–50 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Accounting Forum jou rn al h om epage : www.elsevier.com/locate/accfor Accounting for rituals and ritualization: The case of shareholders’ associations Chinyere O. Uche a,* , Jill F. Atkins b a University of Bristol Department of Accounting & Finance, 8 Woodland Road, BS8 1TN Bristol, UK b University of Reading Department of Business Informatics, Systems and Accounting, 517 Engine House, Henley Business School, Greenlands Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 3AU, UK a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 19 July 2014 Received in revised form 20 October 2014 Accepted 26 October 2014 Available online 15 November 2014 Keywords: Rituals Nigeria Private investor meetings AGMs Courts Shareholders’ associations a b s t r a c t This paper uses ritual theory to examine the participation of shareholders’ associations in rituals and ritualization within social spaces. We focus on how the interconnectedness between private rituals (private investor meetings) and public rituals (AGMs and courts) produce psychological and functional benefits for shareholders’ associations. We explore the strategic acts used by shareholders’ associations in ritualization. Our study reveals that the participation of shareholders’ associations in each ritual plays a significant role in reduc- ing conflict and maintaining harmony. Regarding ritualization, our study shows that some shareholders’ associations use a form of gamesmanship to gain strategic advantage in audit committee nominations at AGMs. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction This study uses ritual theory to explore shareholders’ association members’ accounts of how rituals and ritualization are used in the pursuit of their agenda within social spaces. In this paper, we describe rituals as “rule-governed activities that draws the attention of its participants to objects of thought and feeling which they hold to be of special significance” (Lukes, 1975, p.291). 1 Rituals are routine actions that are performed in social spaces and can be described as formalized, ordered, stylized, scripted, stage-managed, and involving role play during performance (Goodsell, 1989; McComas, Besley, & Black, 2010; Smith & Stewart, 2011). Studies suggest that rituals offer both psychological and functional benefits to participants and their audience. From a psychological perspective, rituals help create harmony and shared meanings between participants (Lewin & Green, 2009; Rook, 1985). From a functionalist perspective, rituals aid social order, communication and identity creation (Lewin & Green, 2009; Smith & Stewart, 2011). In the accounting field, studies suggest rituals are useful in communicating accounting numbers to an audience. They suggest that rituals foster accountability and discipline and mask conflict in the audit profession (Catasús & Johed, 2007; Gambling, 1977, 1987; Mills & Bettner, 1992; Roberts, Sanderson, Barker, & Hendry, 2006; Pentland, 1993; Power, 2003). A few of these studies draw insights from the direct observation of participant interactions in specific spaces, such as private spaces (e.g., investor meetings) and public spaces * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Chinyere.uche@bristol.ac.uk (C.O. Uche), j.f.atkins@henley.ac.uk (J.F. Atkins). 1 This definition of rituals represents one of several explanations found in ritual studies. The fragmented literature on rituals suggests there is no consensus on the meaning of rituals (Dacin et al., 2010; McComas et al., 2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2014.10.006 0155-9982/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.