Sociomateriality, agential realism, and the metaphysics of accounting information systems: A response to Vosselman and De Loo

Abstract

I respond to Vosselman and De Loo’s (2023) critique of my earlier paper on agential realism, representation theory, and accounting information systems (Weber, 2020). In that paper, I argued that little is learned by using an agential realism lens to study accounting-related phenomena. I claimed that insights revealed using agential realism also could have been revealed through using existing lenses such as actor-network theory and general systems theory. In particular, I defended representation theory as a way of studying accounting information systems and representationalism as a way of studying the world. Contrariwise, Vosselman and De Loo argue that representation theory and representationalism are useful only in some respects when studying accounting-related phenomena. They contend that agential realism and sociomateriality lenses are needed if the entangled nature of phenomena in accounting domains is to be understood. They point to some assumptions that they claim underpin representationalism and representation theory—assumptions that inhibit their usefulness as a way of studying entangled phenomena. In this response, I present counter-arguments to their claims and defend representationalism and representation theory as ways of understanding the world.