Professor of Accounting

Biography

Crawford has been at Warwick since July, 2013, having previously held positions at the United Arab Emirates University, UAE (2011-2013), Concordia University, Canada (2008-2011) and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2005-2008).

Research interests

Crawford's research situates accounting and accountants in a sociological context. Previous projects have included the way in which ideology pervades corporate attempts to account for their social responsibilities and environmental impact, the role of calculative practices in the formation of Great Britain in 1707, the role of accounting in US corporate governance from a historical perspective and organisational attempts to capture and valorize the immaterial labour of employees. Crawford is currently spearheading a major international project with Chris Carter (Edinburgh University) which looks at the career trajectories, class backgrounds and cultural capital of accountants in Big 4 professional service firms.

Selected publications

• Imam, S. and Spence, C. (2016) "Context not predictions : a field study of financial analysts" , Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal , 29 , 226-247
• Spence, C., Carter, C., Husillos, J. and Archel, P. (2016) "Taste matters : cultural capital and elites in proximate strategic action fields" , Human Relations
• Spence, C., Carter, C., Belal, A. R., Husillos, J., Dambrin, C. and Archel, P. (2015) "Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field" , Work, Employment & Society
• Spence, C., Dambrin, C., Carter, C., Husillos, J. and Archel, P. (2015) "Global ends, local means : cross-national homogeneity in professional service firms" , Human Relations , 68 , 765-788
• Arikan, O., Reinecke, J., Spence, C. and Morrell, K. (2015) "Signposts or weathervanes? The curious case of corporate social responsibility and conflict minerals" , Journal of Business Ethics
• Belal, A., Spence, C., Carter, C. and Zhu, J. (2015) "The big 4 in Bangladesh : caught between the global and the local" , Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
• Carter, C., Spence, C. and Muzio, D. (2015) "Scoping an agenda for future research into the professions" , Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal , 28 , 1198-1216
• Spence, C. and Carter, C. (2014) "An exploration of the professional habitus in the Big 4 accounting firms" , Work, Employment And Society , Volume 28 , 946-962
• Carter, C. and Spence, C. (2014) "Being a successful professional : an exploration of who makes partner in the Big 4" , Contemporary Accounting Research , Volume 31 , 949-981
• Spence, C., Chabrak, N. and Pucci, R. (2013) "Doxic sunglasses : a response to “green accounting and green eyeshades : twenty years later”" , Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Volume 24 , 469-473
• Spence, C. and Brivot, M. (2011) "‘No French, no more’ : language-based exclusion in North America's first professional accounting association, 1879–1927" , Accounting History Review , Volume 21 , 163-184
• Archel, P., Husillos, J. and Spence, C. (2011) "The institutionalisation of unaccountability : loading the dice of corporate social responsibility discourse" , Accounting, Organizations and Society , Volume 36 , 327-343
• Carter, D. and Spence, C. (2011) "The dictatorship of love : a response to “A spiritual reflection on emancipation and accounting” by Pala Molisa" , Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Volume 22 , 485-491
• Spence, C. and Carter, D. (2011) "Accounting for the general intellect : immaterial labour and the social factory" , Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Volume 22 , 304-315
• Spence, C., Husillos, J. and Correa-Ruiz, C. (2010) "Cargo cult science and the death of politics : a critical review of social and environmental accounting research" , Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Volume 21 , 76-89
• Crawford Spence (2010) "Accounting for the dissolution of a nation state : Scotland and the Treaty of Union" , Accounting, Organizations and Society , Volume 35 , 377-392
• Spence, C. and Thomson, I. (2009) "Resonance tropes in corporate philanthropy discourse" , Business Ethics: A European Review , Volume 18 , 372-388
• Gray, R., Dillard, J. and Spence, C. (2009) "Social accounting research as if the world matters" , Public Management Review , Volume 11 , 545-573
• Crawford Spence (2009) "Social accounting's emancipatory potential : a Gramscian critique" , Critical Perspectives on Accounting , Volume 20 , 205-227
• Archel, P., Husillos, J., Larrinaga, C. and Spence, C. (2009) "Social disclosure, legitimacy theory and the role of the state" , Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal , 22 , 1284-1307