The accountant-influencer: ‘a day in the life’ of the young professional accountant on YouTube

Abstract

This paper examines YouTube videos (or vlogs) featuring a ‘day in the life’ of the young professional accountant. A netnography of 35 videos and 3085 related comments is conducted. The impressions created in these videos are interpreted by drawing on a dramaturgical theoretical framework. The findings indicate a new phenomenon whereby some Generation Z accountants deploy social media platforms to actively construct and manage their self-image. We witness them using their professional credentials as accountants to perform the role of a social media influencer, providing their audience with an entertaining lifestyle video that often features product endorsement. The main contribution of this paper, therefore, is to suggest the emergence of the Accountant-Influencer, a young accountant who uses their professional status to provide them with a voice within the sphere of social media. A second contribution of the paper is that it reflects on the implications of this emergent image for the accounting profession. Finally, the paper makes a third contribution by extending recent scholarship which applies Goffman’s (1959, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. London: Penguin) dramaturgical model to the contemporary setting of online social interactions by suggesting that both authenticity and the type of audience (of which there may be many in the case of a diffused online audience) are two key and interrelated factors in delivering a successful performance in the online context.