Ways of not seeing: visibility, blindness, and the transparency game
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Purpose To advance understanding of transparency by problematising the motivations and strategies of a so far underexplored group: its users. Design/methodology/approach We explore the relationship between blindness, visibility, and transparency by drawing on our analysis of Max Frisch’s experimental novel Gantenbein (1964), in which the protagonist lives a life of feigned blindness. Findings The accounting scholarly debate on transparency has neglected the users of transparency. We address this through a novel theorisation of transparency as a game, highlighting some of its distinctive features and paradoxes. Originality/value By theorising the transparency game we move beyond concerns with what transparency reveals or conceals and conceptualise the motivations and strategies of the players engaged in this game. We show how different players have something to gain from the transparency game and warn of its emancipatory limits.
Authors: Jonathan Tweedie, Matteo Ronzani
Institutions: University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4402528043