Performing Numbers: An Ethnography of Numbers in Everyday Organisational Life

This thesis presents a study of the interplay between what numbers do and what people do with numbers in everyday organisational life. Couched in an ethnographic perspective, the study draws on rich empirical material crafted from participant observations conducted at a Scandinavian hospital. The study focuses on how numbers work in everyday social interactions between doctors, nurses, patients, administrators, and managers. Three different kinds of numbers are analysed within the context of renal care – a clinical measure, a performance target, and a hygiene compliance rate. The theoretical framework draws on Austin’s theory of performativity and Goffman’s idea of dramaturgical performances. The thesis contributes to critical accounting studies and the field of sociology of quantification by extending, developing and, occasionally, challenging dominant notions of the performativity of numbers and numerical reactivity. Recent critical studies of quantification show that numbers are far from neutral, impersonal, and or objective; instead, they function as powerful actants. In much of the previous research, numbers appear to be so powerful, leaving little room for actors to resist their impact. While embracing the potential power of numbers, this thesis challenges the overly deterministic view of numbers by highlighting the agential leeway available to individuals in their everyday work. The thesis develops four types of possible interactions and outcomes between numbers and actors: ignoration, manipulation, metamorphosis, and transformation. In addition, it suggests three dichotomies to understand the reciprocal relationship between people and numbers as ways to engage with the dialectics of numbers in everyday organisational life.