Conference Agenda

This paper investigates the transformative impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) on corporate performance evaluation systems. Grounded in the Theory of Organisational Architecture, our research explores how GenAI, acting as an "agentic artefact," reshapes information asymmetry, performance indicators, and standards for human-machine collaboration. Drawing on a qualitative study of 30 organisations and five in-depth case studies, we find that GenAI implementation creates new information asymmetries, not between managers and employees, but between the organisation and the technology itself. Our findings indicate that while GenAI enhances employee productivity, it complicates performance assessment by blurring the lines between human and machine contributions. We argue that legacy evaluation systems are ill-equipped for this new reality, creating a pressing need to develop models that can fairly and accurately distinguish between employee actions and the outputs of their AI counterparts. This research contributes by highlighting the critical challenge of ensuring accountability in human-AI co-decision processes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping many tasks in various industries, and the financial sector is no exception. While AI offers significant benefits and efficiency gains, it also brings challenges and risk that need to be managed. This study uses a case study of a major Swedish bank to examine how the Three Lines Model framework is integrated into organizational AI risk management in alignment with the EU AI Act. Preliminary findings indicate that the Three Lines Model enhances accountability. However, additional governance mechanisms are needed.

We are currently living in a visual world where reliance on the power of visual disclosure is evident even in accounting practices. As a result, there is an increasing awareness of the growing scale of visual saturation that define the modern-day business environment. This increase in visual usage shifted the typical financial oriented annual report into a colourful intriguing document; where images play a distinct role in potentially conveying information to stakeholders. In an extensive review of the studies in visual accounting literature, Davison (2015) stated that the geographical location of the visual research of corporate reports was mainly seen in the USA and UK. Similarly, Al-Nasrallah (2023) stated that research regarding images in corporate reports in the Arab Gulf States is an under-researched domain. This highlights shortcomings in the current literature and the need to expand the geographical range of visual accounting research to widen the understanding of how cultural and regional differences influences the use of visuals in corporate reports while also addresing a new phenomena in the region. This study addresses this limitation by examining the use of images in 304 sustainability and ESG reports of listed companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from 2018 to 2022.

The GCC countries otherwise known as the Arab Gulf States consist of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates; all of which have apparent commonalities such as religion, language, accounting practices and culture (Al-Qudah and Houcine, 2024). However, despite these similarities there are also institutional differences in their historical background, colonial influence, legal systems and economic development (Kamla and Roberts, 2010). These differences could influence how companies within the region convey sustainability values (Horak, Arya and Ismail, 2018) which might be seen in visual usage in response to sustainability pressures, an aspect that is overlooked in current literature. Thus this research study attempts to address the following research questions regarding the role of images in GCC sustainability/ESG reports: What is the extent of the use of images in sustainability/ESG reports of listed GCC companies? What prominent sustainability themes do these images depict? What underlying messages are these sustainability associated images attempting to convey?

The adopted methodological framework recognizes that theory and method are intertwined; offering clear structured replicable procedures that also takes into account the significance of researcher reflexivity and the rhetorical context of a visual (Greenwood, Jack and Haylock, 2019). The study adopts Greenwood, Jack, and Haylock’s (2018) suggested three-phase framework for analysing visuals in corporate reports: categorical analysis, content analysis, and rhetorical analysis. The proposed method involves an analytical framework that was created through a detailed review and cross-reference of the National Visions of each GCC country to encompass the Arab sustainability context; as well as, the creation of a GPT that aids as an AI analysis tool. Through this investigation, this research study aims to achieve a clear understanding of how the “essence” of being sustainable is constructed through the images GCC listed companies chose to display in their sustainability/ESG reports.