HOW DO ACCOUNTING STUDENTS PERCEIVE EMPLOYER-EMPLOEE RELATION? QUALITATIVE RESEARCH WITH USAGE OF ZOOMORPHIC METAPHOR

Abstract

Employer-employee relation is a subject of many groups, including students who are about to make their career choice and enter the labor market. The goal of paper is to identify and explore the accounting students perception of employee and employer roles and the relation between them. The following research questions are addressed: 1) How do accounting students perceive the role of employer? 2) How do accounting students perceive the role of employee? 3) How do accounting students perceive the relation between employer and employee? The considerations presented in the paper are made in interpretative-symbolic management paradigm. The inductive approach is taken. Qualitative research is applied. The Forced Metaphor-Elicitation Technique is used. The results are based on metaphors and narration analysis. The research shows that although three aspects of description: attributional, behavioral and relational can be distinguished, all of them constitute the meaning given by the students to the employer-employee relation. The employer is characterized mostly by his features, mainly dignity, force and self-assurance. Employee is described predominantly by his contribution to his work and his attitude towards employer, esp. respect and fear and, sometimes, also attempts of tricking him. The relation between employer and employee is perceived then mostly in the power-subordinance context. It is seen as unsymmetrical, esp. in the sphere of mutual influence. The impact of employer on employees is perceived to be strong in many dimensions. The influence of one single employee on employer and his business is reckoned to be rather insignificant.

Keywords

• employer role
• employee role
• employer-employee relation
• accounting students
• perception
• zoomorphic metaphor
• projection techniques
• forced-metaphor elicitation technique