In line with the Foucauldian governmentality narrative, prior studies of the role of calculative practices in accounting, organization and management studies mainly regard numbers as a subjugating force serving the dominant neoliberal hegemony. Moving beyond this approach, recent research on counter-accounts envisions the possibility to resist numbers by providing alternative accounts of the social reality, whereas research on ‘stat-activism’—the reliance on statistics for political purpose—see the re-appropriation of numbers as key to subvert hegemonic orders. However, little is known about the activities underlying statactivism. In this paper, we conceptualize ‘statactivism work’ and investigates its deployment through a qualitative study. We analyze how activists produce a report that showcases statistics about the welfare loss induced by corporate tax minimization, ultimately triggering a four-year Senate inquiry in Australia. Relying on multiple sources of qualitative data, we analytically induced three facets of statactivism work—seizing the opportunity, producing critical numbers and campaigning. The simultaneous use and complementarity of these practices explain how these activists have exploited the emancipatory potential of existing public numbers and, in so doing, challenged corporate hegemony. As a whole our analysis updates the governmentality narrative, conceptualizes statactivism work, and advances organizational studies of calculative politics.
