Intangible Performance in a Theater : Directing the Audience of Reports

• In an organization where performance is perceived to be difficult to measure, the paper studies how the performance information producer relates to the measurement dilemma in reporting by numbers to information users at different levels of distance. The paper is a case study of measurement practices, from the perspective of the information producer, focusing on the top management level in a publicly funded theater. The qualitative research design incorporated interviews, participant observations and document analysis. The analysis draws mainly from literature in measurement and intangibles. In the study, an anxious use of numbers in reporting to distant information users illustrates how the confidence in reporting numbers regarding intangibles is related to the (dis)trust in external users’ second-order measurement practices, and the (lack of) control of users’ framing of measurement. The case reveals efforts made for controlling external users’ framing of reported numbers, implicating how accountability relations and long-distance control by numbers may work bi-directional.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Distance

Use of Information

Measurement

Arts and Culture Organizations

Business studies

Företagsekonomi

företagsekonomi

Business Administration

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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