| 1. |
- Aleksandrov, Evgenii, et al.
(författare)
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Participatory budgeting as a form of dialogic accounting in Russia : actors' institutional work and reflexivity trap
- 2018
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Ingår i: Accounting, auditing and accountability journal. - 0951-3574. ; 31:4, s. 1098-1123
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how participatory budgeting (PB), as a form of dialogic accounting, is produced in practice. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative case study of PB development for the period 2013-2016 in one Russian municipality. Based on triangulation of in-depth semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, videotape data and netnographic observation, the authors employ ideas of dialogic accounting and institutional work. Findings The study shows that the PB experiment, which began with dialogic rhetoric, in reality, had very limited dialogic effects. However, the authors also observed that the PB dynamics over time made the practice neither inherently monologic nor dialogic. The authors explained such transformations by the way in which the individual reflexivity of actors altered when carrying out institutional work. Curiosity reflexivity was the most essential, triggering different patterns of institutional work to set up the PB experiment. However, further, the authors demonstrated that, over the course of the experiment's development, the institutional work was trapped by various actors' individual reflexivity forms and in this way limited PB's dialogic potential. Originality/value The study shows the importance of understanding and managing individuals' reflexivity, as it shapes the institutional work performed by different actors and, therefore, influences the direction of both the design and materialization of dialogic accounting experiments such as PB. In a broader sense, this also influences the way in which democratic governance is developed, losing democratization potential.
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| 2. |
- Aleksandrov, Evgenii, et al.
(författare)
-
Participatory budgeting as a form of dialogic accounting in Russia : actors' institutional work and reflexivity trap
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.. - 0951-3574. ; 31:4, s. 1098-1123
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how participatory budgeting (PB), as a form of dialogic accounting, is produced in practice. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative case study of PB development for the period 2013-2016 in one Russian municipality. Based on triangulation of in-depth semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, videotape data and netnographic observation, the authors employ ideas of dialogic accounting and institutional work. Findings The study shows that the PB experiment, which began with dialogic rhetoric, in reality, had very limited dialogic effects. However, the authors also observed that the PB dynamics over time made the practice neither inherently monologic nor dialogic. The authors explained such transformations by the way in which the individual reflexivity of actors altered when carrying out institutional work. Curiosity reflexivity was the most essential, triggering different patterns of institutional work to set up the PB experiment. However, further, the authors demonstrated that, over the course of the experiment's development, the institutional work was trapped by various actors' individual reflexivity forms and in this way limited PB's dialogic potential. Originality/value The study shows the importance of understanding and managing individuals' reflexivity, as it shapes the institutional work performed by different actors and, therefore, influences the direction of both the design and materialization of dialogic accounting experiments such as PB. In a broader sense, this also influences the way in which democratic governance is developed, losing democratization potential.
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| 3. |
- Aleksandrov, Evgenii, et al.
(författare)
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Performance budgeting and institutional work as a ‘creative distraction' of accountability relations in a municipality
- 2019
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The paper explores how the implementation of performance budgeting unfolds public managers’ attention and responses to competing accountability demands over time. Design/methodology/approach – This is a longitudinal study of one Russian municipality’s implementation of PB under central government pressures during 2013–2017. Using triangulation of 25interviews, documentary analysis and field observations, we employed institutional logics to guide the study. Findings – The paper demonstrates the dynamic properties of PB construction under competing accountability demands via the “creative distraction” metaphor. PB was a “distraction” mechanism, which, on one hand, strengthened external accountability, while, on the other, distracting the municipality from internal municipal demands. Nevertheless, this “distraction” was also “creative,” as it produced proactive responses to competing accountability demands and creative effects over time. Specifically, PB also led to elements of creative PB negotiations between departments when managers started cooperating with redirecting the irrelevant constraints of performance information in budgeting into necessary manipulations for municipal survival. The demonstrated “creative distraction” is explained by the changing institutional logics of public managers supplemented by a set of individual factors. Originality/value – The paper responds to the recent calls to study PB practice under several accountability demands over time. In this regard, we show the value of public managers’ existing institutional logics as they shape PB’s capacity to balance competing accountability demands. As we revealed, this capacity can be limited, due to possible misalignment between managers’ attention toward “what to give an account for” during budget formation (input orientation driven by OPA logic) and “what is demanded” with the introduction of PB (output orientation driven by NPM logic). Yet, the elements of proactive managerial responses are still evident over time, explained by a set of individual factors within the presented case, namely: learning NPM logic, strengthened informal relationships and a common saturation point reflected by managers.
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| 4. |
- Aleksandrov, Evgenii, et al.
(författare)
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Rankings for smart city dialogue? : Opening up a critical scrutiny
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management. - : Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.. - 1096-3367 .- 1945-1814. ; 34:5, s. 622-643
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: This paper aims to explore whether and how contemporary rankings reflect the dialogic development of smart cities. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the synthesis of smart city (SC), rankings and dialogic accounting literature. It first analyses ranking documents and related methodologies and measures and then reflects on four SC rankings, taking a critical stand on whether they provide space for the polyphonic development of smart cities. Findings: This study argues that rankings do not include divergent perspectives and visions of smart cities, trapping cities in a mirage of multiple voices and bringing about a lack of urban stakeholder engagement. In other words, there is a gap between the democratic demands on smart cities and what rankings provide to governments when it comes to dialogue. As such, rankings in their existing traditional and technocratic form do not serve the dynamic and complex nature of the SC agenda. This, in turn, raises the threat that rankings create a particular notion of smartness across urban development with no possibility of questioning it. Originality/value: The paper responds to recent calls to critically examine the concept of the SC and the role that accounting has played in its development. This study brings new insights regarding the value of dialogic accounting in shaping a contemporary understanding of rankings and their criticalities in the SC agenda.
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| 5. |
- Khodachek, Igor, et al.
(författare)
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Smartocracy : Context entanglement of the smart city idea and bureaucracy in Russia
- 2022
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Ingår i: Organization Studies. - : SAGE Publications Ltd. - 0170-8406 .- 1741-3044. ; , s. 23
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores how the smart city idea unfolds in the bureaucratic context. Applying a qualitative approach and the Scandinavian stream of translation theory, we investigate the case of cities’ ‘smartification’ in Russia during 2017–2020. Tracking mechanisms and outcomes of translation, we see the encounter of the smart city idea and bureaucracy as context entanglement, with smartocracy as an epilogue. Context entanglement refers to the mutual co-translation of the smart city idea and bureaucracy by means of formal and informal mechanisms, implying that what happens with bureaucracy or the smart city cannot be fully described without considering what happens with the other. Smart city vagueness and complexity appear to be both strengths and weaknesses that can be compensated for by bureaucracy as the smart city assemblage point. Smartocracy appears as a new way to organize cities whereby bureaucracy deals with smart city creatively: it keeps the core of bureaucracy while simultaneously reinforcing it andisolating some complex idea elements for later translation. This approach helps keep bureaucracy as a rational form of city modernization while maintaining smart cities’ promise to improve urban futures.
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