| 1. |
- Ahlgren, Per Christian, et al.
(författare)
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The Nordic research on accounting in inter-organizational relationships - the foundations of a microprocessual research approach to classical issues
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - 1839-5473 .- 1832-5912. ; 19:1, s. 115-141
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the Nordic research on accounting in inter-organizational relationships (IORs) and relates the Nordic contributions to the international literature. Additionally, it examines alternative approaches to the understanding of accounting in IORs and proposes some directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach Thirty-one papers were identified and assessed in terms of their topic, inter-organizational setting, theoretical approach, research methods and results. This study followed a six-step process from formulating objectives, through establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria, to paper selection and mutual assessments. Findings The Nordic literature presents a distinct approach to the understanding of accounting in IORs. The Nordic studies are characterized by theoretical pluralism, in-depth case studies and an interest towards micro-processes in a variety of inter-organizational settings and from the point of view of multiple parties. Originality/value The authors propose two specific areas of research: the interconnections between accounting measures, monetary flows and value creation as well as the role of accounting in creating stability and instability in IORs. These areas of research emphasize a stronger engagement with the core issues of managing appropriation and cooperation concerns and provide an outlook for novel insights into classical issues and increased integration within the field.
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| 2. |
- Argento, Daniela, et al.
(författare)
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Reforming the Dutch water chain : how radical ambitions turned into a moderate pace of change
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Accouting & Organizational Change. - 1832-5912 .- 1839-5473. ; 5:3, s. 321-343
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain how and why the initially ambitious reform of the Dutch water sector turned into a moderate pace of change. The explanations are based on institutional theory.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a case study at the organizational field level of the Dutch water sector.Findings – In order to enhance efficiency and transparency, Dutch Central Government initially attempted to enforce top-down radical changes, including the formation of integrated water chain companies. However, after discussions and reactions of the interested parties, the central government authorised a bottom-up approach, giving discretional powers to the individual water organizations. This transition to a bottom-up approach can mainly be explained by the limited pressure exerted by the central government to change and the powerful position of the relevant organizations within the water sector, as well as their ability to establish strong coalitions to avoid mandatory radical changes.Research limitations/implications – The theoretical background is useful in analysing thechange processes in other public sectors.Practical implications – The Dutch way of consensus seeking might be threatened by its own inertia, and in the case of ineffectiveness, it could be replaced by a more top-down and radical reformpackage.Originality/value – Unravelling public sector reform into goals, means and approaches is useful, because although goals can remain the same during the change process, the means and approachesmay be altered. Resistance to radical changes might stimulate convergent change options, such as reinforcement of the existing means of reform and may also decrease the embededdness and impermeability of the institutional fields.
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| 3. |
- Carlström, Eric D., 1957-
(författare)
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Strategies for change : Adaptation to new accounting conditions
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1832-5912 .- 1839-5473. ; 8:1, s. 41-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify middle managers' strategies during changed accounting conditions. Design/methodology/approach - Middle managers from hospitals, primary care and community care were interviewed about their strategies during change processes. Each middle manager selected changes that had played the greatest part in a ten-year period. Findings - Each change was dominated by one strategy that corresponded to the tactics of middle managers during change. They ITquestioned/IT new control models, they ITexperimented/IT with smart budget strategies and they ITimplemented/IT new IT technology. These strategies formed transitions in a continuous circular change model based on Hinings and Malholtra. The study points to two key findings. First, strategies that can be perceived as irrational are organised within a context of plausible explanations; and second, middle managers in public organisations are likely to adopt innovations supported by management policy voluntarily and to question or even reject those prohibited. Research limitations/implications - Criticism may be directed towards the fact that the theoretical model presented in the analysis has an element of determinism. In the model, the managers' control strategies are given limited influence. The theoretical model's strength is that it measures the development in slow-to-change public organisations with long histories and deeply rooted practices. Practical implications - The results can be used to understand the motives of the middle managers' strategies for change. It provides support to management that hesitates between defending a well-established but criticised organisational model, and implementing new and untested approaches. Originality/value - Theoretical change models frequently originate from a management perspective or differentiate between "top-down" and "bottom up" change. In this paper, change is regarded as a generalised process where different phenomena are connected. This forms a circular model that moves between stable phases without change and transformative phases of major change. © 2012 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Elliot, Viktor
(författare)
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Institutional entrepreneurship and change A contemporary history of the Swedish banking industry and its performance management systems
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - : Emerald. - 1832-5912. ; 12:2, s. 223-251
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Using Arroyo's (2012) institutional entrepreneurship (IE) framework, the purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of how top managers interpret change in the macro-political and economic environment and integrate it into their performance management systems (PMSs). Design/methodology/approach - The paper combines multiple data sources to study PMS change in the big four Swedish banks over the deregulations' first quarter of a century. Findings - The findings support previous research by identifying IE as a collective phenomenon. Moreover, it points to the importance of distinguishing between different types of field-level events, when investigating change initiated by such events. Finally, the findings also indicate that change at different levels of analysis have separate timings, advising future research on change to pay closer attention to the aspect of time. Social implications - The paper tests Arroyo's (2012) multi-level framework in an accounting setting and specifically focuses on top managers' interpretation and integration of field-level events. It does so in the specific context of banks and thereby contributes to our understanding of how different field-level events affect banks' PMS. In the post-financial crisis era, organizational and accounting scholars should engage time and effort to better understand this complex industry, not least to advice policymakers and regulators in the ongoing re-regulation of the financial markets. Originality/value - Inspired by organizational studies of IE, this paper uses a longer time-frame and includes more organizations, than conventional management accounting case studies. By studying a field, rather than a single organization, the paper opens up to a "wider perspective" on PMS change.
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| 5. |
- Funck, Elin K.
(författare)
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The balanced scorecard equates interests in healthcare organizations
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change. - : Emerald, Bradford. - 1832-5912. ; 3:2, s. 88-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract:Purpose – This paper investigates how the balanced scorecard (BSC) has been translated to fit the public healthcare environment. The paper discusses how the context, consisting of politicians, administrators, and medical professionals has influenced the design and function of the BSC.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study approach involving semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants on the political, administrative, and medical professional levels of a Swedish county council.Findings – The study indicates that different interests are made visible within the perspectives of the BSC without giving priority to one interest over another. Thus, the BSC plays an important role in the formation of an equal relationship between organizational interests.Originality/value – This paper contributes to the accounting change literature by identifying a function of the BSC that has not been observed previously within the public healthcare context.
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| 6. |
- Funck, Elin, et al.
(författare)
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The persuasion of performative technologies : constructing calculating selves in universities
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Accouting & Organizational Change. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1832-5912 .- 1839-5473.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the process by which performative technologies (PTs), in this case accreditation work in a business school, take form and how humans engage in making up such practices. It studies how academics come to accept and even identify with the quantitative representations of themselves in a translation process.Design/methodology/approachThe research involved a longitudinal, self-ethnographic case study that followed the accreditation process of one Nordic business school from 2015 to 2021.FindingsThe findings show how the PT pushed for different engagements in various phases of the translation process. Early in the translation process, the PT promoted engagement because of self-realization and the ability for academics to proactively influence the prospective competitive milieu. However, as academic qualities became fabricated into numbers, the PT was able to request compliance, but also to induce self-reflection and self-discipline by forcing academics to compare themselves to set qualities and measures.Originality/valueThe paper advances the field by linking five phases of the translation process, problematization, fabrication, materialization, commensuration and stabilization, to a discussion of why academics come to accept and identify with the quantitative representations of themselves. The results highlight that the materialization phase appears to be the critical point at which calculative practices become persuasive and start influencing academics' thoughts and actions.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Haraldsson, Mattias, et al.
(författare)
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Compromise and avoidance : The response to new legislation
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1832-5912. ; 10:3, s. 288-313
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe, analyze and explain the level of compliance of accounting practices with legislation and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) within the Swedish water and sewerage sector. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical data are based on a document study of the annual full cost accounting reports for the financial year 2010. Weobtained complete data from 250of Sweden's 290 municipalities. The data are analyzed by statistical methods. The explanations are based on an institutional theory. Findings: Most of the organizations surveyed in this study had taken measures in line with the new regulations, but none of them had adapted fully to the new requirements. Thus, we suggest that the industry has responded to the new regulation by compromise and avoidance. The statistical analyses show that compliance with legislation and GAAP is associated with legal form, minority governance, fee, tax base, population growth and audit firm. Research limitations/implications: This paper provides insight into the factors that explain compliance with accounting regulation. Future research would benefit from researching the decision process when organizations choose to comply or not to comply with specific accounting regulations in the public sector. Originality/value: Few prior studies focus on the actual compliance of accounting practices at the municipal level in relation to accounting regulation and the factors that explain the level of compliance. Knowledge of the factors that explain compliance to accounting regulation will benefit from future policy decisions on regulation and auditing of public sector accounting.
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| 9. |
- Haraldsson, Mattias
(författare)
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Transparency and accountability lost? : Full cost accounting reporting in the Swedish municipal solid waste business
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - 1832-5912. ; 12:3, s. 254-280
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explore the causes of variations in financial accounting and disclosure practices in a municipal setting highly influenced by governance reforms - the Swedish municipal waste management sector. This focus is motivated by the claim that recent governance reforms have made the organization of public services delivery more diversified and fragmented, which may have had a negative effect on transparency and accountability. Design/methodology/approach: To document the accounting and disclosure practices of the Swedish solid waste management organizations, a questionnaire approach was selected. The study uses a conceptual theoretical framework that complements the basic variables considered to influence public sector financial accounting and disclosure practices with factors such as competition and municipal governance forms. Findings: The results show that compliance accounting and disclosure transparency to some extent have different antecedents and that the external environment, including market competition, size and economic input, influences both. The governance forms, on the other hand, only influenced compliance accounting (negatively and positively) and not the willingness to disclose information in general. The overall conclusion is that changes to the economic and institutional context mixed with different municipal governance forms introduces a multiplicity of forces that makes the accounting practices themselves diversified and fragmented and not necessarily only in a "negative" direction. Practical implications: From a policy perspective the results indicate that the changing institutional and organizational environment has not been matched by attention to, and regulation of, reporting structures that secure external vertical accountability processes. The general implication for future regulations should therefore be to recognize the influence of different economic and institutional forces and develop accountability models that enable and preserve the benefits of governance reform initiatives without losing accountability and transparency. Originality/value: Few prior quantitative studies have theoretically related municipal accounting and disclosure practices to factors such as market competition and popular municipal governance forms (municipal corporation, regional cooperation, outsourcing, etc.). Knowledge of how reforms might influence municipal accounting practices might benefit future policy decisions on accountability models with aim of enable and preserve the benefits of governance reform initiatives without losing accountability and transparency.
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| 10. |
- Hellström, Caroline
(författare)
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Service innovation or collaborative tradition? : Public motives for partnerships with third sector organisations
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change. - 1832-5912. ; 17:1, s. 71-90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate public partners’ motives for seeking and/or accepting partnerships with third sector organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is to seek to identify and explain motives from different perspectives; as responses to government failure or voluntary failure, as related to governance structures, and/or as driven by resource dependencies. The empirical material was gathered through semi-structured interviews with public employees in Swedish municipalities. The aim of the interviews was to grasp the public partners’ motives for partnerships with third sector organisations. Each interview started with questions on the presence and forms of partnerships, thus creating a backdrop for the motives, both during the interview and as a map of the partnership landscape.FindingsThe most prominent motives for public engagement in partnerships with third sector organisations are related to democratic values, the need to solve concrete problems, and economic rationality. The motives vary with the type of partnership of which there is considerable variation in scale, content and contribution; the types of partnership vary with different policy fields and services. Different perspectives highlight different motives but none of them excludes other perspectives.Originality/valueThe main contribution of the paper is the empirically based findings of a multi-layered public–third sector partnership landscape where policy fields, forms and complex motives are intertwined.
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