| 1. |
- Gullberg, Cecilia
(författare)
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Roles of Accounting Information in Managerial Work
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Managerial work has been described as fragmented, action-oriented, and highly interpersonal, leaving limited room for formal planning and analysis. Even so, managers are expected to engage with accounting information for planning and analysing their area of responsibility. Accounting information has, however, been found to be tardy, aggregated, and incomplete, leading managers to rely on a wide set of additional informational resources. Still, managers’ doings and concerns tend to remain largely in the background in much management accounting research, which leaves us with limited knowledge of how accounting information comes into play in managers’ work. Moreover, technologies aimed at accommodating managers’ information needs are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and allow for timelier and more precise accounting information. This gradual transformation of technologies has led to questions concerning how management accounting is practised, and how it is related to accounting information systems. The aim of this dissertation is to identify roles of accounting information in managerial work in order to better understand the link between managerial work and management accounting systems. The dissertation consists of two volumes, each with three papers and a summary appraisal. The empirical material consists of interviews with a cross-sectional sample of mainly first-line managers, and a study of a construction firm including interviews with higher- and lower-level managers, observations of workshops where higher-level managers and staff discuss the management accounting systems, and internal documents. Overall, this dissertation suggests four roles of accounting information, based on its capacity to serve as representation, translation, key and perspective. Essentially, these roles reflect the ability of accounting information to both aggregate and disaggregate “reality”. The potential of each of these roles is shaped by managerial, organisational and technological issues, and is not always easily realised. The potential of these roles is particularly challenged in an environment with many local contexts. By accentuating what makes accounting information more and less valuable vis-à-vis other informational resources, this dissertation adds clarity to the emerging body of literature on managers’ situated use of accounting information, and to the debate on information technologies and management accounting.
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| 2. |
- Iveroth, Einar, 1976-
(författare)
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Leading IT-Enabled Change Inside Ericsson : A Transformation Into a Global Network of Shared Service Centres
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to explore—from a managerial perspective—how IT-enabled change is designed, led, and sustained from-within an organisation. This is an issue of central concern because there is a considerable lack of research that directly incorporates IT in management and organisational change studies. In addition, earlier research has recurrently focused on abstract theorising, aggregated perspectives, and exploring organisational change from the outside, from-without. Consequently, the present body of research provides limited knowledge of how organisations in practice lead large-scale IT-enabled transformations. The thesis herein sets out to explore this question, and does so by following the change designers and agents of the telecommunications company Ericsson, that transformed its finance and accounting unit from a highly decentralised structure into a shared service centre structure (SSC) entitled: “The Global F&A Transformation Programme”. The formal transformation lasted three years, was enabled by an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and was driven in the majority of Ericsson’s sub-units situated in more than 140 countries. Theoretically, this thesis addresses the research question: how do actors and structures influence large-scale IT-enabled change? The principal finding of the thesis is a four-stage analytical framework built on the concepts of common ground, common meaning, common interest, and common behaviour: The Commonality Framework for IT-enabled Change. The value of the framework is that it depicts the interplay between actors and structures on a micro-level. In doing so, the framework explains the different levels of complexity in a transformation and how they require different structures to be used, different activities to be performed, different skills to be applied, and different roles to be played. The framework can be used by both academics and practitioners to develop, assess, and improve IT-enabled change projects. In a broader perspective, the findings further suggest that change comes about as an upward spiral, within which the moving targets of IT and organisation are intimately interconnected. This reciprocal interconnectedness between IT and organisation across time implies that if changes are done to technological properties, this necessitates changes to the organisational properties, and vice versa. Organisations at the hands-on-level more or less have to change to make use of the IT-enabled advantages. Thus, successful IT-enabled change is more than the technology artefact per se, and requires thoughtful attentiveness not only to the technological and material side, but also to the organisational, social and human side of change. The theoretical contribution of this thesis is the in-depth exposition of different aspects and interplays between the properties of actors and structures from-within the organisation. The empirical contribution is the description of how contemporary multinational organisations initiate, lead, and sustain large-scale IT-enabled change.
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| 3. |
- Lippert, Marcus, 1974-
(författare)
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Communities in the Digital Age : Towards a Theoretical Model of Communities of Practice and Information Technology
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The global change towards a knowledge economy forces organizations to seek new and better ways to manage knowledge work and learning. Organizations have recognized that dfferent information technologies can play an important role in their quest to make the desired changes take place. Along with this increasing interest in information technologies we have also noticed a growing interest in a specific type of community, referred to as communities of practice (CoP). A considerable body of research that studies communities of practice in relation to IT continues to grow. Despite this we are far from a theoretical model of the relation between communities of practice and IT that may guide future research and understanding in a fruitful way.The basis for this thesis are the lack of a theoretical model to describe a dialectical relation between communities of practice and information technologies and how these relations come into being. The purpose of this thesis and research study is to contribute to existing theories of communities of practice by developing a theoretical model of a dialectical relation between information technology and communities of practice. In line with this, the study addresses the following research question How do a community of practice and information technology constitute and shape each other? Furthermore, the research study adheres to an interpretative philosophy, a qualitative research design, and longitudinal research case study conducted at Siemens Sweden.This research study was divided in two parts. Part One presented the theoretical chapters and a theoretical working model, referred to as the CoPIT model (Community of Practice model of Information Technology). In Part Two the initial CoPIT model was confronted with empirical data and used to analyze and illustrate the relation between CoP and IT. The main conclusion drawn from the research study is that the CoPIT model makes sense and is relevant, and also that the general principles upon which it is founded hold true. Furthermore, from the empirical confrontation of the CoPIT model we can draw the conclusion that relations exist both between IT in general and the CoP component’s specific constructs and between CoP in general and the IT component’s specific constructs. These key findings validate the point of departure of this study that there is a dialectical relation between CoP and IT, and that they mutually constitute each other over time.
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| 4. |
- Abrahamson, Martin, 1977-
(författare)
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Shareholders and Cherry-Picking IPOs : Studies on Shareholders, Initial Public Offerings and Firm Ownership Structure
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation explores investor characteristics and shareholdings of publicly traded Swedish firms. The dissertation consists of an introductory chapter, three published papers, and one working paper. All four papers use Swedish data. Two of the studies examine initial public offerings (IPOs) and the ownership structure; one explores first-time shareholders, and one examines IPOs and first-time shareholders.Paper I studies IPOs with the focus on initial return, the allocation of the shares and inside holdings. The paper presents evidence on allocation of shares to institutional and individual investors. The paper highlights the information asymmetry between institutional and individual investors and shows a wealth transfer from old to new shareholders. The results also show that money left on the table is received primarily by institutions rather than individual investors.Paper II explores the characteristics of first-time shareholders (rookies). I portray the rookies of the stock market and present a model to explain portfolio characteristics. The results show that despite the trend of individuals leaving the stock market, there are new individuals investing in stocks. I also show that gender balance among individual shareholders is rather even, which contradicts approximations of previous studies in other countries. The paper also raises the concern of diversifying stock portfolios, as the average portfolio holds less than four shares for all individuals and less than two for rookies. Paper III studies the relationship between IPOs and rookies. The paper highlights whether rookies invest in IPOs. The results show that besides bringing new firms to the stock market, IPOs contribute to that market, as they attract rookies to invest in the IPOs. The results also show that the return for rookies investing in IPOs is lower compared with rookies investing in non-IPOs.Paper IV studies the relationship between offer price and post-IPO ownership structure. The paper uses price groups and two definitions of breadth of ownership in the analyses. The results show that firms can affect their post-IPO ownership structure through the offer price.
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| 5. |
- Backman, Jenny, 1980-
(författare)
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An Eye for Accounting : Studies investigating judgmental effects of visual cues in accounting communication
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation investigates judgmental effects of visual cues in accounting communication. The dissertation comprises a comprehensive summary and four empirical studies. My overall objective is to highlight the relevance of the visual to both accounting theory and practice by empirically demonstrating that, in corporate reports, visual elements juxtaposed with accounting information can significantly influence report readers’ evaluative judgments regarding corporate performance. My research aims to bring theoretical work on framing and the power of the visual into the accounting domain, focusing predominantly on the emotive power of visual imagery and color. Using experiments and complementary methods such as interviews and eye-tracking, the empirical studies demonstrate that these supplementary visual elements, despite not conveying any additional facts, can indeed influence report readers’ evaluative judgments regarding various aspects of communicated corporate performance. In line with psychology-based theoretical propositions that frames can promote different interpretations, the combined results suggest that the presentation format of accounting information does matter for evaluative judgments of corporate performance, and that information-redundant but affect-laden visual cues in accounting discourse can systematically affect stakeholder understanding. A central line of argument in this dissertation is that in an increasingly visual society, it is essential to gain a more nuanced understanding of the psychological effects of visual graphics in accounting discourse if we are to advance our understanding of accounting-related judgment and decision making. The potential judgmental effects of visuals in accounting communication has so far received little attention in accounting research or from regulators, and the display of visuals is currently not considered by general guidelines regarding corporate reporting. My overall motivation for this research is to address this incompleteness in extant accounting research and practice.
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| 6. |
- Caesarius, Leon Michael, 1971-
(författare)
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In search of known unknowns : an empirical investigation of the peripety of a knowledge management system
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In their quest to secure their level of competitiveness, organizations have turned their attention to a specific type of information technology (IT) solution referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). Research recurrently views and defines such system as IT-tools that mainly enable the collection, storing and diffusion of knowledge within the boundaries of the organization. Consequently the focus of KMS is believed to be on intra-organizational ‘knowledge’ re-use of ‘known knowns’. However, despite this definition and despite the inherent claim in the very name of such systems research continues to report failures rather than successes. Yet, the occurrence of the phenomenon of IT–based knowledge management (KM) endeavours in organizations continuous to rise. What really is the nature of this phenomenon and what is it a manifestation of? The purpose of this investigation is to explore the nature of IT–based knowledge management endeavours and their outcomes, and to explicate thereby the intricacies that surround them. How can KMS be described? How are they developed? Why are they deployed and what, if any, are the outcomes for the organization using them are the four research questions driving the investigation. Furthermore, it the investigation rests on a theoretical framework influenced by a constructionist perspective on knowledge and builds empirically on a longitudinal case study of a large international pharmaceutical firm’s IT-based KM effort. The empirical findings suggest that the case organization bridged the boundaries with the outside world by using the KMS as a way to establish knowledge exchange relationships with key target audiences. Getting the audiences to use the system meant transforming them to de facto information producers. To enable the continuity in the use of the system, the case organization designed it to provide the audiences continuous knowledge intensive services in return for getting informated. The services centred on supporting the practices of the target audiences by drawing on the automating and informating ability of IT. Granted an interimistic at least continuity in the use of the system by the target audiences meant a possibility for knowledge creation through experimentation for the organization and a possibility for knowledge creation through the enactment of embodied practice for the target audiences. A number of intricacies however, limited as expected the lifespan of the system. The main conclusion drawn from the case study is that the phenomenon has become inter-organizational and instead of simply focusing on knowledge re-use it also focuses, and in the specific case predominantly so, on knowledge creation. This is an indication that the phenomenon can be understood as a manifestation of an attempt to search for ‘known unknowns’ by means of IT. This in turn suggests an expansion from only exploitative to both exploitative and explorative use of IT; an expansion from using IT not only for efficiency-enhancing purposes but for effectiveness-enhancing purposes as well.
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| 7. |
- Johansson, Niklas
(författare)
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Self-Service Recovery
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Service recovery is about problems. What happens when customers experience problems? Well, sometimes customers complain to the one responsible for the service. Sometimes customers do not complain but instead tell somebody else about the problem, possibly leading to a bad reputation for the one responsible for the service. Sometimes it happens that customers never return to the same provider because of the problem experienced. To avoid the customer leaving, service recovery can be used. Service recovery is a set of actions a service pro-vider can take in order to repair a failure (Tax and Brown, 1998; Zemke, 1995; Scheuing and Christopher, 1993; Levesque and McDougall, 2000).In addition, many services today are Internet-based, meaning that services are self-services enabled by information technology (IT). Self-services enabled by IT, referred to as self-service technology (SST), are characterized by an interac-tion between a user and a machine rather than between two humans. Conse-quently, service recovery is no longer between two people interacting in a face-to-face manner when solving problems, but between a user and a machine when taking place in an SST context.This change of context has resulted in difficulties but also opportunities in the work of service recovery. Instead of turning to the one responsible for the service when problems occur, it is now possible to turn to other customers and users to receive help. SST has opened up new opportunities to learn with and from other individuals through the sharing of knowledge. The sharing of knowledge for the purpose of turning problems into solutions and improve-ments depends on the ability to create value for people involved.Service recovery in a self-service technology context, i.e. self-service recovery (SSR) is defined as the capability, enabled by self-service technology, of turning user prob-lems into solutions and improvements by means of sharing knowledge between users in order to create value.The aim of this doctoral thesis is to answer the question, “Why self-service recovery works?” The question is addressed by seven research studies and by evolving a framework for understanding why self-service recovery works.The contributions of this dissertation reside from the framework, which en-hances our understanding of self-service recovery as a value creation activity through not only recovery, but also improvement of the service in question.
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| 8. |
- Myreteg, Gunilla, 1968-
(författare)
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Förändringens vindar : En studie om aktörsgrupper och konsten att välja och införa ett affärssystem
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Management accounting is performed with the support of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Because of their integrated design and use of joint databases, such systems are often said to present companies with various opportunities for improving operations. In practice, however, difficulties have been encountered in attempting to realize these promised opportunities. Research into the ERP implementation process has explained these problems in terms of a tendency of companies to preserve the status quo instead of realizing change, or as representing the unintended consequences of ERP implementation. However, existing studies are limited in several respects. They define the implementation process as separate, unconnected to the process by which the ERP system was evaluated and chosen in the first place. Furthermore, they limit the process by analyzing it in terms of norms and rules, or power, or as solely cognitive, instead of defining it as complex, comprising all these dimensions at once. A final limitation is that the organization is often defined as a harmonious unit, lacking internal conflict or opposition; if internal conflict is taken into account, it is considered to occur only between different professions in the company, for example, production staff as opposed to accountants. These limitations constrain our knowledge of management accounting change in the setting of ERP systems. The objective of this empirical study is to enhance our knowledge of how a company – consisting of actor groups having different interests and purposes – chooses and implements an ERP system. The study defines this as a structuration process, with a duality between structure and action. Change and stability are co-existent. Social structures are defined as three-dimensional structures in which participation, images of IT systems, and conceptions of IT use as norms are simultaneously present in agency (i.e., speech and behaviour). The actor groups are defined as secondary groups, formal relationships existing between their members. The objective of the study is to create a deeper understanding of how social structures influence the process. A longitudinal case study examined a manufacturer having three distinct business areas. Material was collected mainly through interviews and observation, by also by examining documentation. The use of an abductive approach, aiming to improve theory, resulted in a detailed proposal as to how to operationalize the three modalities of the structuration model. The search for deeper knowledge resulted in the identification of six actor groups and several propositions as to how social structures influence the process. The concepts of uncertainty and practical experience were found to be especially important.
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| 9. |
- Sjöblom, Arne, 1957-
(författare)
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Hälsobokslut! En drivkraft för förändrad verksamhetsstyrning? : En longitudinell studie av tre kommuners försök att minska sjukfrånvaron genom användningen av verksamhetsstyrningsmodeller
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- I början av 2000-talet finansierade regeringen ett projekt, det kommunala hälsobokslutsprojektet, som primärt syftade till att ge erfarenheter och kunskap om olika verksamhetsstyrningsmodellers användbarhet som underlag för det som kallades hälsobokslut. Vidare förväntades projektet ge erfarenheter och kunskap om vilka stödprocesser som var väsentliga för en lyckosam användning av de valda verksamhetsstyrningsmodellerna. Från Näringsdepartementet, som var uppdragsgivare, fanns det även en förväntan att projektet skulle leda till att en gemensam hälsobokslutsmodell skulle kunna användas inom den kommunala sektorn.Underlaget för denna avhandling utgörs av en longitudinell fallstudie där arbetet med hälsobokslutsprojektet har studerats i tre av de kommuner som deltog i projektet. Undersökningen har gjort det möjligt att få fyra forskningsfrågor besvarade: Hur förändrades verksamhetsstyrningen av införandet av hälsobokslut i respektive kommun? Vad initierade denna förändring? Hur genomfördes förändringen av verksamhetsstyrningen? Vad fick förändringen av verksamhetsstyrningen för resultat i de tre kommunerna? Genom att få dessa forskningsfrågor besvarade har det varit möjligt att få kunskap om hur verksamhetsstyrningsmodeller påverkats under en förändringsprocess.Empirin består i huvudsak av fokusgruppsintervjuer vilka har kompletterats med personliga intervjuer och sekundärdata från tre av de kommuner som deltog i hälsobokslutsprojektet. Avhandlingens resultat kan noteras inom fler områden. En organisations syn på sig själv i förhållande till liknande organisationer kan avgöra om ett förändringsarbete kan initieras. Individuella drivkrafter, och speciellt stabiliserande drivkrafter, är viktiga att beakta, och påverka, om ett förändringsarbete ska genomföras. Vidare noteras att institutionella drivkrafter inte enbart kan knytas till existerande strukturer och att individuella drivkrafter inte enbart kan knytas till individers handlingar. Båda typerna av drivkrafter påverkas av och påverka de modaliteter som existerar som förbindelselänk mellan strukturer och handlingar enligt struktureringsteorin. Stödprocesser är viktiga att beakta i anslutning till organisatoriskt lärande och individers handlingar. Särskilt mobiliserande stödprocesser har varit de kommunikations- och motivationsprocesser som synliggjorts med hjälp av de analyser som genomförts.
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