ORCID Profile
0000-0002-8680-8523
Current Organisations
La Trobe University
,
Prince Sultan University
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Information Systems | Information Systems Development Methodologies | Information Systems Management | Conceptual Modelling |
Expanding Knowledge in the Information and Computing Sciences | Application Tools and System Utilities
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-1999
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2000
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 21-10-2021
DOI: 10.1021/ACS.JPROTEOME.1C00657
Abstract: The study of proteins circulating in blood offers tremendous opportunities to diagnose, stratify, or possibly prevent diseases. With recent technological advances and the urgent need to understand the effects of COVID-19, the proteomic analysis of blood-derived serum and plasma has become even more important for studying human biology and pathophysiology. Here we provide views and perspectives about technological developments and possible clinical applications that use mass-spectrometry(MS)- or affinity-based methods. We discuss ex les where plasma proteomics contributed valuable insights into SARS-CoV-2 infections, aging, and hemostasis and the opportunities offered by combining proteomics with genetic data. As a contribution to the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Human Plasma Proteome Project (HPPP), we present the Human Plasma PeptideAtlas build 2021-07 that comprises 4395 canonical and 1482 additional nonredundant human proteins detected in 240 MS-based experiments. In addition, we report the new Human Extracellular Vesicle PeptideAtlas 2021-06, which comprises five studies and 2757 canonical proteins detected in extracellular vesicles circulating in blood, of which 74% (2047) are in common with the plasma PeptideAtlas. Our overview summarizes the recent advances, impactful applications, and ongoing challenges for translating plasma proteomics into utility for precision medicine.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 11-02-2014
DOI: 10.1108/SAMPJ-04-2012-0018
Abstract: – This article identifies current performance measurement practice within state, territory and federal government departments in Australia with a particular emphasis on the importance of sustainability performance measures. Whilst voluntary sustainability reporting by private sector organisations aligned, for the most part, with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines is growing, there is little sustainability reporting by organisations in the public sector. This raises questions as to the extent to which public sector sustainability performance is managed. This research aims to assess the use of sustainability performance measures for supporting organisational performance improvement. – A mail out survey approach has been adopted within government departments. – The performance measures utilised by organisations to a great extent were in the areas of cost efficiency and quality measures and those utilised to least extent were for learning and growth measures and to satisfy legislative requirements and manage programs. Sustainability, environmental or social responsibility measures are the least used performance measures, and those utilised are mainly measures of employee ersity and non-financial economic aspects that are identified. – The public sector is unlikely to adopt comprehensive sustainability performance measures while they remain voluntary and while there is no perceived need to be competitive in these areas. Either mandatory reporting is required or some form of competitive process based on performance measures implemented. – The findings make a contribution to the academic literature on sustainability performance measures in public sector organisations and point to policy measures that may lead to improvements in practice.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 15-06-2012
DOI: 10.1108/11766091211240351
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore how the strategic change following a corporate takeover impacted the nature and extent of use of the firm's management control systems (MCS), in particular its performance measurement system (PMS). This paper uses Michael Porter's theory of competitive advantage and Robert Simons' levers of control framework to illustrate and interpret changes in the PMS within an Australian multinational subsidiary following its takeover by an overseas corporation. To provide empirical evidence on this issue, face‐to‐face interviews and archival data are used. The findings reveal that the takeover resulted in changes in the firm's competitive forces (threat of potential entrants, bargaining power of buyers, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of suppliers, and rivalry among existing firms), and therefore the firm altered its strategy to change the rules of competition in its favor. Corresponding to the strategic change, the PMS was affected, with specific implications on Simons' four levers of control: interactive, diagnostic, beliefs, and boundary systems. The findings suggest that a corporate takeover is an important phase for any organization, as it involves a change in the competitive environment and strategy, and needs to be facilitated by a change in the MCS to create and sustain superior performance. This case study demonstrates how interactive and beliefs systems work together with diagnostic and boundary systems in the context of change in an organization. Past research devoted to strategic change and MCS has not documented this phenomenon.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963427
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to document the types of and any changes in the budgeting and performance management practices of New Zealand primary educational organisations and explain why they occurred using an institutional theory framework. In doing so, it will provide an understanding of past budgeting and performance measurement and reporting practice, as well as consider the policy implications for the contemporary public‐provided primary education system. The paper uses a historical archival‐based case study approach. The historical evidence suggests that from 1844 until 1859 budgeting and performance management practices in educational organisations changed as the provision and control of education moved from not‐for‐profit community‐based organisations to become a predominantly public function. The budgeting, inspection and performance management practices and changes observed in the primary education providers were directly related to their need to obtain legitimacy and procure resources. The detailed information regarding historical budgeting and performance management practices provides rich background material for researchers as well as suggesting that split responsibility and control between the community and government for education creates a tension between the two controlling bodies. This paper is the first study of internal accounting and performance reporting practices in a mid‐nineteenth century New Zealand education context.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-05-2021
DOI: 10.1108/QRAM-03-2020-0028
Abstract: This paper aims to report on an empirical investigation of the fate of the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach in an organization. Building on actor-network theory and using a qualitative case study approach, this study analyses how across time certain actors attempted to build a competing network in the organization to gain support for their underlying rationales for replacing the BSC with a budgeting system. Data were collected using interviews, observations and archival data from a Sri Lankan commercial bank. This paper finds that despite the enthusiastic journey with all its potentials to be a sustainable accounting innovation, the attraction towards the BSC innovation by the organization appeared to be temporary because the BSC knowledge claims that were advanced by its promoters had not been widely accepted by those involved in the practice. Such a consequence of innovation diffusion appeared to be the result of the failure of the innovation promoters in coordinating the heterogeneous interests of various actors involved in the practice. This study concludes that the BSC failed to be sustained, amid varying ideologies and interests of powerful actors across time and opponent actors’ perceived deficiencies in its adapted design attributes. Although the findings relate to a Sri Lankan case, they offer important insight into how parallel, competing networks advocating different control systems may exist in an organization, and that the sustainability of a specific system may depend upon the efforts and the relative power of the advocators of that system. This paper sheds useful insights for practitioners on the effective implementation of accounting innovations and managing management control systems in organizations amid tensions associated with competing networks. The outcomes enhance the knowledge of how multiple networks operating in an organization could compete with one another, with the result that one network may fall apart while another network gains prominence in the corporate landscape across time, amid varying interests of key actors, their actions and interessement devices used.
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Date: 17-07-2015
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-05-2022
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-04-2020-4504
Abstract: This paper explores why and how, and in what context, in iduals' accounting of self, ethics and morality and self-knowledge of the limits of accountability can frame their account giving and judging in an organisational formal performance evaluation process. Building upon the Butlerian notions of accountability as advanced by Messner (2009) and Roberts (2009), the authors conducted a qualitative field study at a Vietnamese public university, involving face-to-face interviews, observation of performance evaluation meetings and examination of archival documents. The authors found that in iduals experience conflicting ethical and moral values when they rely on their self-knowledge of accountability (the ability to self-account) in their account giving and judging in the university's formal academic performance evaluation process. In addition, the authors found that when in iduals want to provide the best account to the account demander, their understanding of their ability to self-account and the formal organisational accountability process influence their views on what authentic account giving means. As a result, enhanced ethics-to-others has the potential to be an ethical burden and may not lead to authentic or beyond minimum accounting of “self”. Yet, in the Vietnamese socio-cultural and political context within which the university operates, and in the situation of ethical and moral conflicts in self-accountability, the authors found evidence of in iduals' self-accountability behaviours that is based on the co-existence of a sense of responsibility to others and self-knowledge of the limits of accountability. Although this study was limited to one Vietnamese public university, its findings enhance the knowledge about how in idual ethical and moral values, self-knowledge of the limits of accountability and the formal organisational accountability process connect with each other in the socio-cultural and political context within which an organisation operates. The study highlights the role of the context of local socio-cultural norms and values and of physical social interaction in developing the sense of connection to others, which influences the way in iduals' ethical and moral values are mobilised to shape account-giving and judging behaviours. The emphasis on the role of the sense of connection to others on personal accountability and the emphasis on physical, face-to-face interaction in developing sense of connection to others leads to an interesting issue regarding the sense of connection in the virtual social interaction setting, which has become increasingly popular globally, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and its implication for the use of personal ethical and moral values in organisational accountability practices. Adding to the conversation on how a formal organisational accountability process can be effective, this study identified (1) the unpredictable outcomes of using ethics as rules for accountability practices due to potentially conflicting ethical values (2) the erse understandings of self-accounting, leading to different ideas of authentic accounting and (3) the possibility of moral accountability behaviours based on the co-existence of a sense of connection to others and an understanding of the limits of accountability.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-02-2018
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963463
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explain three phases of modernisation change in the Sydney water sector from the early 1980s to 2007 and comments on how those phases of change are likely to be impacting the nascent development of water management processes in Sydney‐based water consuming organisations. A framework of modernisation reform in the Sydney water sector has been determined through literature review. This paper demonstrates that only moderate modernisation reform occurred in the Sydney water sector in the period from the early 1980s to 2007 tempered by water scarcity and a thrust to sustainability. As a result of these reforms, it is argued that water management processes in water consuming organisations are likely to have accelerated into the early 2000s. This paper calls for empirical research to understand why organisations in the Sydney region have recently developed water management practices. This paper contributes to an understanding of the impact of modernisation reform in the Sydney water sector from the early 1980s to 2007 and provides insight into the factors driving water management practices in water consuming organisations . This paper provides public sector and environmental management researchers with an examination of modernisation reform in the Sydney water sector and relates this to the development of water management objectives in water consuming organisations.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-06-2007
DOI: 10.1108/18325910710756159
Abstract: Annual reports are perceived to be important sources of information about government departments' performance, accountability, efficiency and effectiveness. This paper aims to report on an empirical study that explores the current disclosure practices by Australian government departments. To achieve the research aim, the paper assesses the 2005‐2006 annual reports of 56 Australia Government departments. It analyses 47 mandatory disclosures and 20 voluntary disclosures reported by the subject organizations. It employs a disclosure index to calculate the level of disclosures. The findings reveal that the voluntary disclosure level is higher than the mandatory disclosure in the subject departments. Further, it is found that the annual reports of government departments reveal a low level of disclosures in the areas of human resources, asset management, external scrutiny, purchasing, and contracting. The study is based on published annual reports only. Therefore, it provides little in‐depth insights into the current disclosure practice within the subject organizations. The findings reported in this paper will be of value to both theoretical and empirical studies of how organizational and institutional forces may affect the level of disclosure in the annual reports of public sector organizations. The study will provide basis for further research into this area in various international settings. Practically, this study will assist government departmental management to continue improving their quality of reporting.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Date: 2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-08-2023
DOI: 10.1111/ACFI.13171
Abstract: This paper explores how power exercised at the in idual level within existing power relations in a university influences its enabling and coercive budgeting forms. A qualitative case study in a Sri Lankan university involved interviews and document analysis. Findings demonstrate the dominance of coercive controls over enabling controls in the university due to the power and influence of dominant in iduals stemming from ongoing struggles among those pursuing erse interests and strategic actions. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating how power is mobilised by actors and its impact on the variations of the enabling and coercive budgetary forms and practice.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/AUAR.12281
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1997
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Date: 31-07-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ACFI.12762
Abstract: This paper examines how accounting systems are disseminated in different ways as organisations seek to use accounting information to manage social services across organisational boundaries. Drawing upon qualitative field research within a New Zealand community‐care provider and using the literature on bounded management and accounting visibility, our findings reveal that the government's increasing screening and monitoring of social support services create an extra burden on carers and families. We reflect on how internal accounting practices only capture the visible costs endured by government‐funded programmes, ignoring a significant part of disability care costs incurred by family members and other carers.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 09-03-2022
DOI: 10.1108/JPBAFM-09-2021-0137
Abstract: This paper has two purposes. First, it aims to explore how Australian universities used calculative rhetoric and practices through accounting numbers to persuade employees and legitimize their financial recovery plans to alleviate the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, it aims to analyze how the accounting-based solutions were legitimized through a well-blended pathos, logos and ethos rhetoric. Building on a rhetorical theory of diffusion, we employed a qualitative research design within all 37 Australian public universities involving Internet-based documentary analysis. This study finds that in an urgent crisis like the fiscal crisis caused by COVID-19, universities again found rescue in accounting tools, in particular budgets, as a rhetorical device to justify their operational and strategic choices such as job-cuts, programs closures and staff pay-cuts. However, in this crisis, the same old accounting-based solutions were even more quickly to be accepted by being delivered in management’s colorful blending of pathos–logos–ethos rhetoric. While this study is constrained to Australian public universities’ financial responses, its findings have implications for university decision-makers and higher education policymakers across the globe when it comes to university management using calculative devices in persuading employees to work their way through financial hardship caused by an extreme health crisis-like COVID-19 pandemic. This study adds more evidence that the use of budgets as a calculative tool continues to play a key role in organizations in the construction, mobilization and preservation of certain strategic and operational choices during volatilities. Especially, the same way of creating calculative-based solutions can be communicated via the colorful blending of different rhetoric to make it acceptable.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2002
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-01-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ACFI.12445
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 19-11-2021
DOI: 10.1108/JPBAFM-09-2021-0136
Abstract: This paper aims at reflecting on the role of accounting and accountability mechanisms in pre-COVID-19 conditions and how it may evolve in “new normal”, post-COVID-19 conditions. Moving from the papers in this special issue, the authors draw on the literature on the social construction and reflective approaches to understand pre- and post-COVID-19 events and the role of accounting therein. The “new normal” may exacerbated the difficulty of public sector organizations to manage the uncertainties and risks associated to the new context. While “old” wicked issues remain, such as social inclusion, poverty and corruption, new ones come. The authors speculate on the “new” and “old” roles accounting and accountability can play to support governments. The paper contributes by setting new research avenues for future studies in a post-COVID-19 era.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2016
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2002
DOI: 10.1002/BSE.339
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2004
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2003
Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
Date: 2005
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2011
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963418
Abstract: The primary purpose of this paper is to merge two traditions in management accounting change – design theory and action research – to explain findings from a case study of introducing a cost leadership initiative. This paper is an ex le of action research in which design theory explains events related to the implementation of a strategic cost leadership initiative at Shell Gabon, a Royal Dutch Shell unit in West Africa. The evidence shows that technical accounting changes are, in the final analysis, change management exercises. Implementing change requires thinking as a designer and employing the logic of conjecture rather than scientific deductive or inductive reasoning. Successful implementation requires conjuring an image of a future reality that does not currently exist and making that image persuasive by connecting it with the values of the organizational participants. This case study provides five key lessons for future designers of accounting change. Implementers should: understand the mental models of organizational participants show respect for the cultural values of the organization they are working in meaningfully engage organizational participants use structured processes to unfold change and be ready to seize new opportunities and discard old game plans when necessary. The case study also reveals gaps in existing change management models and behavioural accounting theories. This paper offers design theory as an alternative way of viewing organizational change and offers criteria for evaluating the use of design as a process and for assessing the value of the implemented change.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 19-09-2008
DOI: 10.1108/18325910810898052
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the workings of the internal specifier rovider arrangement, a new organizational form that is not required by government mandate but has become common place in the Australian public sector. The case study empirics take place in a large local government water authority. Data were collected from face‐to‐face interviews with 26 managers using a semi‐structured interview schedule and from internal and public documents relating to the case. The following five “so what” lessons are identified: private sector co‐ordination and management mechanisms such as transfer pricing can be relied upon to help reduce the ambiguity surrounding the specifier rovider model the providers are likely to be more anxious about the introduction of the model because poorly perceived performance may result in outsourcing to improve the ability of the organization for co‐ordinating activities the model requires clearly defined specifier and provider roles and tasks the service level agreement is an important communication device for clarifying roles and expectations and increasing the number of sub‐ isions complicates the ability of the organization to access suitable human resources and to communicate effectively with their employees and minimize employee stress. The findings of this paper are likely to be useful for other organizations faced with similar pressures as to deal with those pressures require new and innovative ways of working. This paper contributes to our understanding of the new organizational forms emerging in the public sector and the issues surrounding their implementation. The main contribution of this paper is a discussion of the lessons that were learned from the employees in the case organization in their attempt to change the organization from its traditional bureaucratic operational procedures to cost center structures using the internal specifier rovider model.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2023
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963454
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explain the institutionalization process of the performance management system (PMS) in a Malaysian government‐linked company (GLC). The study specifically looks at the changes brought by the GLC transformation programme introduced by the government. An explanatory case study method is used whereby data are collected through semi structured interviews, document reviews, informal conversations and observations. Despite attempts to link the organisational activities to the system through the business operating plan, the data reveal that the PMS‐related activities have somehow been viewed as a routine mechanism for appraising the employees' performances and become decoupled from the organisational activities. Thus, the new PMS did not really change the way organisational members view and do things in the organisation. This study shows that the intention to institutionalise a new practice may not be materialised if there are not enough forces to support the change. The adoption of the new PMS practices may be due to isomorphic pressures to mimic other organisations in the same environmental field leading to ceremonial adoption of the practice. This research provides evidence to the government that the process involved in transforming the organisational culture of a government‐linked organisation by using accounting tools might be time consuming, costly and subject to resistance. Hence, any change management programme introduced in a government‐linked organisation should have strong top management support, good financial standing as well as a reliable technical backup to the programme.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 22-02-2021
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 09-2002
DOI: 10.1108/09513550210435700
Abstract: In recent years, many companies have adopted the total quality management (TQM) philosophy for achieving organizational excellence. The paper reports on the findings of a case study concerned with appraising TQM practices in the Housing Authority of Fiji (HA). The HA has been set up to provide affordable shelter and mortgage finance for low and middle‐income earners in Fiji. Data collected suggest that following the global trend, as well as being consistent with the government’s recent public sector reform policy, TQM systems at the HA made the organization more effective and efficient. The organization was preparing itself to be corporatized. The case study reinforces previous claims that suggest that an organization may adopt a TQM strategy to promote both “institutional” and “quality” cultures.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-1994
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 26-10-2012
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 15-08-2018
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 16-09-2013
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 14-06-2013
DOI: 10.1108/QRAM-10-2012-0045
Abstract: This paper aim to review existing research in the management control systems field in the banking industry. It identifies gaps in the existing literature and suggests some directions for future research. The review was carried out principally by consulting leading accounting journals, followed by other relevant journals covering all publications from the inception of the particular journal to 2010. The published articles are categorized by their research topics, theories, methodologies and settings. The review reveals a dearth of detailed studies on management controls in the banking sector. As evident from the sizeable number of descriptive studies, most prior studies do not engage in an in‐depth inquiry into control issues of banks, and most lack clear articulation either theoretically or methodologically. It finds that currently little is known on the concerns encountered by banks and the nature of management control practices deployed. This review is selective and, while illustrative of the state of management control research in the banking sector, does not attempt a comprehensive coverage of all research. However, it identifies gaps in the current literature and makes calls for further research on a number of management control issues in the banking industry. Further, in light of the review findings, the paper offers some lessons and insights for practicing managers. Although some general reviews on various facets of management accounting across time have been undertaken by past researchers, industry‐based reviews have not been their focus. Through a systematic review of management control research in the banking arena, this paper shows that despite both the significant position occupied by the banking industry in nations' economies and the importance of management controls for banks, there remains a need for researchers to pay adequate attention to exploring control issues in this sector.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 23-11-2010
DOI: 10.1108/11766091011094554
Abstract: The purpose of paper is to present a review of the literature on management accounting innovations (MAIs). Specifically, it explores recent developments in research on MAIs and offers suggestions for future research. The review differs from existing reviews by its specific focus on MAIs and the recent time period covered. In this paper, MAIs refer to the adoption of “newer” or modern forms of management accounting systems such as activity‐based costing (ABC), activity‐based management, time‐driven ABC, target costing, and balanced scorecards. The paper presents a review of findings from journal articles published in 22 notable accounting journals. The review finds that research on MAIs has intensified during the period 2000‐2008, with the main focus on exploring the extent to which a host of organizational and environmental factors influence the implementation and use of MAIs in organizations. In addition, research on MAIs indicates the dominant use of sociological theories and increasing use of empirical/field studies. A literature review using a given set of accounting journals and search words used to identify relevant articles may overlook literature within the scope of the review. The paper concludes the importance of more research on MAIs by offering some directions for future research. The paper's specific focus on MAIs and the recent time period offer the reader useful insights on management accounting research and theory.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 15-03-2012
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 02-2004
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 12-2004
DOI: 10.1108/09513570410567773
Abstract: Most research on management accounting change relates to practices in developed countries. This paper reports on a field study of management accounting change in the South African context. It uses a contingency theory framework within four retail companies to understand the processes of their management accounting systems change and to explore the rationales for such change processes. The findings indicate considerable changes in management accounting systems within the four cases. Such changes include increased use of contemporary management accounting practices notably activity‐based cost allocation systems and the balanced scorecard approach to performance measures. The paper suggests that recent environmental changes in the South African economy arising from government reform/deregulation policy and global competition largely facilitated the management accounting change processes within the participating organisations.
Publisher: American Accounting Association
Date: 09-2023
DOI: 10.2308/BRIA-19-066
Abstract: This article examines how an in idual-level academic performance measurement system interacts with the collective self in a collectivist cultural context. The qualitative study of a Vietnamese public university involved 53 interviews, participant observations, and document analysis. The findings show that performance measurement systems in the university produced both an autonomous self and a collective self. They do so by measuring in idual performance and suggesting that in iduals are autonomously responsible and able to influence such performance. Thus, although a performance measurement system is typically imposed by others (which shows one’s dependence on others and subjection to their power), the nature of the performance measurement system is such that it promotes in idual actions and a sense of in idual performance. Therefore, people feel they have control over “their” performance. However, while trying to control such performance, they depend more on others whose recognition appears to link with such performance measurement systems. Data Availability: Data are not available for confidentiality reasons. JEL Classifications: I2 M41 M48 P2.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-07-2023
DOI: 10.1111/FAAM.12377
Abstract: This paper explores how a country's constitutionally imposed democracy in an academic performance evaluation system was designed and practiced. Building upon agonistic democracy and deliberative democracy perspectives, a qualitative inductive case study in a Vietnamese public university involved 52 interviews, direct observations, and the analysis of archival documents. The findings revealed three dimensions of democracy in the university's performance evaluation system, namely, democratic context, democratic discourse, and democratic outcomes. The university enforced democracy in its performance evaluation system for academics in line with the country's constitutional obligation. In such an explicit democratic context, there happened democratic discourse (debating academics’ performance in public forums) and implicit discourse (informal social interactions). The outcome of this democracy at the practice level resulted from temporary consensus supported by shared cultural values within the country's socio‐political context with an understanding that it will change as with any change in the macro or micro contexts. These findings contribute to the literature by providing insights into how in iduals pursue democracy in an accounting tool legally built to promote democracy through their multiple voices and collective wisdom. Thus, democratizing accounting technologies and processes, such as an academic performance evaluation system, can effectively promote democracy in multi‐cultural workplaces across the globe.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963409
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to introduce and review papers incorporated into this special issue of the first biennial conference of the Global Accounting and Organisational Change. A textual analytical approach is adopted to review the selected papers. A variety of themes emerge from the subject papers, including institutionalisation of organizational and accounting processes, top management and employee support for effective change processes, employee resistance to change, determinants of change, and economies of scale. Findings reported in this special issue will provide organizational practitioners with better understandings of the effectiveness of the change process. Findings reported here will enhance the theoretical understandings of the adoption and successful implementation of organizational innovations including accounting.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 10-10-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-10-2021
DOI: 10.1111/ACFI.12709
Abstract: We examine how employees learn from a performance measurement system. Employing the social construction of reality theory, we analyse how actors constructed knowledge in their specific setting. Qualitative research within a local government entity involved interviews, observation of meetings and examination of archival records. We find that the process of in idual learning from a performance measurement system is based around aligning varying episodic experiences of in iduals at differing levels. The outcome of these findings is that learning by in iduals is a socio‐technical process in which the use of performance measures is embedded in everyday thinking of the social world examined.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 21-09-2015
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-05-2015-2058
Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to respond to Modell’s paper entitled “Theoretical triangulation and pluralism in accounting research: a critical realist critique” ( AAAJ this issue), which offers a two-part exposition of topics and issues pertaining to the recent paper “Theoretical triangulation and pluralism in research methods in organizational and accounting research” (Hoque et al. , 2013). – Critical analysis of Modell’s observations pertaining to the paper drawing on the classical work of Burrell and Morgan (1979). – The authors reemphasize the need for an interaction between adopting an ontological stance and then conducting empirical research where the authors stated that the intention was not to argue any idea that theoretical triangulation approach should become the dominant approach and “take over” single theory approach. Instead, the authors demonstrate the ways theoretical triangulation can advance the understanding of multifaceted organizational realities. – The authors make a contribution to the generation of knowledge in research by addressing the tradeoffs involved such as possible theoretical incoherence and lack of focus when integrating theories with different ontological and epistemological assumptions.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 16-12-2022
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-11-2019-4242
Abstract: This article examines the power of management control mechanisms as “inscriptions” for bringing the interests of organisations within a purchaser–provider network into alignment. The study contributes to accounting and accountability literature in hybrid organisations by applying actor-network theory to a case study organisation. This enables an analysis of how a government agency, operating as a social service provider to the community, developed and used management control mechanisms in its intra-organisational units to ensure its operations were aligned with the expectations of inter-organisational networks in a purchaser–provider context. Data were collected using open-ended interviews and by examining internal accounting and management reports, government archival records and newspaper articles. Analysis of the results demonstrates that inter-organisational network control was internalised within the provider organisation because of the ability of the controls to function as inscriptions that influenced organisational actions. The authors conclude that the network control travelled across boundaries over time and was assimilated by the provider organisation to become its internal management control mechanisms. A single case study of a government service provider agency may limit the generalisation of the findings to other hybrid entities or networks. The significant practical essence of this study lies in the ersity within the results that offer a rich representation of the impact of purchaser–provider arrangements on internal organisational systems within a hybrid public sector setting. The outcomes enhance knowledge of how a hybrid government agency developed, mobilised and institutionalised its management control mechanisms to ensure the activities of one party are consistent with the other parties' expectations within a network.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963445
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine an effort by management of a private higher education institution in Indonesia to replace its informal, relationship‐based performance system which relied on physical discourse – overseeing operational details that focus on physical accomplishment of tasks – and personal control by the school head, with a tight budgetary control system which relied on technical efficiency and rational discourse. The paper is an ethnographic case study of a business school – a private higher education institution in Indonesia – known by its abbreviation as Perbanas Business School (PBS), from 1999 to 2001. The researcher is part of the case being studied, and thus is a “native” who completely participates in the change process. The paper demonstrates how a control system change that violates existing cultural norms fails to impact day‐to‐day managerial practices or decision‐making processes. Specifically, in a business school setting, replacing an informal relationship‐based control system with a technical efficiency‐based accounting control system only produces chaotic managerial practices and degrades school services. The new system alienates staff and is not accepted or institutionalized. Instead, in daily managerial processes, management continue to rely on informal and personal relationships. The paper contributes to the accounting literature by studying the process of instituting accounting change and organizational participants' resistance to that change. Organizational culture, reflected in values, norms of behavior and everyday practices, cannot easily be controlled or changed by chief executive officers.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2005
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 1994
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 09-04-2018
DOI: 10.1108/IJPSM-04-2017-0124
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the sensitivity of economic efficiency rankings of water businesses to the choice of alternative physical and accounting capital input measures. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to compute efficiency rankings for government-owned water businesses from the state of Victoria, Australia, over the period 2005/2006 through 2012/2013. Differences between DEA models when capital inputs were measured using either: statutory accounting values (historic cost and fair value), physical measures, or regulatory accounting values, were scrutinised. Depending on the choice of capital input, significant variation in efficiency scores and the ranking of the top (worst) performing firms was observed. Future research may explore the generalisability of findings to a wider s le of water utilities globally. Future work can also consider the most reliable treatment of capital inputs in efficiency analysis. Regulators should be cautious when using economic efficiency data in benchmarking exercises. A consistent approach to account for the capital stock is needed in the determination of price caps and designing incentives for poor performers. DEA has been widely used to explore the role of ownership structure, firm size and regulation on water utility efficiency. This is the first study of its kind to explore the sensitivity of DEA to alternative physical and accounting capital input measures. This research also improves the conventional performance measurement in water utilities by using a bootstrap procedure to address the deterministic nature of the DEA approach.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 07-2001
DOI: 10.1108/09513550110395256
Abstract: Faced by increased globalization, the dissatisfaction of Australian citizens, and a curtailing of spending, the Australian Government has embarked on a major reform agenda centered on new public management ideals to achieve greater economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. A major driver of reform in all levels of government has been the introduction of the national competition policy. Describes the recent developments in Australian public sector and discusses reform implications for accounting, accountability and performance in Queensland local governments. Suggests that accounting plays a significant role in promoting accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of public sector services.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 14-12-2023
DOI: 10.1108/QRAM-07-2020-0099
Abstract: This study aims to explore the role of in iduals’ habitus in an organization’s performance measurement practices. Habitus refers to how in iduals with a particular background perceive and react to the social world. Drawing from the habitus philosophy developed by Bourdieu in his practice theory (Bourdieu, 1977), this study used a qualitative research methodology involving face-to-face interviews, observations of performance evaluation meetings and examination of documents within a Sri Lankan public university. The authors revealed the power of university in iduals as they possess practical knowledge in their field where they operate to make effects in the practice of a performance measurement system (PMS). In addition, the research findings show that mutually opposing strategies, self-interests and in iduals’ varied power relations collectively play a dominant role in deciding the practical operation of the PMS at the university. While this study is constrained to a Sri Lankan public university, its findings offer insights into how in iduals within an organization can emerge as influential players in PMS practice. The findings enhance the understanding of how PMS practice may operate beyond traditional, calculative and abstract forms in an organizational setting. Instead, in iduals, as micro-level forces in a specific social space, shape organizational practices, such as PMS, in universities.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 31-07-2023
DOI: 10.1002/BSE.3514
Abstract: One of the most investigated research topics in the corporate sustainability literature is “the” business case. Long lionized for linking the profit motive to corporate environmental initiatives, the business case for sustainability is now vehemently criticized. These critics generally argue for a return to the state and stronger regulatory frameworks. Others counter that because the private sector's capabilities are uniquely suited to realizing effective sustainability innovations and outcomes, we must not abandon but further develop our business case understanding. In this view, firms' voluntary efforts are key for innovative solutions to sustainability problems. This article overviews and unites these seemingly disparate positions. We move the field forward by placing in context criticisms and also opportunities for more meaningful positive impacts from corporate sustainability. Specifically, we argue that an effective business case orientation requires shifting to a broader “all stakeholders win” approach. This entails impact orientation, collaborative approaches, and economic restraint.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 06-2008
DOI: 10.1108/09513550510599274
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority. A theoretical framework is developed using new public management (NPM) and neo‐institutional theory literatures to explain the findings. A case study approach was applied to collect the data for the research. The findings reveal that the National Competition Policy 1993, the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government Finance Standards 1994 mainly have brought about significant changes to the organisation's internal management control processes, such as financial reporting, budgeting and performance appraisal. The changes brought in appeared to be coincidentally similar to NPM ideals. Furthermore, senior managers (such as the chief executive and isional heads) played a major role in implementing new accounting technologies (activity‐based costing and the balanced scorecard type performance measurement system). Future research on public sector financial management from the outset of organisational contexts could considerably further the stock of knowledge in this area, especially given the rapid changes occurring within the public sector throughout the world. Future research may wish to extend this study by assessing how external legitimating functions become internal reality, the perceptions of reality of the organisational members, and how these perceptions change over time. The findings reported provide evidence to further our understanding of how the introduction of private sector styles of organisational practices into large areas of the public sector brought about significant changes in the demand for “new” financial management practices. The findings reported on in this paper will open a new path of research that may increase our understanding about the factors that play a role in the design of management and accounting systems in a public sector context. Further, they will help policy makers and public sector managers in their day‐to‐day decision‐making.
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1071/EA03189
Abstract: In dryland cotton cropping systems, the main weeds and effectiveness of management practices were identified, and the economic impact of weeds was estimated using information collected in a postal and a field survey of Southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. Forty-eight completed questionnaires were returned, and 32 paddocks were monitored in early and late summer for weed species and density. The main problem weeds were bladder ketmia (Hibiscus trionum), common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus), barnyard grasses (Echinochloa spp.), liverseed grass (Urochloa panicoides) and black bindweed (Fallopia convolvulus), but the relative importance of these differed with crops, fallows and crop rotations. The weed flora was erse with 54 genera identified in the field survey. Control of weed growth in rotational crops and fallows depended largely on herbicides, particularly glyphosate in fallow and atrazine in sorghum, although effective control was not consistently achieved. Weed control in dryland cotton involved numerous combinations of selective herbicides, several non-selective herbicides, inter-row cultivation and some manual chipping. Despite this, residual weeds were found at 38–59% of initial densities in about 3-quarters of the survey paddocks. The on-farm financial costs of weeds ranged from $148 to 224/ha.year depending on the rotation, resulting in an estimated annual economic cost of $19.6 million. The approach of managing weed populations across the whole cropping system needs wider adoption to reduce the weed pressure in dryland cotton and the economic impact of weeds in the long term. Strategies that optimise herbicide performance and minimise return of weed seed to the soil are needed. Data from the surveys provide direction for research to improve weed management in this cropping system. The economic framework provides a valuable measure of evaluating likely future returns from technologies or weed management improvements.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
DOI: 10.1108/18325910910963436
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe and critically evaluate the systems of accounting and accountability for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) in Kenya. It suggests a new framework of accounting and accountability that places the goals and aspirations expressed in public discourse at the centre of accountability. The theoretical insights of Bourdieu and Foucault are mobilized so as to tease out the nature of power relations between the various fields associated with the CDF in Kenya. The study analyses newspaper commentaries as text for identifying the main themes associated with the management of the CDF in Kenya. The paper finds that the CDF's systems of accounting and accountability are skewed towards the needs of centralized national planning and development, contrary to its expressed aim of bringing about citizens' participation in development. Use of newspaper commentaries and reports does not necessarily represent the views of the majority of the people of Kenya. A new framework is suggested which places the goals and aspirations of public discourse at the centre of accounting with the various capitals suggested by these goals and aspirations forming the dimensions on which the CDF can be accounted for. Novel forms of accounting and accountability are suggested which include presentation of CDF implementation and results at public forums where the managers of CDF can be interrogated on the basis of the goals and aspirations expressed in public discourse. Study of the CDF systems of accounting and accountability is a unique contribution to accounting for development in developing countries.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2001
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 02-04-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-01-2016
DOI: 10.1111/FAAM.12082
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 11-2000
DOI: 10.1108/01443570010348253
Abstract: This paper reports the results of an empirical study that explores how industry characteristics are associated with the design of productivity measurement systems. The responses of 114 chief executives, drawn from a wide range of New Zealand‐based manufacturing companies, to a mailed survey have been analysed using Friedman two‐way ANOVA tests. The results suggest significant variations in industry characteristics, measured by environmental uncertainty among industries. These industrial variations are associated with management’s preference for the type of productivity measurement systems.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2010
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2014
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 14-09-2012
DOI: 10.1108/18325911211258290
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present a snapshot review of the papers accepted for publication in this special issue of the 2010 Global Accounting and Organizational Change (GAOC) conference which was held in July, 2010 at Babson College, USA. A critical review approach was adopted to identify the lessons learned. The review reveals a variety of themes that emerged from the papers under review where authors attempted to describe and explain “best practices” in financial and managerial accounting within a variety of organizations across the world. This review will stimulate interest in and contribute to the body of knowledge of accounting and organizational change for the betterment of society.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-06-2009
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/FAAM.12285
Abstract: This paper contributes to the limited empirical enquiries into the role of accounting in affecting medical professionals’ financial accountability perceptions and related outcomes and performance. It examines the associations among formal and informal feedback processes, managers’ financial accountability, work attitudes, and performance. Results of our survey to a s le of 115 senior medical managers in an Italian hospital reveal that the association between performance feedback sources and managerial performance depends on managers’ felt accountability and commitment. Further, we find that commitment bridges the link between accountability and managerial performance. Our findings provide two useful insights for healthcare management. First, healthcare managers should improve the technical features of the formal performance feedback practices to update medical managers on their goals in a timely and useful manner. Second, healthcare managers should encourage unplanned, spontaneous, and voluntary social interactions to enhance the positive effects of informal feedback. To sum up, our research adds to the limited knowledge of the accountability and performance literature using data from the actual setting and subjects of concern.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 08-06-2021
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2013-1450
Abstract: This paper explores how ethnicity is implicated in an etic–emic understanding through day-to-day practices and how such practices meet external accountability demands. Addressing the broader question of how ethnicity presents in an accounting situation, it examines the mundane level responses to those accountability demands manifesting an operationalisation of the ethnicity of the people who make those responses. The study followed ethnomethodology principles whereby one of the researchers acted both as an active member and as a researcher within a Salvation Army congregation in Manchester (UK), while the others acted as post-fieldwork reflectors. The conceivers and guardians of an accountability system relating to the Zimbabwean-Mancunian Salvationist congregation see account giving practices as they appear (etic), not as they are thought and interiorised (emic). An etic–emic misunderstanding on both sides occurs in the situation of a practice variation in a formal accountability system. This is due to the collision of one ethnic group's emics with the emics of conceivers. Such day-to-day practices are thus shaped by ethnic orientations of the participants who operationalise the meeting of accountability demands. Hence, while ethnicity is operationalised in emic terms, accounting is seen as an etic construct. Possible variations between etic requirements and emic practices can realise this operationalisation. The authors’ findings were based on one ethnic group's emic construction of accountability. Further research may extend this to multi-ethnic settings with multiple etic/emic combinations. This study contributed to the debate on both epistemological and methodological issues in accountability. As it is ill-defined or neglected in the literature, the authors offer a working conceptualisation of ethnicity – an operating cultural unit being implicated in both accounting and accountability.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2005
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 31-03-2017
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 15-05-2015
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 11-07-2008
DOI: 10.1108/09513550810885787
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of performance measurement and reporting practices of four government departments in Australia. Relying on the “context” and “content” aspects of the institutional and strategic choice literatures, the paper suggests how external institutions such as government regulatory frameworks and internal organizational contexts such as strategic plans may shape the design of performance measurement and reporting of government departments. Texts and contents from archival sources such as published annual reports and department web sites provided insightful and interesting findings. The paper reveals that performance measurement systems design as a central thrust to the subject government departments' strategic planning and management framework. Furthermore, content analyses of the data indicate a clear linkage between the recently introduced “managing for outcomes” framework and performance measurement practices of government departments. This is an exploratory study based on archival documents only, thereby provides limited insights into how organizational managers perceived the relevance and usefulness of performance measurement data. However, textual analysis from archival documents provides a rich description of how measuring and reporting of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of today's government organizations could be the interaction of both internal and external contexts within which they operate. The paper adds to the existing public sector management and accounting literatures by suggesting that the construction and reporting process of performance measurement are crucial and relevant in today's government organizations facing a significant reduction in government funding with increased community demand for quality services. Experiences in subject government entities will provide a platform for academic researchers and/or practitioners from multiple disciplines to disseminate information on accounting and performance management in the changing public sector worldwide.
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Date: 08-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.1111/AUAR.12079
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 05-2002
DOI: 10.1108/09513570210425583
Abstract: This paper reports the performance measurement practices of four Japanese banks. The research is a field study informed by the new institutional sociology theory. It sought to understand and explain what factors affected the design and use of non‐financial performance measurement systems in the banks studied. The results indicate that several institutional forces influenced the banks to implement a particular performance measurement system. Of these, economic constraints appeared to be the most forceful factor, followed by the central bank’s regulatory control, accounting standards/financial legislation, management’s strategic focus, bank size, competition, and organizational tendency to copy best practices from others.
Location: Australia
Location: Bangladesh
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 2012
End Date: 2014
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2012
End Date: 12-2016
Amount: $320,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity