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Previous research has argued that little is known about the dynamics of (de)coupling. This has led to a relatively static and potentially oversimplified view on how externally imposed accountability demands are incorporated into organizational routines. The purpose of this paper is to address these calls by exploring the dynamic processes of de- and re-coupling the two institutional rules of achieving a “balanced budget” and serving “the needs of individuals” in a Swedish school context.

A qualitative case study based on 28 observations and 32 interviews with principals, administrators and teachers within a large Swedish municipality has been used.

In contrast to earlier research, the paper shows that (de)coupling is more than just a static state; it is a result of dynamic challenges and boundary maintenance. It is a state where professional groups try to both decouple and couple accounting into routines to achieve greater autonomy and control, where incarnation of one myth leads to loosening another. It is embedded in an institutional environment’s powerful actors, and when incarnation takes place at different organizational levels, it leads to less conflict in another sphere. The dynamics of (de)coupling thereby unfolds how institutional rules play out in an organizational setting.

From a practical viewpoint, this paper has provided insights into how rules operate in an organizational setting. Given that regulative authorities tend to assume that rules should be tightly coupled to practice, this paper provides a critical examination of the assumption that coupled organizations are inherently “better” than non-coupled ones. To what extent does incarnation of rules reflect the societal ideas – and for whom? By unfolding the dynamics of (de)coupling, this paper illuminates some potential issues with increased tightness between rules and routines.

The paper illuminates the ways in which institutional rules takes place on the ground, and the associated roles for accounting in such process.

The purpose of evaluating enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems ought to be to improve the systems' life cycles. In this paper, narratives are proposed as a means of improving ERP systems as a complement to traditional evaluation methods. The potential of narratives is that they can convey meanings, interpretations, and knowledge of the system, which may lead to action. Even though narratives belong to an interpretive research tradition, this paper takes a pragmatic view of evaluation on the basis of three assumptions about evaluation: evaluations should form the basis for action; narratives can make evaluation more relevant; and evaluations should be made with the purpose of improving selection, implementation and use of the system. The conclusion reached is that narratives can advance evaluation practice by providing a richer evaluation picture which conveys meanings not included in traditional evaluations, and improve the use of ERP systems by changing users' mental maps.

Ramadan intermittent fasting (RIF) has produced heterogeneous and domain-specific effects on cognitive function. This study aims to investigate the effect of RIF on verticality perception or estimation of subjective visual vertical (SVV) in young adults. The significance of SVV is that it is essential for spatial orientation, upon which many daily activities depend.

Verticality perception was assessed with a computerized rod and frame test (CRFT) in two visual conditions: without a surrounding frame and with a distracting tilted frame. The tilted frame condition measures level of visual dependence or reliance of visual cues for posture and orientation. In total, 39 young adult men were recruited at different stages of Ramadan fasting: 21 were tested at the end of the first week (Week 1) and 18 others at the end of the third week (Week 3) of Ramadan. Also, 39 participants were recruited to serve as a non-fasting control group. Factorial ANOVA analyses were conducted to identify the main effects of fasting status, time-of-day and the interaction between them on blood glucose levels, nocturnal sleep duration and vertical alignment errors.

The main effect of fasting status on glucose level was significant (p = 0.03). There was a significant time-of-day main effect on glucose levels (p = 0.007) and sleep duration (p = 0.004) only in fasting participants. Neither the main effects of fasting status nor time-of-day were significant for rod alignment errors in both visual conditions. The interaction of fasting status and time-of-day was not significant either. This may indicate that any negative effect of Ramadan fasting on activities that are critically dependent on verticality perception and spatial orientation, such as sports and driving, may not be due to verticality misperception.

The present study was the first to investigate the effect of Ramadan fasting on spatial orientation. It demonstrated robustness of verticality perception to fasting status and the point of fasting during Ramadan. Verticality perception was also unaffected by time-of-day effects in non-fasting and fasting groups at two different points of Ramadan. This study corroborates others reporting heterogeneous effects of Ramadan fasting on cognitive function.