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Article
Publication date: 13 July 2022

Antonio Leotta and Daniela Ruggeri

This study aims to explore how the use of a performance measurement system (PMS) reflects the compatibility between institutional logics at different levels. It emphasises the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how the use of a performance measurement system (PMS) reflects the compatibility between institutional logics at different levels. It emphasises the centrality of institutional logics behind actors’ expectations.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on pragmatic constructivism, the study assumes that a PMS is used coherently when it realises the values and beliefs of the actors involved. This requires that actors communicate and understand one another (communication coherence) and accept the PMS in use (value coherence). The study argues that a coherent use of a PMS reflects the compatibility between the institutional logics at the same (field levels) or different levels (field and societal levels). The empirical evidence comes from a large public hospital located in the south of Italy.

Findings

The empirical results describe episodes that highlight how the coherence in the use of PMS reflects the compatibility of institutional logics at different levels and episodes where the compatibility can be hindered by problems in the coherent use of the PMS related to value and communication coherence. A lack of communication and value coherence is highlighted in the use of PMS as “compromising accounts”.

Originality/value

The study sheds light on how coherence in the use of PMS reflects the compatibility between the institutional logics involved at different levels, suggesting that a focus on one prevailing logic must be avoided. The study extends logics compatibility beyond the field level to the societal level.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 May 2017

Antonio Leotta and Daniela Ruggeri

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how the variety of the actors involved in a performance measurement system (PMS) innovation are spread out in time and space. Healthcare…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how the variety of the actors involved in a performance measurement system (PMS) innovation are spread out in time and space. Healthcare contests are examined, where such an innovation is influenced by present and past systems and practices (spread out in time), and by managerial and health-professional actors (spread out in space).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on Callon’s actor network theory, the authors describe PMS innovations as processes of translation, and distinguish between incremental and radical innovations. The theoretical arguments are used to explain the evidence drawn from a longitudinal case study carried out in an Italian public teaching hospital, referring to the period from 1998 up to 2003.

Findings

The conceptual framework shows how the translation moments lead to a recognition of the different actants involved in a PMS innovation, how their interests are interrelated and mobilized. Moreover, it shows how the interaction among the actants involved in the process is related to the type of PMS innovation, i.e. radical vs incremental. The case evidence offers detailed insights into the phenomenon, testing the explanatory power of the framework, and highlights how the failure of one of the translation moments can compromise the success of a PMS innovation.

Originality/value

This study differs from the extant accounting literature on PMS innovations as it highlights how the introduction of a new PMS can be affected by some elements of the previous systems “package,” which are relevant for the mobilization of the actants through the new project.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 January 2021

Carmela Rizza and Daniela Ruggeri

This paper aims to better understand how an accounting information system (AIS), working as a multidimensional knowledge object, engages users in a new round of knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to better understand how an accounting information system (AIS), working as a multidimensional knowledge object, engages users in a new round of knowledge development which allows them to explore new managerial directions. Drawing on the concept of the knowledge object and the knowing in practice perspective, this study considers the relationships between subjects and objects in the explication of accounting practice, underlining how AIS could become a knowledge object that can assume a variety of forms, starting from such contradictions emerging from practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretical argumentations are applied to a case study at a global logistics provider in the South of Italy, which manages the supply chain from origin to destination, offering a multitude of services in the transport and distribution sector.

Findings

The case study shows that the process of knowledge accumulation promotes the mutation of AIS into a knowledge object that, in its variety of forms, allows managers to explore new managerial directions such as the reorganization of warehouse activities.

Originality/value

The paper seeks to enrich the interpretation of AIS as a multidimensional knowledge object becoming a catalyst of new managerial directions through knowing. That helps to understand the role of accounting tools as a social practice supporting decision-making and how accounting systems’ openness and questioning nature makes them objects of enquiry able to support the identification of new managerial directions and lead the AIS to continually explode and mutate into something else.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2017

Antonio Leotta, Carmela Rizza and Daniela Ruggeri

Succession in family firms may determine the survival or the failure of the business itself. Management accounting literature has added little to this issue, mainly focusing on…

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Abstract

Purpose

Succession in family firms may determine the survival or the failure of the business itself. Management accounting literature has added little to this issue, mainly focusing on the process of succession and change (Songini et al., 2013; Giovannoni and Maraghini, 2013; Giovannoni et al., 2011). This study aims to deal with new management accounting (MA) practices that the junior generation may introduce during the process of succession. The aim of the study is to show that the introduction of new MA practices can contribute to constructing the leadership profile of the junior generation.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the perspective of actor-reality construction (ARC), the authors conducted a case study at a small-sized family firm producing solar shading systems. The authors examined how the construction of the successor’s leadership derives from the integration of four dimensions of reality: facts, possibilities, values and communication. Such an integration is facilitated by the introduction of a new accounting information system and cost reporting.

Findings

The case evidence highlights that the construction of the new generation leadership may emerge as a consequence of the introduction of new MA practices. Moreover, the field evidence highlights that the construction of a new generation leadership is a process that integrates the four dimensions of reality.

Originality/value

From the emergent perspective of ARC, the paper highlights how new MA practices play an active role in constructing the new generation leadership.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 June 2012

Daniela Ruggeri

Purpose – Accounting research has long shown the effect of subjectivity in performance evaluation. This study investigates one form of subjectivity in performance evaluation…

Abstract

Purpose – Accounting research has long shown the effect of subjectivity in performance evaluation. This study investigates one form of subjectivity in performance evaluation: flexibility in weighting performance measures examining decisions made by supervisors about weighting. Empirical studies show that the performance-measure weights are only partially consistent with the predictions of the agency theory and they are a still outstanding issue.

Methodology/approach – We develop an experiment to analyse supervisor decision-making, manipulating two factors: internal organisational interdependence and the level of managerial performance. We derive hypotheses along with both economic and behavioural approaches. The economic approach is based on agency theory predictions and the controllability principle while the behavioural approach is drawn on the organisational justice theory. We argue that in low interdependence contexts the supervisor's decision confirms the agency theory predictions, while in high interdependence conditions weighting decisions could be driven by behavioural considerations of fairness perceptions of the evaluation process and the level of managerial performance.

Findings – We find that in low interdependence contexts the supervisor's decision confirms the agency theory predictions, while in high interdependence contexts it does not. The results indicate that the supervisor's decision stems from the integration of economic and behavioural perspectives.

Research and social implications – The theoretical framework can be useful for interpreting the supervisor decision-making and the weighting process.

Originality – The economic and behavioural approaches allow us to understand flexibility in weighting performance measures suggesting that, in addition to economic considerations, a behavioural perspective may also be relevant in explaining subjective weighting.

Details

Performance Measurement and Management Control: Global Issues
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-910-3

Book part
Publication date: 19 June 2012

Antonio Leotta and Daniela Ruggeri

Purpose – In the last decades, Italian healthcare organisations have been subject to important normative changes, aimed at increasing their efficiency. As a response, performance…

Abstract

Purpose – In the last decades, Italian healthcare organisations have been subject to important normative changes, aimed at increasing their efficiency. As a response, performance measurement and evaluation (PME) systems have been introduced. The present study attempts to examine PME system changes as institutional processes. In studying such processes the healthcare literature acknowledges the presence of two logics: managerial and professional, as peculiar to healthcare settings, whose convergence or divergence can explain the success of any institutional process.

Design/methodology/approach – We adopt Busco et al.'s (2007) framework as an approach for unbundling PME system change into four relevant coordinates, namely: (1) the object (PME system), (2) the subjects (institutional forces), (3) the place and time of change (the managerial and professional logics) and (4) the how and why change happens (change as an institutional process). We conducted a longitudinal case study at a large teaching hospital in Southern Italy, directed to interpret PME system changes during the period from 1998 until 2009.

Findings – Our observation distinguishes episodes of successful institutional processes, where the introduced innovations are transformed into objectivated practices, from episodes of missed institutionalisation, where new procedures were rapidly abandoned.

Research and social implications – This theoretical framework can be useful for interpreting the PME system changes in different institutional contexts.

Originality – The Busco et al.'s framework allows us to understand PME system changes by integrating the perspectives from Neo-Institutional Sociology, representing healthcare organisational responses to external institutional pressures, and Old-Institutional Economics, conceptualising PME system changes as an institutionalisation process.

Details

Performance Measurement and Management Control: Global Issues
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-910-3

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 19 June 2012

Abstract

Details

Performance Measurement and Management Control: Global Issues
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-910-3

Article
Publication date: 19 May 2021

Daniela Perbandt, Marie-Sophie Heinelt, Paula Bacelar-Nicolau, Mahsa Mapar and Sandra Sofia Caeiro

Distance universities are of great importance for establishing sustainability literacy, as they operate as multipliers for thousands of students. However, despite several…

Abstract

Purpose

Distance universities are of great importance for establishing sustainability literacy, as they operate as multipliers for thousands of students. However, despite several advantages of e-learning environments compared to traditional class-teaching, there are still challenges regarding suitable e-learning tools and didactical models. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of several e-learning tools on students’ knowledge and skills growth and to compare two learning paths, synchronous vs asynchronous, exploring how each affects the level of students’ knowledge achievement and skills acquisition.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis is based on an online course “Participatory processes in environmental politics”. International MSc and PhD students who enrolled in the course were from FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany) and Aberta University (Portugal). The course was designed as the flipped classroom, applying different e-learning tools and activities, some synchronous and others asynchronous. A pre- and post-evaluation questionnaire was applied to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills. Descriptive statistical analyses were carried out on this data.

Findings

Results showed that in the synchronous group, knowledge about theoretical approaches to citizen participation and sustainable environmental governance improved to a greater extent, whereas the asynchronous group showed greater improvement in nearly all skills related to intercultural communication and e-learning. Also, in the synchronous path, students enhanced their knowledge on “research application” to a greater extent.

Originality/value

Evaluating the effectiveness of different e-learning tools on students’ sustainability knowledge and information and communication technologies skills is a fundamental issue. The study discusses these issues, contributing to enhancing the use of adequate and grounded e-learning models on sustainable development in higher education.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2023

Sarah Louise Parry, Zarah Eve, Vasileios Stamou, Alice Brockway and Daniela Di Basilio

Half of adulthood mental health challenges begin by the age of 14-years-old, making the need for early-intervention clear. This study aims to evaluate a new service model that…

Abstract

Purpose

Half of adulthood mental health challenges begin by the age of 14-years-old, making the need for early-intervention clear. This study aims to evaluate a new service model that promotes early-intervention through a community based low-intensity Hub.

Design/methodology/approach

Clinical data from 2,384 young people were analysed through within-group, pre- and post-comparisons and qualitative survey, and interview data was analysed through content analysis.

Findings

Overall, participants reported that they were highly satisfied with the Hub and the low-intensity brief interventions met their needs. Participants reported that learning new skills, having a place to talk and positive therapeutic relationships were beneficial. The Hub appeared to be less successful for young people with complex mental health difficulties. As a service, the adoption of the Hub model reduced waiting list times by more than half.

Research limitations/implications

The quantitative data demonstrated that engaging with the Hub reduced symptoms of psychological distress. Qualitative analyses suggest that access to local, community, welcoming and “less clinical” support was beneficial, and the type of brief interventions offered was less important than therapeutic relationships.

Originality/value

This is the first study of a novel “Hub” model for low-intensity brief interventions in a socio-economically deprived area of England. Local knowledge, community integrated support, therapeutic relationships and a welcoming environment were viewed as more beneficial than the type of brief interventions offered. Consequently, community spaces can be created to be therapeutic and beneficial for mental health outside of a traditional conceptualisation of clinical support.

Details

Journal of Children's Services, vol. 18 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-6660

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2018

Kaiwen Pang, Yaojun Li, Wei Yang and Zhuqing Liu

This study aims to develop and validate a new cavitation model that considers thermodynamic effects for high-temperature water flows.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to develop and validate a new cavitation model that considers thermodynamic effects for high-temperature water flows.

Design/methodology/approach

The Rayleigh–Plesset equation and “B-factor” method proposed by Franc are used to construct a new cavitation model called “thermodynamic Zwarte–Gerbere–Belamri” (TZGB) by introducing the thermodynamic effects into the original ZGB model. Furthermore, the viscous term of the Rayleigh–Plesset equation is considered in the TZGB model, and the model coefficients are formulated as a function of temperature. Cavitating flows around the NACA0015 hydrofoil under different water temperatures (25°C, 50°C and 70°C) at the angle of attack of 5° are calculated.

Findings

Results of the investigated temperatures show good agreement with the available experimental data. Given that the thermodynamic and viscosity effects are included in the TZGB model and the model coefficients are treated as a function of temperature, the TZGB model shows better performance in predicting the pressure coefficient distribution and length of cavity than the original ZGB cavitation model and other models do. The TZGB model aims to determine the thermodynamic and viscosity effects and perform better than the other models in predicting the mass transfer rate, particularly in high-temperature water.

Originality/value

The TZGB model shows potential in predicting the cavitating flows at high temperature and the computational cost of this model is similar to that of the original ZGB model.

Details

Engineering Computations, vol. 35 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-4401

Keywords

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