Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of performance measurement systems as technologies of government in the operationalisation of smart city programmes. It answers the research question: how do the development and use of performance measurement systems support smart cities in the achievement of their goals?

Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a longitudinal case study that uses an interventionist approach to investigate the possibilities and limitations of the use of performance measurement systems as technologies of government in a smart city. Interpretations are theoretically informed by the Foucauldian governmentality framework (Foucault, 2009) and by public sector performance measurement literature.

Findings – The findings address the benefits and criticalities confronting a smart city that introduces new performance measurement systems as a technology of government. Such technologies become problematic tools when the city network is characterised by a fragmentation of inter-departmental processes, and when forms of resistance emerge due to a lack of process owners, horizontal accountability and cooperation among involved parties.

Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a case study of a single smart city, and outlines the need for both comparative and multidisciplinary analyses in order to analyse the causes and effects of smart city challenges.

Originality/value – This paper offers a critical understanding of the role of accounting in the smart city. The ineffectiveness of performance measurement systems is related to the multiple roles of such technologies of government, which may lead to a temporary paralysis in the achievement of smart city goals and programmes.

The paper reports an interview-based study that considers market driving and market-driven activities within the disaggregated components of the business model. The empirical study is of IKEA in China over a 10 year period. Market orientation is considered as a position on a continuum rather than as binary positions. The components of the business model are developed from the Osterwalder and Pigneur structure. Over the study period, the balance between driven and driving orientations within components of the business model changed in multiple ways. This article's contribution is the illustration of disaggregating the market orientations of driven or driving activities and associating these with the particular components of the business model and so studying what happens to the driven-driving balance over time. The approach has wider applicability for attempts to understand the dynamics of international retailing.

The aim of this study is to investigate how multiple values in non-profit hybrid organisations influence the adoption of management accounting practices. The empirical analysis centres on hybrid organisations established as co-production and co-management initiatives in social care. Pragmatic constructivism, centred on the role of values, informs the empirical analysis. This research shows that management accounting practices can develop without conflicts when only some actors are interested in management and their values predominate, despite the coexistence of multiple and conflicting values. However, in this situation, where conflicts are eliminated, the validity of accounting is compromised, as it does not represent all values. The evidence of this lack of validity is clear when considering the poor development of management accounting practices and the inability to develop some relevant measures, such as outcome measures. When only some values predominate, the opportunity provided by the multiplicity of values to the development of management accounting practices is lost, and possible inefficiencies may emerge. The use of pragmatic constructivism shows that this lack of validity, determined by the non-integration of values, would be reduced by increasing the discussion among conflictingactors’ values. Findings suggest that the presence of conflicting values, that at first glance may be interpreted as an impediment, would, on the contrary, be useful to support accounting validity, when stimulating discussion. In this respect, conflicting values should work alongside communication, to include dimensions of reality.

Purpose – The study aims to explore how concept stores (theoretically) differ from other experience-based retail formats, and hence, how they (practically) contribute to a diversified retail store portfolio. Design/methodology/approach – Case study based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with seven IKEA retail managers, three industry experts and 26 customers of IKEA concept stores in London and Stockholm. Findings – The concept store represents a conceptual departure from other experiential store formats. It is neither fully experiential in the sense that it is not only about marketing communications nor is it sales or profit focused. Its aim is to be an accessible touchpoint that reduces friction on a diversified customer journey with its value to the retail portfolio being that it attracts new and latent customers, mitigates existing inhibiting factors and drives them to other touchpoints. Research limitations/implications – Ideas about the different characteristics of new store formats and their potential to shape the customer experience are extended. New formats reflect innovation in retailing and are part of a retail portfolio which generates different customer expectations and determinants from traditional store formats which provide the customers’ existing reference point. Practical implications – The contributions of new formats should be evaluated in light of other existingformats in the portfolio and not isolated. This is particularly true when considering format cannibalisation and the potentially extended customer journey that arises when customers use traditional format stores and new concept format stores simultaneously. Originality/value – Previous research, using sales metrics and market-based results as performance determinants, suggests negative outcomes for format diversification. Our study suggests that the contributions of the concept store format should be viewed from an overall customer journey perspective and the “performance” of different format based touchpoints are not best captured through traditional sales evaluation methods.

Purpose – The purpose is to explore the different and often contradictory perceptions individual managershave about corporate sustainability within a global retailer.

Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study method is used, including interviews anddocument studies. The authors study the global retailer IKEA. In total the authors have interviewed respondents on both the global level and the country level, within the sustainability organization as well ascorporate, sales and communication management. The study includes managers in Sweden, the UK andGermany.

Findings – The research is based on institutional theory, focusing upon cognitive and normative aspects; theauthors propose that managers may have a proactive, forceful view on sustainability or a reactive view. These need to coexist. The authors also show how global retailers can balance sustainability goals with otherbusiness considerations, as well as about the implications of the sustainability approach for the retailer’sbusiness model.

Practical implications – Retail managers need to recognize and integrate the contradictory views onsustainability that managers hold. The authors show how sustainability can be given different impactdepending on the context and the strategic issue it is linked to.

Originality/value – Most studies have focused on how sustainability is managed on an organizational leveland how different goals can co-exist. The authors’ focus is on individual managers and their perceptions ofsustainability – what it includes, how they want to manage sustainability issues, and the priority it shouldbe given.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the usefulness of popular reporting (PR) in an Italian cityas a dialogic accounting tool for promoting citizens’ engagement with digital platforms. This study aims tocontribute to the debate on democratic accounting technologies with a focus on PR and digital platforms,using the theoretical lens of dialogic accounting.

Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal case study is used to analyse the implementation andevolution of PR in the city of Turin, Italy and explore how the city involved its citizens with digital platforms.

Findings – This study contributes to the debate on public accountability through dialogic accounting tools.

Research limitations/implications – Multiple sources (surveys, interviews and interventionistworkshops) are used to analyse Turin, Italy as a longitudinal case study.

Practical implications – This study offers practical reflections for legislators, politicians and publicmanagers who need new knowledge and empirical analysis of the effective implementation of the PR as a toolfor dialogue and empowering public accounting to hold continuous dialogue with the citizens.

Originality/value – PR can be considered a useful dialogic accounting tool for politicians, managers andgovernment experts to encourage citizens’ engagement in a pluralistic society.

In recent decades, modernization efforts by public sector organizations have been driven by neoliberalism principles, while simultaneously focusing on performance measurement and management systems (PMMS). These systems are expected to promote a stronger emphasis on effectiveness, quality, and outcomes. Based on a documentary analysis, this chapter investigates how PMMS within higher education in Finland and Sweden have defined, measured, and managed outcomes and effectiveness. The findings shed light on converging and diverging trends and the potentialities and challenges of outcome-based approaches and provide scholars and practitioners with insights into the current development and key features of such systems.

Purpose – Employing institutional logic and institutional work as its theoretical framework, this study analyzes scholars’ reactions to performance measurement systems in academia. Design/methodology/approach – Large datasets were collected over time, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements. The data were gathered from a two-wave survey in 2010 (966 respondents) and 2015 (672 respondents), conducted among scholars performing teaching- and research-oriented tasks in three Finnish universities.Findings – The analysis showed statistically significant changes over time in the ways that the respondents were positioned in three major groups influenced by different institutional logics. This study contributes to the international debate on institutional change in universities by showing that in Finnish universities, emerging business logics and existing professional logics can co-exist and be blended among a growing group of academics. The analysis of qualitative open-ended answers suggests that performance measurement systems have led to changes in institutional logic, which have influenced the scholars participating in institutional work at the microlevel in academia.Social implications – While most scholars remain critical of performance measurement systems in universities, the fact that many academics are adapting to performance measurement systems highlights significant changes that are generally occurring in academia.Originality/value – While most extant studies have focused on field- and organizational-level analyses, this study focuses on understanding how the adoption of performance measurement systems affects institutional logic and institutional work at the microlevel. Moreover, the study’s cross-sectional research setting increases society’s understanding of institutional evolution in academia.

To build student engagement and belonging early in the education is crucial for retention and student success. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, universities worldwide were forced to seek for alternative and complementary teaching approaches. In Sweden, universities adopted hybrid teaching since the end of the spring in 2020. The traditional face-to-face teaching facilitates immediate, real-time engagement with activities such as discussion and instant interaction between instructors and students and/or among students which encourages active learning, while an online teaching allows the students to watch videos and read requested materials many times, to complete the assignments at their suitable time and place, to enable good discussion and interaction via online forum and messaging. A hybrid approach combines the advantages of both face-to-face and online approaches. Research shows several challenges with online teaching, for examples, students´ engagement [1], communication between student(s) and teacher(s) [2], connection with/within the group, study groups, study buddies [3] as well as social engagement [4]. When a hybrid approach is applied to the First-Year courses due to the COVID-19, these challenges might have even more serious implications on the retention and success. This study explores two successful cases of how active learning, togetherness and engagement can be created among First-Year students. The study is based on two large introductory courses for the first-year students in Computer Science and in Business Administration at Kristianstad University, Sweden. Both programmes provide the Introduction courses for larger number of students (135 respective 195 students). Various methods and tools were used in the course design to engage students and create an active learning [5] environment using the hybrid approach. The results and experience were also presented. We experienced that students had actively participated in the arranged activities and the course passing rate was higher compared with the face-to-face teaching. The course evaluation also showed that the students were satisfied with course contents and various course activities.

Today it is commonly known that the most effective place branding initiatives are those involving a wide range of place stakeholders. However, few empirical studies show how this can be carried out in practice and little is known about how residents experience participating in place branding initiatives. Design Thinking uses divergent and convergent thinking, creativity, visualization and prototyping to develop ideas and solutions. Inspired by participatory action research, the current study develops and evaluates a framework inspired by Design Thinking for how stakeholders can be involved in a place branding process and value the outcome of such an approach. Observations are complemented by qualitative questionnaires capturing the stakeholders’ perceptions and interviews with public officials. The study shows that Design Thinking facilitates an inclusive place branding process, as the framework developed, titled “The Inclusive Place Diamond”, encourages inclusion and strengthens the sense of meaning making at the same time as it reinforces a broad sense of ownership. Still, conflicting images complicate the process and some resistance towards losing power is observed. One of the key insights is that a process inspired by Design Thinking entails that the implementation of the place brand starts already when stakeholders are invited to the process and continues as a key feature of the evolving process.

Relying on the actorhood theory, this study explores how European Course of Auditors (EXA) depicts and stages itself in relation to its stakeholder. To explore ECAs actorhood journey this study employs visual accounting methodology and analyses front pages of its official journal from its inception in 2009 until 2019. By showing how combination of different visual artefacts have evolved over time this study highlights how transnational public organisations such as the ECA construct their actorhood and position themselves on the stage.  It further reveals the underlying legitimacy mechanisms through which organisations like ECA position themselves in the public eye. Finally, the study illuminates how individuals and context are depicted in interaction with each other and how this interaction reveals the development of the actorhood journey of the ECA over time.

Purpose – Public sector auditing research has changed rapidly over the past four decades. This paper aims to reveal how the field has developed and identify avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a structured literature review following Massaroet al. The sample comprises papers on public sector auditing published in accounting and public sector management journals between 1991 and 2020. Findings – The present analysis highlights that academic research interest in public sector auditing has grown and become more diverse. The authors argue this may reflect a transformation of the public sector in recent decades, owing to the developing institutional logics of public sector reforms, from traditional public administration to new public management and now new public governance. Originality value – This paper offers a comprehensive review of the public sector auditing literature, discussing different perspectives over time. It also outlines the various public sector reforms introduced over the period of the study. In reviewing the existing literature, the authors highlight the themes for future research and policy settings.

As part of introducing accrual accounting in the public sector, many governments have – voluntarily – implemented the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for financial reporting. Amongst other claimed benefits, IPSAS have been argued to facilitate comparison of adopters’ financial reports and to lead tofavourable conditions on credit markets. However, governments that are confronted with the implementation decision face a trade-off between unaltered adoption, partial adoption, adaptation and non-adoption of standards. Drawing on insights from the literature on standardization and practice variation, this paper analyses the reasons, expressed by various actors from nine European countries, for deviating from implementing unaltered IPSAS and proposes a taxonomy of these reasons. The results show that, first, substantial deviations exist, and second, there is a plethora of reasons for them. These deviations are presented and then structured in the further course of the paper. As a consequence of deviations, achieving comparability as the central aim of standardization runs the risk of being undermined.

This paper explores how Supportive Leadership influences Communicative, Collaborative and Performance Management practices and how these three practices, in turn, relate to the Job Satisfaction of public servants within the European Court of Auditors (ECA) context. The empirical exploration statistically tests a theoretical model about the direct and indirect effect of Supportive Leadership on employees’ Job Satisfaction by considering the responses to a survey administered to the ECA staff. The findings of our study show that Supportive Leadership has a direct positive effect on the Job Satisfaction of the ECA employees. The mediation analyses reveal that Communication and Collaborative practices provide a better explanation in the relationship between Supportive Leadership and Job Satisfaction. The analyses show that Supportive Leadership has a significant positive relationship with the effective communication and collaborative practices and these in turn have a significant positive relation with Job Satisfaction of the ECA employees. In the case of Performance Management Practices, instead, we find that, while the Supportive Leadership has a significant positive relation with Performance Management Practices, these practices have no significant relationship with Job Satisfaction. This study does not only address the theoretical void in the field, but also provides an empirical contribution by describing how a professional European audit institution is managing its human resources and the means of doing it.