Performance management in scientific and cultural organisations: from an institutional perspective

Abstract

This thesis deepens our understanding of the institutional and organisational changes, which are taking place in the scientific and cultural public sector organisations, regarding their efforts to adopt performance management practices in the broader climate of increasing external demands of accountability and transparency. Using institutional theory as the main theoretical lens and an inductive approach, data is collected and analysed from an in-depth case study spanning four years in one scientific and cultural organisation and from a survey of the field such organisations are embedded in. At the field level, scientific and cultural organisations are embedded in multiple institutional logics (e.g. professional, governance/performance, managerial). Findings reveal the micro processes and dynamics of management accounting and institutional changes and how the power shift both results from and propel such changes. Apart from the emphasis on institutional multiplicity as key to understanding the change process, attention is paid to how institutional entrepreneurs use visual framing with accounting inscriptions to promote changes, how emotional factors and the role of specialist work groups contribute to institutional change. Thus, the thesis, as a whole, provides practical insights into this special type of organisations and their performance management practices. Theoretical contributions are made towards the micro foundations of institutional theory and interpretive accounting research with visual and emotional elements. Implications for practitioner and policy making are also explored.