Circuits of power and accountability during institutionalisation of competitive tendering in public sector organisations: A field study in public care of the elderly
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 10 June 2014
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the role of circuits of power in institutionalising competitive tendering in public sector organisations and effects on accountability among public decision makers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used intensive field research data based on interviews, meeting observations and document analysis in a city, referred to as Sunset City, in Finland from 2008 to 2013.
Findings
The relationship between institutionalisation of competitive tendering and accountability for total costs of public services depends on how public officials use management accounting and control systems to limit procurement risks and how political decision makers hold public officials to account. This study uses the concept of organisational outflanking within the circuits of power to analyse and explain the finding of ceremonial accountability.
Research limitations/implications
Empirical findings cannot be generalised to other situations, but the theoretical framework used in this study can be applied elsewhere.
Practical implications
It is advisable to avoid institutionalising macro-institutional market-based mechanisms, such as open competitive tendering in public health care organisations and municipalities in the EU, the consequences of which in terms of total costs, quality of services and accountability among organisational actors at local levels cannot be foreseen, minimised or controlled.
Originality/value
This study uses the framework of circuits of power to extend the Burns and Scapens institutional framework to accountability for using public funds in outsourcing services during the ongoing financial crisis.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 16th IRSPM Annual Conference, 11-13 April 2012 in Rome, Italy and the 13th Asian Academic Accounting Association Annual Conference, 9-12 November 2012 in Kyoto, Japan. The author wishes to thank Professor Lars Hassel, Professor Giuseppe Grossi, Associate Professor Ileana Steccolini, Professor Gary Cunningham, conference participants and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve this paper.
Citation
Claude Mutiganda, J. (2014), "Circuits of power and accountability during institutionalisation of competitive tendering in public sector organisations: A field study in public care of the elderly", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 129-145. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-04-2014-0034
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited