Gloria Agyemang, Brendan O’Dwyer and Jeffrey Unerman
The purpose of this paper is to offer a retrospective and prospective analysis of the themes explored in the 2006 Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal special issue on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a retrospective and prospective analysis of the themes explored in the 2006 Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal special issue on non-governmental organisation (NGO) accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a reflective review essay.
Findings
The paper outlines how a number of themes in the 2006 special issue addressing downward accountability, hierarchical accountability and management control have been subsequently developed in a selection of papers from the accounting literature. The development of these themes leads to several suggestions for future research in NGO accountability.
Originality/value
The paper offers a systematic, original perspective on recent developments in certain areas of the field of NGO accountability.
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Vien Chu and Belinda Luke
This study aims to investigate how non-government organisation (NGO) managers balance accountability to donors and beneficiaries and the role of felt responsibility in this…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how non-government organisation (NGO) managers balance accountability to donors and beneficiaries and the role of felt responsibility in this process.
Design/methodology/approach
Using concepts of accountability theory, practices of microenterprise development NGOs are examined in two countries – Bangladesh and Indonesia – through interviews with managers of 20 NGOs and analysis of NGOs’ publicly available data.
Findings
Findings show a shift in emphasis from a vertical view (upward to donors and downward to beneficiaries) to a horizontal view of NGO accountability. Under this view, a selective approach to donors whose mission and approaches to poverty alleviation aligned with those of the NGOs played an essential role in supporting NGOs’ internal accountability. Further, felt a responsibility to beneficiaries is identified as an important mediator balancing both upward and downward accountability. While accountability to donors and beneficiaries was interrelated, accountability to donors was considered a short-term objective and accountability to beneficiaries was considered a long-term and overriding objective.
Originality/value
Findings contribute a further understanding of the role of felt responsibility to beneficiaries as a mediator for balancing upward and downward accountability based on the perspectives of NGO managers. Reframing accountability through a horizontal view helps to balance multiple directions of NGO accountability: to self, donors and beneficiaries.
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Details the advantages and disadvantages of service specifications, highlighting the point that measurement of service quality is no longer possible by comparing output to…
Abstract
Details the advantages and disadvantages of service specifications, highlighting the point that measurement of service quality is no longer possible by comparing output to specifications, but only by asking the customer for their perceived quality. Identifies the components of service quality and following on from these, the creation of service specifications. Looks at the possible solutions to the problems of specifications, which can come from quality managers, marketing managers and top management.
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Stuart Cooper and Suzana Grubnic
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability in a public services context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability in a public services context.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a case study of the impact of the Health and Social Care Act (2012) on the practices of Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) members. It draws upon multiple data sources, including in-depth interviews with the members, comprehensive archival data published by the HWB (2011–2019), and observations of HWB public meetings. We utilise the concept of dynamic duality (Li, 2008) to further theorise the relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability and how they mutually transform one another.
Findings
The case illustrates the role of formal and non-formal processes of accountability at a HWB in England. Moreover, the case study reveals the relationship and interaction between the formal and non-formal accountability processes and how they change and transform each other over time. We find that whilst non-formal accountability processes were strengthened by a historical legacy of partnership working, over time the dynamics at play led to the development of formal accountability processes through more sophisticated performance systems, which in turn transformed non-formal accountability processes.
Originality/value
The paper presents a more holistic conceptualisation than articulated in prior accountability literature, dynamic duality, on the relationship between formal and non-formal accountability processes. Through application of this conceptualisation to a HWB in England, the paper spotlights the inter-relationship between formal and non-formal processes of accountability, and how they have the potential to transform each over an extended time-period.
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S. M. Ramya, Fong T. Keng-Highberger and Rupashree Baral
Business and society have been known to be interlinked by a thread called sustainability. However, over the years, this thread has lost its strength because of the dominance of an…
Abstract
Business and society have been known to be interlinked by a thread called sustainability. However, over the years, this thread has lost its strength because of the dominance of an instrumental perspective towards corporate sustainability (CS). Literature shows that there are innumerable tensions around CS decisions and propose several reasons why decision-makers predominantly resort to the instrumental perspective (CS as a mean) rather than the intrinsic perspective (CS as an end) when addressing these tensions. In this chapter, the authors offer a novel solution to overcome this issue by adapting the existing definition of moral imagination (MI) from the business ethics domain to the CS domain with the help of climate science literacy and mental models of climate phenomena. The authors posit that practicing this adapted MI can facilitate decision-makers to move from the instrumental perspective to adopt an intrinsic perspective through integrative and paradox approaches when handling tensions in CS decisions. The authors contribute to the broad field of sustainability by proposing a conceptual framework that links MI to the intrinsic perspective of CS decisions. This chapter not only offers several theoretical contributions and future research directions but also posits that the empirical verification of this framework can offer much-needed insights to managers and policy-makers to combat one of the significant threats to the survival of our planet, climate crisis.
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This study proposes and tests a conceptual model hypothesizing that perceived high-involvement human resource practices (HIHRPs) influence organizational members’ positive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study proposes and tests a conceptual model hypothesizing that perceived high-involvement human resource practices (HIHRPs) influence organizational members’ positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) intentions, via the mediating mechanisms of perceived organizational support (POS) and positive affect (PA).
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaire data were collected from 194 working individuals and were analyzed by using structural equation modeling and the SPSS PROCESS macro.
Findings
The findings of this study are as follows: perceived HIHRPs had a significant positive influence on organizational members’ POS and PA; POS and PA were each significantly and positively related to PWOM intentions; the relation between HIHRPs and PWOM intentions was significantly mediated by POS and significantly mediated by PA; when included in one model, POS and PA together fully mediated the relationship between HIHRPs and PWOM intentions.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to develop and empirically test a model identifying the HR determinants of personnel’s PWOM intentions, an area overlooked within the human resource management and organizational behavior literature. The study is also the first to examine the mediating effects of POS and PA on the relationship between HIHRPs and PWOM intentions.
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Meeting sizing needs in today's clothing is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. Based on the critical incident and grounded theory techniques, data from focus groups…
Abstract
Meeting sizing needs in today's clothing is an important aspect of customer satisfaction. Based on the critical incident and grounded theory techniques, data from focus groups with parents are analysed to establish consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with children's garment sizing. While results revealed that parents were dissatisfied with garment sizing, the study focuses on specific causes of dissatisfaction. The centrality of efficient sizing in creation of consumer satisfaction is underscored.
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Child immunization is widely recognized as a cost-effective preventive medicine. Unfortunately, in India about 50% of the eligible children aged 12–23 months miss some essential…
Abstract
Child immunization is widely recognized as a cost-effective preventive medicine. Unfortunately, in India about 50% of the eligible children aged 12–23 months miss some essential vaccination. Though a positive association between maternal education and markers of child health like immunization has been long established, the literature has struggled to find a causal relationship, mainly because education is inextricably correlated with other socioeconomic variables like income. In this chapter, I propose a new instrument for women’s education in India using the following facts. First, due to lack of sanitary facilities in schools, particularly rural schools, large number of girls drop out of school once they reach puberty. Second, age at menarche is largely determined by biological factors and not social factors. Together, age at menarche can explain variations in schooling, yet be independent of outcome variables like child immunization. I find that additional years of maternal schooling (conditional on strictly positive years of schooling) do increase the probability of complete immunization of children.
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Maureen Alice Flynn and Niamh M. Brennan
The paper examines interviewee insights into accountability for clinical governance in high-consequence, life-and-death hospital settings. The analysis draws on the distinction…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper examines interviewee insights into accountability for clinical governance in high-consequence, life-and-death hospital settings. The analysis draws on the distinction between formal “imposed accountability” and front-line “felt accountability”. From these insights, the paper introduces an emergent concept, “grounded accountability”.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews are conducted with 41 clinicians, managers and governors in two large academic hospitals. The authors ask interviewees to recall a critical clinical incident as a focus for elucidating their experiences of and observation on the practice of accountability.
Findings
Accountability emerges from the front-line, on-the-ground. Together, clinicians, managers and governors co-construct accountability. Less attention is paid to cost, blame, legal processes or personal reputation. Money and other accountability assumptions in business do not always apply in a hospital setting.
Originality/value
The authors propose the concept of co-constructed “grounded accountability” comprising interrelationships between the concept’s three constituent themes of front-line staff’s felt accountability, along with grounded engagement by managers/governors, supported by a culture of openness.
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Andrea Ciacci, Enrico Ivaldi and Riccardo Soliani
Modern cities are divided into some essential dimensions, according to the definitions of smart cities. Smart cities follow innovation-oriented development standards. A smart city…
Abstract
Modern cities are divided into some essential dimensions, according to the definitions of smart cities. Smart cities follow innovation-oriented development standards. A smart city combines multiple aspects, which encourage the birth and blossoming of start-ups. The analysis of smart cities according to subjective variables puts in evidence their potential growth, as well as strengths and weaknesses. On the basis of the Eurostat (2015) survey, the present chapter creates a DP2 index that singles out the most attractive cities for business activities.