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Article
Publication date: 21 January 2025

Daniela Argento, Sara Brorström and Giuseppe Grossi

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development and use of social sustainability performance measurement practices at the city level. This purpose is achieved by…

149

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development and use of social sustainability performance measurement practices at the city level. This purpose is achieved by addressing the following research question: How do city actors translate social sustainability strategies into performance measurement practices?

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive ethnographic study was conducted with a focus on how social sustainability – as defined in the vision and related strategies of the Swedish city of Gothenburg – was translated into performance measurement practices and how performance indicators and assessment tools were transformed over time in the pursuit of social sustainability goals. Findings were interpreted through the lens of Actor Network Theory concept of translation.

Findings

Findings reveal how, through a chain of translations, social sustainability and related performance indicators and other assessment tools evolve over time. Social sustainability deviated from the original politically decided definition, as stated in the strategy, because it was transformed by the human and nonhuman actors engaged with it. Social sustainability performance measurement practices lost relevance as internal steering tools and became a means for gaining external legitimacy.

Practical implications

Performance measurement and assessment tools initially intended to monitor the achievement of social sustainability goals lose their meaningfulness when their main use becomes a formal accomplishment rather than an opportunity for improvement.

Originality/value

This paper highlights how translations which destabilize social sustainability can affect the city management and influence the overarching social sustainability aims of the whole city. The presence of many actors gives room to “theoretical” and “practical” translations which deviate the course of actions.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 February 2021

Alexander Styhre and Sara Brorström

Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in…

1482

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on the literature on professional ignorance, here defined in affirmative terms as the capacity to act regardless of the incompleteness of available information in organizations and professional communities, the article reports empirical material from an urban development project wherein policy makers' instructions are vague and, in certain domains, inconsistent with market conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

Urban development projects regularly include uncertainty and risk taking, and policy makers' stated objectives regarding project goals may be incomplete or merely signal a political ambition. In such situations, first-line project participants need to make decisions as if uncertainties regarding policy objectives are manageable and preferably minimal. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the proposition that professional ignorance is a key mechanism in incomplete or imperfect governance systems.

Findings

Project participants actively questioned policy but acted on the instructions just the same, which is indicative of how professional ignorance is supportive of governance system that relies on first-line market actors and agencies to implement also incomplete or vaguely stated policy objectives. Incomplete policies derive from challenges in political deliberation and bargaining processes, uncertainty regarding the future and shifting preferences among policy makers and constituencies more widely. In practice, incomplete policies regularly include issues for first-level actors (e.g. on the urban development project level) to handle and to reconcile in their day-to-day work.

Originality/value

On basis of an empirical study of a major urban development project, the study contributes to a growing literature that recognizes the value of professional ignorance in governance systems and in project management practice. The study invites further scholarly research that takes an affirmative of professional ignorance but without overlooking its risks and potential malfunctions.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Sara Brorström

This paper examines innovation implementation in the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the “black box” of implementation of innovations and then answer…

1026

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines innovation implementation in the public sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the “black box” of implementation of innovations and then answer questions of hindrances and opportunities when it comes to implementing innovative ideas in the public sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The specific context in this case is a city organization that received funding from the Delegation for Sustainable Cities to put six innovative ideas into practice in a city district. The data collection methods consisted of interviews and observations of meetings where the implementation phase was discussed.

Findings

The findings imply that innovative ideas that seemed best on paper often proved to be difficult to implement. The possibility of funding, for example, provided a reason to think “outside the box”, but the system for presenting the ideas in order to obtain the funding was time consuming. The resulting delay meant that, by the time the applications were evaluated, the submitted ideas were no longer necessarily the best available. The findings also imply that one important role of public organizations in implementing innovations is to facilitate the response by its users, here the inhabitants.

Research limitations/implications

When discussing innovations and implementation the time aspects is a limitation, the future might imply other effects than the ones visible here.

Practical implications

Public sector managers possibilities of organizing to be more innovative can be discussed. From a management perspective focus might thus be on facilitate the implementation of the innovation, since the demand of the new solutions might be other than expected.

Social implications

The users of public sector innovations, here the inhabitants, might demand other things that expected, which highlights the need of an ongoing dialogue between city managers and inhabitants.

Originality/value

The methodology of following projects in real time proved to be a unique approach for understanding the ”black box” of implementing innovative ideas. The existing paradoxes of managing public sector organizations are thus illustrated.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 29 March 2019

Laura Broccardo, Francesca Culasso and Sara Giovanna Mauro

To address the growing pressure to foster effectiveness, sustainability and quality of life, local governments have focused on developing policies and initiatives designed to make…

1805

Abstract

Purpose

To address the growing pressure to foster effectiveness, sustainability and quality of life, local governments have focused on developing policies and initiatives designed to make their cities smarter. Despite the growing attention paid to this issue, an important but under-investigated issue is represented by the smart city governance. In this regard, in light of the claimed need for collaboration, the purpose of this paper is to investigate why and how different institutional works carried out by multiple actors may explain the way in which collaborative governance can be constructed in the context of a smart city.

Design/methodology/approach

A rich in-depth case study has been carried out exploring the experience of a smart city in the north of Italy. The study explores the institutional works done by multiple actors (Lawrence et al., 2013) and their influence on the governance of the smart city.

Findings

Collaboration is perceived to be instrumental in making a city smart, during the design and implementation phase, while generating new challenges that must be overcome by an integration of the political, technical and, especially, cultural work of the collective actors involved.

Originality/value

Despite governance is recognized as a crucial factor for realizing a smartness-orientation, it is scarcely investigated. The main value of the current research is thus its contribution to overcome this gap providing new empirical evidence on the role of multiple actors in the smart city context.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

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