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Knowledge balance sheets in Austrian universities: The implementation, use, and re-shaping of measurement and management practices

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  • Habersam, Michael
  • Piber, Martin
  • Skoog, Matti

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how a mandatory external (mostly) non-financial reporting process, labelled Knowledge Balance Sheets (KBS), is interpreted and used by different stakeholders in the Austrian university system. We are also interested in how the content and structure of the report transforms over time, how the possible link to the internal management control agenda is made, and how it reshapes organizational routines. The paper applies a critical approach where mostly non-financial, intellectual capital-related measurement, management, and reporting processes and structures are being questioned and discussed from different perspectives.

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  • Habersam, Michael & Piber, Martin & Skoog, Matti, 2013. "Knowledge balance sheets in Austrian universities: The implementation, use, and re-shaping of measurement and management practices," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 319-337.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:24:y:2013:i:4:p:319-337
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2012.08.001
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    1. Saliterer, Iris & Korac, Sanja, 2013. "Performance information use by politicians and public managers for internal control and external accountability purposes," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 502-517.
    2. Constantin BRATIANU & Florina PINZARU, 2015. "Challenges for the University Intellectual Capital in the Knowledge Economy," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 3(4), pages 609-627, December.
    3. Yu, Ai & Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia & Kourti, Isidora, 2017. "The role of intellectual capital reporting (ICR) in organisational transformation: a discursive practice perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69226, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Roussy, Mélanie, 2013. "Internal auditors’ roles: From watchdogs to helpers and protectors of the top manager," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 550-571.
    5. Cooper, Christine, 2015. "Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 14-24.
    6. Grisard, Claudine, 2023. "Time, workload model and the entrepreneurial construction of the neoliberal academic," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Bejinaru Ruxandra, 2017. "Knowledge strategies aiming to improve the intellectual capital of universities," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 12(3), pages 500-523, September.
    8. Giuseppe Nicolo’ & Francesca Manes-Rossi & Johan Christiaens & Natalia Aversano, 2020. "Accountability through intellectual capital disclosure in Italian Universities," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(4), pages 1055-1087, December.
    9. Rocco Frondizi & Chiara Fantauzzi & Nathalie Colasanti & Gloria Fiorani, 2019. "The Evaluation of Universities’ Third Mission and Intellectual Capital: Theoretical Analysis and Application to Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-23, June.
    10. Brătianu Constantin, 2018. "A holistic view of the organizational knowledge dynamics," HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 7-22, August.
    11. Mutiganda, Jean Claude, 2013. "Budgetary governance and accountability in public sector organisations: An institutional and critical realism approach," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 518-531.
    12. Tatiana Garanina & Henri Hussinki & Johannes Dumay, 2021. "Accounting for intangibles and intellectual capital: a literature review from 2000 to 2020," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5111-5140, December.
    13. Nicolò, Giuseppe & Raimo, Nicola & Polcini, Paolo Tartaglia & Vitolla, Filippo, 2021. "Unveiling the link between performance and Intellectual Capital disclosure in the context of Italian Public universities," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. English, Linda M., 2013. "The impact of an independent inspectorate on penal governance, performance and accountability: Pressure points and conflict “in the pursuit of an ideal of perfection”," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 532-549.
    15. Yu, Ai & Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia & Kourti, Isidora, 2017. "The role of Intellectual Capital Reporting (ICR) in organisational transformation: A discursive practice perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 48-62.
    16. Giuliani, Marco & Skoog, Matti, 2020. "Making sense of the temporal dimension of intellectual capital: A critical case study," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    17. Bratianu Constantin, 2018. "Intellectual capital research and practice: 7 myths and one golden rule," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 13(2), pages 859-879, June.
    18. Ferhat D. Zengul & James D. Byrd & Nurettin Oner & Mark Edmonds & Arline Savage, 2019. "Exploring corporate governance research in accounting journals through latent semantic and topic analyses," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 175-192, October.
    19. John Dumay, 2015. "Forty-two," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(1), pages 21582440145, January.
    20. Gebreiter, Florian, 2022. "A profession in peril? University corporatization, performance measurement and the sustainability of accounting academia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

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