Purpose Existing performance assessment frameworks, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), struggle to incorporate diverse voices and representations of heterogeneous contexts. Cities, in particular, present a challenging context for sustainability performance assessment as they pursue new forms of governance based on the multiplicity of actors and inter-organisational collaboration. This study explores how sustainability performance accounts are created at the urban level within collaborative forms of governance and amidst the plethora of available devices for performance assessment. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a case study approach. Qualitative methods are mobilised to study a large European project focused on the urban transition to a circular economy in six participating cities. The construction of sustainability performance accounts is studied via the Actor-Network Theory lens. Findings The study highlights that when it comes to sustainability assessment in city initiatives, existing performance assessment devices are adapted and modified to fit local needs and other sources of performance information are spontaneously mobilised to address the different dimensions of sustainability. Originality/value This study contributes to the public sector accounting literature by explaining the process of modifying existing devices for performance assessment to allow for the co-creation of accounts and by illuminating the spontaneous way in which performance information is generated and combined.
Purpose This study examines how circular economy (CE) performance indicators are constructed in an urban context characterised by a multitude of conflicting interests and visions of urban development. It explores the process of constructing a shared consensus about the performance indicators in conditions of low contractibility, where intervention objectives and outcomes are not easily quantifiable because the object is ambiguous and cannot be fully specified in advance. Design/methodology/approach The construction of performance indicators at the urban level is examined through the lens of an action net. Using group interviews, observations and documentary analysis, this study investigates the case of a CE initiative in the city of Milan. Findings The study demonstrates that in cases of low contractibility, the development of CE solutions requires actions that span across organisational boundaries, organised in an action net. As the action net unfolds, it is closely knotted with the construction of performance indicators, indicating a co-constitutive relationship between the two processes. Originality/value This interdisciplinary study contributes to the public sector accounting literature by exploring the complexity of performance indicator construction at the urban level. It further recognises performance measurement in cities as a dynamic and flexible process, in which the interconnected actions and involvement of multiple actants shape the composition of the indicators.
Purpose This paper aims to explore the role of performance measurement systems as technologies of government for the assessment and management of the effects of COVID-19 in the context of six cities involved in a large European project. Design/methodology/approach Based on the field study of a large European project, this paper relies on a comparative case study research approach (Yin, 2003). This research design allows insights into the role of central and local key performance indicators (KPIs) in managing the ongoing pandemic. Findings This paper explores the role of accounting in the assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its findings illustrate how the “adjudicating” and “territorialising” roles (Miller and Power, 2013) of local and central accounting technologies rendered the COVID-19 pandemic calculable. Originality/value This paper connects central and local performance management systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It relies on a governmentality approach to discuss how different programmes and the relative KPIs were impacted by the ongoing global crisis.
This PhD thesis sets out to explore how circular economy performance is managed and accounted for in collaborative initiatives in cities. While no universally agreed definition of circular economy currently exists, it is often referred to as a model of production and consumption that aims at decoupling economic growth from natural resource depletion and environmental degradation. Circular economy is often discussed in opposition to the dominant ‘take-make-use-dispose’ approach whereby natural resources are extracted and converted to products, which are then used and disposed of in a short timeframe. As such, circular economy is frequently debated in both academic and practitioner circles as a means to achieve long-term sustainability. Cities explore the concept of circular economy in order to increase competitiveness, attract investment, mitigate the consequences of the looming climate crisis, and become ‘future-proof’. As circular economy implementation on a city level requires cross-sector collaboration, various initiatives emerge with a goal to ‘co-develop’, test, and scale circular economy solutions. These collaborative initiatives gather different actors, who represent various and often conflicting interests, visions of urban development, and understandings of circular economy. For these initiatives to reach the desired goals, they require not only effective management but also systems that facilitate information flows, dialogue, and debate. Public sector accounting literature suggests that performance accounting can play such a role in collaborative initiatives.
