Coming to Terms with Accountability

Willems, Tom; Dooren, Wouter Van

doi:10.1080/14719037.2012.662446

Cited by 87 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…External reporting is one core feature -along with the performance measurement and accruals accounting -of many reform processes of the recent decades (Marcuccio and Steccolini 2009). The focus on reports has also been fuelled by increased attention (from policymakers and researchers) to accountability (Bovens 2005;Willems and Van Dooren. 2012).…”

Section: Sustainability Reporting By Local Governmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability reporting by local governments: a magic tool? Lessons on use and usefulness from European pioneers

Niemann

Hoppe

2017

Public Management Review

106

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A growing number of city governments worldwide engage in sustainability reporting, voluntarily and responding to legal pressures. Diverse practices emerged based on unique choices concerning formats, periodicity, authorship and dissemination efforts. Such design questions and associated outcomes are highly relevant for practitioners yet unaddressed in standard guidelines and most prior research that primarily concern content and conjectured reporting benefits. This article presents a framework suited to assessing real-life practices and outcomes. An exploratory evaluation in Amsterdam, Basel, Dublin, Freiburg, Nuremberg and Zurich suggests that sustainability reporting can benefit organizational change, management and communication yet also lead to 'fatigue' and discontinuation.

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Section: Sustainability Reporting By Local Governmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability reporting by local governments: a magic tool? Lessons on use and usefulness from European pioneers

Niemann

Hoppe

2017

Public Management Review

106

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“…There are also many ways to classify dimensions or typologies of accountability. For instance, Willems and Van Dooren (2000; have made an extensive classification of typologies based on the literature of accountability. To gain an idea, the classifications include legal or judicial, political, market, professional or peer and social accountability.…”

Section: Defining Accountability In the Context Of Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of co-production on frontline accountability: the case of the conciliation service

Tuurnas

Stenvall

Rannisto

2015

International Review of Administrative Sciences

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Mixing of roles between professionals, volunteers and service users creates a new, complex environment in which to produce and deliver public services. In this kind of environment, the issues of accountability become ever more important. This article presents a qualitative case study of co-production between volunteers and professionals in the legally regulated restorative justice services in Finland. Theoretically, we draw together the concept of citizen co-production with the literature on street-level bureaucracy and accountability. As a result of the study, we can say that co-production between volunteers and professionals increases accountability ties. In particular, the meaning of process-centred accountability is salient in horizontal accountability relations. Thus, co-production as a governance arrangement changes the working culture of public service professionals. In the new partnerships, although not entirely horizontal, we can recognize a seed for cultural change for professionalized public service organizations. Points for practitionersIn this article we have researched co-production between professionals and volunteers in a legally regulated public service, the conciliation service, examining the perceptions of accountability in the frontline practices. The results show that the process-centred nature of the co-produced services leaves less room for discretion and the application of rules by individual street-level workers. Furthermore, as the service users do not consider volunteers to be part of the authority, co-production might be smoother. This is significant especially in the social services, where the clients per se are not necessarily motivated to co-produce, but where co-production would be essential for achieving effective service outcomes.

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“…Before exploring the literature on accountability in the context of philanthropy, it is important to recognise the many types or categorisations of accountability identified in the literature (Willems and Van Dooren ). Prominent among these are dimensions of accountability (Kearns ), accountability to different stakeholders (Najam ), directions of accountability (Ebrahim ), accountability strategies (Bovens ), and framework questions for accountability (Mashaw ).…”

Section: Literature On Accountability and Philanthropymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Be Accountable? Exploring Voluntary Accountability of Australian Private Ancillary Funds

2017

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The aim of this paper is to consider why Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs), endowed philanthropic foundations with no public reporting requirements, engage in accountability in its various forms. This exploratory, qualitative study reports on perspectives on accountability from 10 semi-structured interviews with PAF managers and/or trustees from three Australian states. Through the lens of March and Olsen's (2011) logics of action andKarsten's (2015) typology of motivational forms for voluntary accountability, findings show that although logics of appropriateness and consequentiality explain many reasons why PAFs engage in voluntary accountability, some reasons do not fit comfortably within either logic. The findings challenge conceptions embedded in much non-profit accountability literature that motivations for and purposes of accountability are linked with sustainability and survival. By examining this subset of non-profit organisations subject to limited regulatory accountability, a clearer understanding of motivations for voluntary accountability is achieved.

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Coming to Terms with Accountability

Cited by 87 publications

References 43 publications

Sustainability reporting by local governments: a magic tool? Lessons on use and usefulness from European pioneers

Sustainability reporting by local governments: a magic tool? Lessons on use and usefulness from European pioneers

The impact of co-production on frontline accountability: the case of the conciliation service

Why Be Accountable? Exploring Voluntary Accountability of Australian Private Ancillary Funds

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