PhD defense: Diffusion and adoption of management accounting innovations in the public sector

On Tuesday 27 November 2012 Tor-Eirik Olsen will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic, and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

23.11.2012 - Ed.

The dissertation is centered on the adoption and diffusion of management accounting innovations in Norwegian health entities and institutions within higher education. This includes how and why management accounting innovations are adopted and used in different industries within the public sector. It also emphasizes the relevance of the critique of contemporary management accounting practices, with a specific focus on Beyond Budgeting.

The public sector can be characterized as being in a state of transition, attributable to the ideas inherent to New Public Management. Thus, the changing nature of the public sector is the starting point for this dissertation.

However, traditionally, research on adoption and diffusion has been centered on the private sector leaving aside the importance and applicability of these issues in a public sector setting. Consequently, this thesis questions the private sector bias as it demonstrates that these questions and problems are equally valid and important to address in a public sector setting.

In this respect, one prominent example is that health entities and institutions within higher education have a similar view on the critique against budgeting as private banks, an industry that from the outset potentially could benefit from abandoning budgets.

Findings show that several factors influence on the use of management accounting innovations. As such, it is interesting to note that CFO characteristics also can help explain the extent to which organizations use the different innovative management accounting tools included in this dissertation.

Overall, this dissertation has made adoption and diffusion topical in a public sector setting by providing evidence on the usefulness and importance of addressing these types of questions.

Moreover, this has implications for how the management of public sector entities can be understood and has thus helped highlight emerging issues that should be devoted more attention in future research. One example worth mentioning is how different regulatory bodies can be barriers and driving forces in the diffusion processes of management accounting innovations.

Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
The relevance and appropriateness of diffusion theories for understanding the spread of management accounting innovations in the Norwegian public sector.

Time of the trial lecture:
10:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Title of the thesis:
Diffusion and adoption of management accounting innovations in the public sector - The case of Norwegian health entities and institutions within higher education.

Time and place for the defense:
12:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Supervising committee:
Professor Trond Bjørnenak, NHH (Principal supervisor)
Førsteamanuensis Kari Nyland, HiST
Professor Lars Fallan, HiST

Evaluation committee:
Professor Hanne Nørreklit, NHH (leader)
Professor Lino Cinquini, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
Associate Professor Morten Jakobsen, Aarhus School of Business