Universities in a contested space: The dominance of calculative accounting practices and the development of a research agenda

Noel Hyndman, Irvine Lapsley, Mariannunziata Liguori*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Over the last few decades, neoliberal, managerial, reforms have dominated the university sector in a number of different countries. Calculative practices, including performance measures and indicators, have spread and targets, in terms of research outputs and increasing student numbers in order to generate “profit”, have become the norm, despite the many voices seeing this as often clashing with the mission of universities to create knowledge and contribute to social development. The paper provides an overview of the changing focus on how universities have been managed over time and, at the same time, of the emergence and measurementof Public Value themes in the university sector. A future research agenda is proposed for those interested in the study of the university sector, together with possibleresearch questions to further this area.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalFinancial Accountability and Management
Volume40
Early online date22 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 22 Nov 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • calculative practices
  • higher education
  • neoliberalism
  • research agenda
  • universities

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Universities in a contested space: The dominance of calculative accounting practices and the development of a research agenda'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this