Organizational change in an Australian university: Responses to a research assessment exercise

The objective of this paper is to explore the way internal organizational control processes are changed in response to external demands. It does this by investigating the organizational change undertaken by an Australian university in anticipation of, and in response to, an externally imposed research assessment exercise (RAE), specifically focusing on the university's internal research-related performance management system (PMS) and its impact on academics. It adopts a case study method, using data from publicly available documents, interviews with senior management, and a survey administered to academics. The data is interpreted and analyzed using Broadbent and Laughlin's organizational change model. The findings reveal that RAE was anticipated with the appointment of new senior leadership, a new vision, restructure of faculties and departments, and changes to the research PMS. The changes to both the university's mission (significant and longlasting, second order change) and its internal systems (less significant, first order change) are evident. In the context of the global proliferation of PMSs in the higher education sector, this paper contributes to the literature on PMSs, indicating its relevance to universities. Its empirics provide useful insights for university managers and regulators and, more broadly, the paper contributes to our understanding of organizational change.     

Relevance of Academic Research and Researchers' Role in the IASB's Financial Reporting Standard Setting

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) faces a vast number of standard‐setting issues at all levels of financial reporting. The purpose of this article is to explore the relevance of academic research for financial reporting standard setting and the role of academic researchers in the standard‐setting process. We contribute to the current debate surrounding International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by drawing inferences from prior findings regarding the role of research in the IASB's standard‐setting efforts. After defining three broad categories of standard‐setting questions, we explore how the international heterogeneity of its constituency imposes constraints on the IASB's work. Then, whether and how academic research can inform policy makers is investigated from an epistemological perspective. Based on a review of extant literature, the general criteria which a piece of research should fulfil in order to be perceived as relevant and useful by standard setters are discussed. This discussion is followed by more detailed considerations regarding the suitability of different research approaches for each of the three categories of standard‐setting questions. We also touch on the subject of inferential problems inherent in most academic accounting research. Since the main objective is to contribute insights relevant to the IASB's efforts, we analyse academics' career systems and their incentives to engage in research intermediation, before discussing possible ways in which interested researchers can channel their insights into the IASB's standard‐setting process. Overall, the international dimension of IASB standard setting and its implications for relevant research are emphasized.     

Scenarios as a scholarly methodology to produce “interesting research”

Recent debates identified the insufficient production of “interesting research”, namely research that is innovative and develops theory while being both usable and rigorous. We propose that scenarios methodology as a scholarly form of inquiry is one way in which we can generate “interesting research”. We present and compare how this methodology was used to investigate three research studies: (i) the unfolding of retailing formats in India; (ii) the evolution of migration patterns in Europe and the Mediterranean; and (iii) climate change and regional and urban planning in the Tulum region of the Peninsula of Yucatán. We found that when scenarios are used as a scholarly methodology involving iterations and revisions, they help to challenge existing assumptions, identify novel lines of inquiry, and enable new research opportunities to emerge,—thus opening up a research mode that helps engaged scholars to make sense of and address complex and uncertain contexts and produce interesting findings.     

Valuing the project: a knowledge-action response to network governance in collaborative research

The delegation of research to self-directed networks is a relatively new strategy to focus academic endeavour on public priorities. Networks involve policy-makers, knowledge producers and knowledge users in unfamiliar governance and management relationships. Here we reflect, as practitioners, on research networks as complex governance systems and on their projects as knowledge-action systems designed to deliver public value. Projects represent the currency in which delegated research is issued, but their conversion into monetary grants and awards diverts attention from their potential as boundary organizations or communities of practice in the production of societal knowledge and understanding. Recognizing and supporting projects as scalable components of enduring knowledge-action systems, rather than as transient instances of research funding, is key to sustaining delivery of public value under conditions of network governance.