Benedetta Siboni

Italian State University Contemporary Performance Plans: An Intellectual Capital Focus?

Purpose – The current research aims to investigate what Italian state universities consider as intellectual capital (IC) in their performance plans. Universities assume a specific responsibility in the production and dissemination of knowledge and in the investment in research and human resources; consequently, a central role has been given to IC approaches in managing universities. Drawing from this, in 2009 Italy required state universities to issue a performance plan with a section devoted to IC.Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis was conducted to discover the type and extent of IC strategies in a group of 44 contemporary Italian state university performance plans issued in 2011.Findings – The findings show a variable focus on IC items, with a particular emphasis on aspects related to the development of relationships with external partners, supporting the idea that nowadays the university sector is strongly investing in the development of relational capital to achieve its third mission.Practical implication – In assessing practices of IC planning in Italian state universities, the current study highlights the path of development that will be undertaken by the Italian university system in the near future. This path allows us to evaluate the strategic position that the Italian university system will cover in the European higher education arena.Originality/value – The paper makes an original contribution to research on IC strategies in universities, given the lack of empirical studies on such issues. It represents one of the first attempts to analyse IC in Italian state universities’ planning processes.

Public Strategic Plans In Italian local Governments

Abstract Internationally, the concept of sustainability development (SD) has been of increasing relevance since the Brundtland report was published. The European Commission (EC) has published a variety of documents that encourage member states to adopt SD strategies. This article analyses fourteen voluntary contemporary strategic plans (SPs) of Italian local governments (LGs) published on-line, in order to verify if there is a sustainability development focus. Strategic planning is still in its initial stage. Nevertheless, the study concluded that the group of SPs analysed appears to be aligned with EC recommendations.

Social reports in Italian universities: disclosures and preparers’ perspective

Purpose - Although there is no mandatory requirement for Italian universities to report beyond a financial report, several universities have produced a social report, despite the context of increasing pressure to cut financial resources. This study aims to investigate if Italian state universities produce voluntary social reports and, if so, what they disclose. Also to explore their motivations to do so and the main difficulties encountered. Design/methodology/approach - Content analysis is applied to the total pool of Italian universities’ social reports obtained. Also, a subsequent online survey was undertaken with preparers of those social reports. Findings - The findings indicate that a social report is not a common practice in Italian universities. Subsequent online interviews and thematic analysis found that a key individual within the university played a pivotal role in developing a social report. In the pool of reports examined, there were few social and environmental aspects disclosed. Also the respondents to the survey highlighted that the main difficulty in the development of social reports was the lack of systematic collection of non-financial information within the university. Researchlimitations/implications - The study is limited to the Italian university social reports produced and those answering the online survey. Originality/value - Most of the prior Italian literature on social reports is normative in nature and focuses on what should be reported, rather than on what was actually reported. This study is an attempt at analysing the pool of Italian universities’ social reports and is useful for understanding how and why organisations voluntarily produce social reports.

Gender (in) accounting: insights, gaps and an agenda for future research

Purpose - The study aims to raise awareness of the issues to foster further debate in the area of gender (in) accounting. In the process, opportunities for future research are identified and outlined. Design/methodology/approach - Literature review and a discussion of the implications lead to the identification of opportunities for future research. Findings - Women are under-represented at senior levels in all walks of life. Where women reach senior positions, they are often paid less than men in similar positions. Countries and organisations with more gender equality do better. Social implications - Organisations and countries will be better off if they have a good representation of women at all organisational levels in all walks of life. Originality/value - The authors’ perspectives of the prior literature and the identification of future research opportunities around gender (in) accounting are presented.

Public Strategic Plans in Italian Local Governments: A Sustainability Development Focus?

Internationally there is an increasing relevance for the concept of sustainability development (SD), since the Brundtland report has been published. This has led governments and international institutions to promote organisations sustainability behaviours. The European Commission (EC) has published a variety of documents that encourage itself (Com(2001) 264 final; Com(2002) 82 final; Com(2005) 37 final; Com(2005) 658 final), national and regional governments (Com(2005) 718 final), and local governments (LGs) (Com(2006) 385 final), to adopt SD strategies. This study investigates what Italian LGs consider as a SD in their contemporary on-line published strategic plans (SPs), to address the lack of research in this topic. The research questions are the following: •What has been included in contemporary Italian LGs SPs? • What has or has not been reported in terms of SD basing on the EC framework for urban cohesion policy and cities (Com(2006)385 final) items? The study uses content analysis to determine the type and the extent of disclosure in specific media. An original coding instrument was developed to analyse the SPs practices against Com(2006)385 final items. It was found that SPs was voluntary. All items (policies and actions) basing on the Com(2006)385 final were disclosed. However the disclosure was stable and low under policies, while was instable under actions. The paper concludes that strategic planning in Italian LGs is still in its initial stage. Even thought, since EC framework for SD just suggest items to be chosen according to the LGs context, the study concluded that the group of SPs analysed shows to be aligned with EC recommendations.

The disclosure of intellectual capital in Italian universities: What has been done and what should be done

Purpose Universities are proper knowledge institutions, since knowledge represents both the input and the output of their activities. Several guidelines have been issued by the European Union and national governments for the promotion of intellectual capital (IC) disclosure by universities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the amount and nature of voluntary IC disclosure in Italian universities and to gauge the opinion of university managers on IC managing and reporting. Design/methodology/approach The study applies content analysis and a survey. The content analysis was applied to a group of voluntary social reports (SRs) issued by Italian universities, while the survey was submitted to all top managers of Italian universities. Findings The research found a significant amount of IC disclosure in SRs. Also, university top managers demonstrated an awareness of benefits deriving from IC managing and reporting practices, both for decision-making processes and to respond to stakeholder’s needs. Originality/value The current paper contributes to IC literature by providing an assessment of IC voluntary disclosure practices in Italian universities, analysing reports other than the annual report (which is the only document media analysed by research so far). Furthermore, while previous research has focussed on IC disclosure, the current study investigates the motivations for IC managing and provides insights into the benefits deriving from IC reporting in universities.

Positive action plans in Italian universities: does gender really matter?

Purpose The European university context reveals a high degree of gender inequality. In Italy, the overall female employment rate is significantly lower than in the rest of Europe; nevertheless, gender equality in universities is consistent with the European average. In 2006, the Italian Government required public organisations (thus state universities) to formulate positive action plans (PAPs) and disclose the positive actions planned for the following three years to promote gender equality. However, the law does not provide any guideline for the contents of the PAPs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse gender equality disclosure in PAPs to investigate whether and how Italian State Universities (ISUs) are taking a role in promoting gender equality. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses content analysis to investigate contents of gender disclosure in 28 PAPs. The authors developed a coding instrument based on the Guidelines for Gender Equality Programmes in Science. Findings The paper found that most PAPs are focused on creating a favourable environment for women inside the organisation, while little attention has been paid to creating gender awareness in research and teaching activities, as well as in supporting women’s leadership. The paper concludes that ISUs are failing as key players in the cultural change of the society toward gender equality. Originality/value First, the paper contributes to the accounting literature by providing an analysis of accounting for gender by universities. Second, it adds to the debate on positive actions for gender equality in the university sector.

La misurazione della performance sociale nell’esperienza dell’Università di Bologna

New Public Management principles have led to a growing number of public organisations to use social and environmental performance measurement tools, such as social reports, to be accountable in terms of results, social and environmental impacts. Thus, social report, with reference to the state universities, is developing. This article analyses, the process to develop a social report and the consequential performance measurement in terms of social and environmental impacts. The social report of the studied organisation is an expression of the following functions: (1) transparency of the activity, (2) internal governance (3) stakeholders engagement and (4) measurement of the economic, social and environmental impacts provide with reference the territory. The case study method is used to develop this research. We have applied it to the University of Bologna, which is a large-university that has included in its stated (set out in the Charter of the University to be therefore developed consistently every year) reporting system the social report.

Do European recommendations impact on sustainability policies by Italian local governments

Taking the role of a facilitator, the EU has published recommendations to steer sustainability policies in local governments. The authors analysed strategic plans published by Italian local governments and found that the EU’s recommendations had zero effect. The way forward is for local governments to be required to produce sustainability policies.

UN’INDAGINE SULLA QUALITÀ DEI PIANI DELLA PERFORMANCE NELLE UNIVERSITÀ STATALI ITALIANE: QUALI PROSPETTIVE PER IL FUTURO?

Il processo di riforma che ha interessato il settore universitario italiano ha affidato, tra l’altro, alle universita il compito di definire direttamente la propria programmazione. In questo quadro, gli atenei statali sono stati chiamati ad affrontare la sfida di esplicitare la propria performance attesa, come sostenuto anche dalla normativa in materia di produttivita e trasparenza delle pubbliche amministrazioni, che assegna un ruolo centrale alla formulazione del piano della performance. Il presente studio, avvalendosi di un approccio induttivo, propone l’analisi qualitativa dei piani della performance pubblicati dalle universita statali italiane al fine di misurare il loro grado di coerenza rispetto alle linee guida emanate dagli organi ministeriali, cosi come l’esistenza di fattori che influenzano la completezza informativa dei documenti elaborati. Dall’analisi svolta emerge un generale livello di compliance rispetto al modello ministeriale suggerito, che tuttavia risulta piu debole in riferimento alla valutazione della coerenza con la programmazione economico-finanziaria e di bilancio. Infine, non emergono forme di associazione tra fattori di contesto specifici e la capacita di uniformarsi alla normativa. The recent reform of Italian University sector requires state universities to produce a performance plan in which illustrate their expected performance. The current study uses a documentary analysis to investigate the quality of performance plans published by Italian state universities and to assess their compliance with governmental guidelines. Moreover, the study investigates if there are forms of association between the size of universities and the quality of the plans produced. It was found a significant level of compliance of the performance plans with the guideline provided by the Italian Ministry. However, it is weak with reference to the economic and financial programming and budget. Finally, no association between the size of universities and their ability to fulfil regulations was found.