Jim Rooney

An Intellectual capital-based differentiation theory of innovation practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to respond to calls to research recognising impediments to innovation practice. The paper argues that decision-making preferences by risk-averse managers are a key impediment to the organisational support required for the commercialisation of new ideas, by exploring the relationship between forms of intellectual capital (IC) and innovation. As a result, categories are derived that contrast with the current grand theory that IC drives innovative practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper critically examines cross-sectional empirical data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 27 Australian executive managers from leading Australian companies and the public sector. These interviews elicited narratives about successful and unsuccessful innovations where interviewees had significant involvement in the outcome. In all, 54 narratives of innovation from executive managers – 27 successes and 27 failures, were analysed using the repertory grid technique to u...

Dealing with an ageing workforce: current and future implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the reason for, and outcomes of, the New South Wales Land and Property Authoritys (Lands) Vision 2013 plan designed to deal with a perceived impending human capital crisis in light of a rapidly ageing workforce. The research questions examined are “Did the perceived crisis eventuate?” and “What was the impact of implementing the plan to combat the threat of an ageing workforce?”Design/methodology/approach – Using a case study approach, the paper incorporates semi‐structured interviews, planning papers and annual reports to critically examine the impact of implementing the Vision 2013 plan. Lands was chosen because in 2005 the ageing workforce issue motivated Lands to investigate how it would successfully manage organisational knowledge then and into the future. With the purpose of promoting discussion and critical reflection, we examine how Lands addressed the perceived crisis and the impact it had on the management of knowledge and human capital.Findings...

The Impossibility of Philanthropic Funding Decisions: The Australian Non-Government Funder Experience

Non‐government funders (NGFs) are major contributors to the third sector. Literature on this private philanthropic world is limited and access to stakeholders and practices within these institutions is a barrier to empirical research. With public oversight limited to nominal federal tax law disclosure, issues of accountability are under‐researched. We examine how NGFs ‘account’ for their grant making decisions in an Australian context. Focused on how NGFs assess likely success, it finds that assurance is constructed as part of the decision‐making process through a more socialising form of accountability, based on personal interaction, in contrast to a reliance on hierarchical accountability and transparency.

The control dynamics of outsourcing involving an early-stage firm

Firms in the early stage of their organisational lifecycle experience challenges that shape the adoption of management controls. They are also recognised for their use of outsourcing. However, the accounting research has provided limited insight on how these control challenges and inter-organisational control concerns interact to influence the adoption of specific controls within an outsourcing relationship involving an early-stage firm. Exploration of this gap provides a key motivation for this paper. Contrary to existing management control and organisational science literature, we find a strong preference for new or enhanced action controls. Conversely, we find low levels of interest in result controls by managers within the buyer but not the supplier firm. These preferences influence inter-organisational control adoption within the frame of an incomplete outsourcing contract that emphasises flexibility in terms of relationship exit. Within the limits of a case study methodology, we argue that adoption of inter-organisational controls is shaped by tensions between the control challenges of early-stage firms, the control preferences of managers within these firms and inter-organisational control concerns. These findings have theoretical implications, expanding the Davila et al. [2009. Reasons for management control systems adoption: insights from product development systems choice by early-stage entrepreneurial companies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34 (3–4), 322–347] framework and the Merchant [1985. Control in Business Organizations. Boston, MA: Pitman] control typology into an ESF inter-organisational control context.

Re-visiting the interface between race and accounting:Filipino workers at the Hamakua Mill Company, 1921–1939:

The interface of race and accounting in Hawaiian sugar plantations is a subject that is unresolved in Accounting History (Fleischman & Tyson, 2000, 2002; Burrows, 2002). The authors interpret surviving archival material of the Hamakua Mill Company from 1921 to 1939 to shed further light on the “dark side of accounting” in the control of Filipino workers. We find that accounting was not complicit in the suppression of Filipinos’ wages and job advancement. Individual worker productivity data, the absence of which Fleischman and Tyson (2000) ascribe to the salience of race in labour control, was developed and used from the 1920s. Racialisation continued, however, in our view, driven by business imperatives to manage scarce human resources. Management knowingly used this accounting information to identify preferred workers and reduce worker turnover and meet U.S. Immigration requirements. Archival evidence also points to improved opportunities for advancement.

Leadership, governance and the mitigation of risk: a case study

Purpose - – The purpose of this study is to examine how managers in financial institutions satisfy themselves of the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategy and management control. It studies the co-opting of accounting tools within a single financial institution case study, examining the recursive and emergent characteristics of risk management practice. Design/methodology/approach - – Adopting a field study approach within the strategy-as-practice perspective, the paper provides insights into the role of actor perceptions of risk and accounting as a calculative practice in the adaptive enactment of risk strategy. Findings - – Results highlight the interactions between risk management strategy, management controls and actor interests at Lehman Brothers. The actions and reactions of risk management decision-makers such as Executive Committee and Board members are examined to better understand the role of accounting and leadership. Research limitations/implications - – Results of this study may not be generalised beyond this single case study. Practical implications - – The paper emphasises that concern for the social relations and the performative interests of actors in a risk management network needs to be understood and considered in accounting research. It is argued that the market prices of tradable financial asset will continue to be opaque without these insights. Originality/value - – This study explores an under-researched topic in the accounting literature in examining how management controls are affected by and, in turn, affect risk strategising.

Overcoming the symbolic violence of orthodox accounting practice: an intellectual capital perspective

Purpose While intellectual capital (IC) accounting research has concentrated on private enterprise, it is also germane to the public sector given pressures to create government business enterprises. However, despite the impetus for change, IC accounting is not a widespread practice in any sector. To understand the paradox, the purpose of this paper is to present a longitudinal narrative of IC accounting practice at an Australian public sector organisation. Design/methodology/approach Bourdieu’s theory of practice is adopted in a single longitudinal case study to examine orthodox and heterodox accounting processes along with the resultant “field of opinion” created by IC discourse. Findings For an innovation such as IC accounting to be utilised, the social capital associated with it must be able to overcome the symbolic violence of orthodox financial accounting practices. In essence, IC exists alongside accounting and does not replace it. However, not all actors learn about and adopt IC in the same way. Therefore, organisations cannot learn if the actors themselves cannot see how IC should not replace accounting but exists alongside it. Practical implications On reflection, the study supports a conclusion that IC should not be viewed as a heretical accounting practice. Rather, it serves discrete purposes that can be utilised by academics and practitioners to achieve particular ends rather than viewed as an alternative form of accounting. Originality/value With increasing awareness of accounting of the importance of intangible resources in the “new economy”, this study emphasises the teleological aims of IC as a complementary accounting technology.