P26 Advancing Public Management Education to Address Societal Challenges

Panel chairs

Corresponding Co-Chairs/Review Group Chairs:           

• Jens Heiling, Professor of Financial Reporting and Management Accounting, Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Villigen-Schwennigen, Germany, jens.heiling@dhbw.de
• Michelle Pautz, Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Dayton, USA, mpautz1@udayton.edu

Coordinators and Co-Chairs:

• Ellen Haustein, Research fellow at the Chair for Accounting, Management Control and Auditing, Faculty for Economic and Social Sciences, University of Rostock, Germany
• Sotirios Karatzimas, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
• Peter Lorson, Professor for Accounting, Management Control and Auditing and Executive Director of the Center for Accounting and Auditing of the University of Rostock, Germany
• Sara Rinfret, Associate Vice Provost and Professor of Public Administration, Northern Arizona University, USA

Description of Theme:

Change is ever-present and its pace is arguably unfurling even more rapidly given challenges presented by environmental and sustainability, technology and artificial intelligence (AI), and other societal challenges. Public management (PM) offers insights and ways of tackling these changes in the public sector and in society more broadly. However, these insights often elude organizations because of the complexities that the presence of myriad stakeholders bring. As a result, understanding how to engage stakeholders and how to advance knowledge and learning are paramount.

This panel will emphasize how PM principles, practices, and insights should be better heeded and incorporated into organizations . More specifically, public financial management (PFM) and public service motivation have a crucial role as an integral part of various public sector entities’ effective and efficient operation. And for PFM to exploit its full potential, stakeholders (such as citizens, politicians, public sector executives, staff, media, etc.) must have sufficient knowledge and relevant PFM skills. Similarly, in higher education institutions (HEIs), administrative, leadership, and management practices are critical as HEIs navigate the rapidly changing landscape, yet these management skills and even awareness are uncommon. Consequently, an increased demand for adequately qualified and trained personnel in HEIs and public organizations can be noted. PM, and particularly PFM education, needs to widen its scope to address contemporary challenges.

Description of Abstracts

HEIs shape the future, yet there are increasing indications that their workforce - both faculty and staff - lack wellbeing and are succumbing to fatigue and disengagement (e.g. Pope-Ruark 2022; Pautz & Vogel 2020; McCandless et al., 2023). As HEIs endeavor to confront these situations and their implications for the learning and growth of their students, it would be advantageous for HEIs to turn to the public service motivation (PSM) literature (e.g. Perry & Wise 1990; Perry 1996) to assess underlying motivations that compel individuals to work in, and remain in, such organizations. Additionally, the contours of HEIs can make assessing effectiveness and promoting accountability even more of a challenge than in other sectors. Understanding accountability and performance in the public sector could offer insights into these dimensions in higher education (Birdsall, 2018).

In the PFM context, the importance of participatory and smart citizenship is also underlined in the literature. The infusion of citizens with basic PFM knowledge could ignite citizens’ more active participation and be a prerequisite for co-design initiatives (Karatzimas, 2020). This kind of enhanced civic engagement has contributed to the creation of greater public value (Haustein & Lorson, 2023).

In the context of sustainability, participatory approaches related to citizens may even gain importance. Also here, education, and often information and communication technologies (ICT), are key for a successful implementation (e.g. Zhang & Yang, 2009).

ICT and AI are further dimensions in HEI, and  PFM education more specifically. Digital transformation will significantly affect curricula in PFM programs or courses/modules. ICT poses challenges to scholars and practitioners alike. ICT can also be an enabler to increase awareness and understandability of public sector financial issues for users (Cohen & Karatzimas, 2021) and can therefore enrich teaching and learning in HEIs.

Finally, the implementation of accrual accounting and (often related to that) international public sector accounting standards, have further increased the need for financial competencies by public officials (Karatzimas, Heiling & Pontopiddan-Aggestam, 2022). Multidisciplinary requirements in PFM led to the question whether PFM education needs to be rethought (Heiling, 2020; McGuigan et al., 2021).

A range of research topics and conceptual or empirical papers with a wide variety of theoretical perspectives, methods, or data are sought for this panel. Studies focusing on the following questions and topics are encouraged:

• How do mid-level managers within HEIs manage internally and externally
• Approaches for how HEIs increase citizen engagement and social equity
• Strategies for HEIs to evolve more quickly, internally and externally, to address societal challenges
• Lessons learned from PSM for HEIs and PFM
• Accountability and performance of HEIs
• Engaging citizens through education in PFM
• Incorporating digitalisation in public management curricula
• Complementing public management teaching by sustainability topics
• The contribution of public management education to the SDGs
• Interdisciplinarity and integrative thinking in PFM education
• Approaches to measuring and enhancing government accounting literacy
• PFM education for public servants, politicians, citizens or media representatives
• User needs in PFM and their consequences for PFM education and reporting

References

Birdsall, C. (2018). Performance Management in Public Higher Education: Unintended Consequences and the Implications of Organizational Diversity. Public Performance & Management Review, 41(4), 669-695.

Cohen, S., & Karatzimas, S. (2021), New development: Public sector accounting education for users—embedding eLearning and technology in teaching. Public Money & Management, 42(4), 291–293.

Haustein, E., & Lorson, P. C. (2023), Co-creation and co-production in municipal risk governance. Public Management Review, 25(2), 376-403

Heiling, J. (2020), Time to rethink public sector accounting education? A

practitioner’s perspective. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting, & Financial Management, 32(3), 505-509.

Karatzimas, S. (2020), The beneficial role of government accounting literacy in developing participatory citizens. Accounting Education, 29(3), 229-246

Karatzimas, S., Heiling, J., & Aggestam-Pontoppidan, C. (2022), Public sector accounting education. Public Money & Management, 42(7), 543–550.

McCandless, S., McDonald, B., & Rinfret, S. (2023). Walking Faculty Back from the Cliff. Inside Higher Ed. August 21.

McGuigan, Haustein, Kern & Lorson, P. C. (2021), Thinking through the integration of corporate reporting: exploring the interplay between integrative and integrated thinking. Meditari Accountancy Research, 29(4), 775-804.