scholarly journals Institutional pluralism, two publics theory and performance reporting practices in Zambia’s health sector

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Phiri ◽  
Pinar Guven-Uslu
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Institutional Pluralism ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Performance Reporting ◽  
And Performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate accounting and performance reporting practices embraced in the midst of a pluralistic institutional environment of an emerging economy (EE), Zambia. The research is necessitated due to the increased presence and influence of donor institutions whose information needs may not conform to the needs of local citizens in many EEs. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on institutional pluralism and Ekeh’s post-colonial theory of “two publics” to depict pluralistic environments that are typical of EEs. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 33 respondents drawn from the main stakeholder groups involved in health service delivery including legislators, policy makers, regulators, healthcare professionals and health service managers. Data analysis took the form of thematic analysis which involved identifying, analysing and constructing patterns and themes implicit within the data that were deemed to address the study’s research questions. Findings Findings indicate that Zambia’s institutional environment within the health sector is highly fragmented and pluralistic as reflected by the multiplicity of both internal and external stakeholders. These stakeholder groups equally require different reporting mechanisms to fulfil their information expectations. Social implications The multiple reporting practices evident within the health sector entail that the effectiveness of health programmes may be compromised due to the fragmentation in goals between government and international donor institutions. Rather than pooling resources and skills for maximum impact, these practices have the effect of dispersing performance efforts with the consequence of compromising their impact. Fragmented reporting equally complicates the work of policy makers in terms of monitoring the progress and impact of such programmes. Originality/value Beyond Goddard et al. (2016), the study depicts the usefulness of Ekeh’s theory in understanding how organisations and institutions operating in pluralistic institutional environments may be better managed. In view of contradictory expectations of accounting and performance reporting requirements between the civic and primordial publics, the study indicates that different practices, mechanisms and structures have to be embraced in order to maintain institutional harmony and relevance to different communities within the health sector.

Governance and performance reporting in Scottish charities

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Regulatory Reform ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Regulatory Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Performance Reporting ◽  
Descriptive Account ◽  
And Performance

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the governance and performance reporting practices of Scottish charities at a time of unprecedented legislative and regulatory reform. Such reforms include the revision of the SORP governing charity reporting and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act which led to the establishment of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a descriptive examination of the Trustees' Reports (TRs) produced by a sample of Scottish charities; this assessment was facilitated by means of a content analysis of these documents following the introduction of the new regulatory regime. Findings – The findings indicate that the regime change had a significant impact on the provision of performance, governance and accountability-related information in Scottish charities' TRs. Originality/value – The paper provides the first detailed descriptive account of reporting practices across a range of charities in Scotland at a time of unprecedented regulatory change.

scholarly journals Stratified ontology, institutional pluralism and performance monitoring in Zambia’s health sector

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Phiri ◽  
Pinar Guven-Uslu
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Institutional Environments ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Pluralism ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Epistemological Shifts ◽  
Different Characteristics

Purpose This paper aims to investigate funding and performance monitoring practices in Zambia’s health sector from an institutional and stratified ontology perspective. Such an approach was deemed appropriate in view of pluralistic institutional environments characterising most African economies that are also considered to be highly stratified. Design/methodology/approach Blended with insights from stratified ontology, the paper draws on institutional pluralism as a theoretical lens to understand the institutional structures, mechanisms, events and experiences encountered by actors operating at different levels of Zambia’s health sector. The study adopted an interpretive approach that helped to investigate the multifaceted and subjective nature of social phenomena and practices being studied. Data were collected from both archival sources and interviews with key stakeholders operating within Zambia’s health sector. Findings The study’s findings indicate the high levels of stratification within Zambia’s health sector as evidenced by the three sector levels that possessed different characteristics in terms of actor responses to donor influence. This study equally demonstrates the capacity of agents operating under highly fragmented institutional environments to engage in enabling and constraining responses depending on the understanding of their empirical world. Originality/value Through blending insights from stratified ontology with institutional pluralism, the study contributes to the literature by demonstrating the enabling and constraining reflexive capacity of agents to exercise choices under highly fragmented institutional environments while responding to multiple demands and expectations to sustain the co-existence of diverse stakeholders. Accordingly, the study advances thinking on the application of institutional theory to critical accounting research in line with recent ontological and epistemological shifts in institutional theory.

Imprecise DEA framework for evaluating health-care performance of districts

Kybernetes ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 706-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ertugrul Karsak ◽  
Melis Almula Karadayi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Health Care Organizations ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relative Evaluation ◽  
Health Care Performance ◽  
Care Performance

Purpose This paper aims to address performance measurement in the health-care sector, which gains increasing importance for most countries because growing health expenditures and increased quality and competition in the health sector require hospitals to use their resources efficiently. Health policy-makers and health-care managers stress the need for developing a robust performance evaluation methodology for health-care organizations. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents an imprecise data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework for evaluating the health-care performance of 26 districts in Istanbul, a metropolis with nearly 15 million inhabitants. The proposed methodology takes into account both quantitative and qualitative data represented as linguistic variables for performance evaluation. Moreover, this study reckons that weight flexibility in DEA assessments can lead to unrealistic weighting schemes for some inputs and outputs, which are likely to result in overstated efficiency scores for a number of decision-making units (in here, districts). To overcome this problem, a weight restricted imprecise DEA model that constrains weight flexibility in DEA is proposed. Findings The proposed imprecise DEA approach sets forth a more realistic decision methodology for evaluating the relative health-care performance and also enables to determine the best district in terms of health-care performance in Istanbul. Originality/value This paper includes the quality dimension, which has been overlooked in previous studies, into the health-care performance evaluation of districts. Moreover, it circumvents unrealistic weight flexibility which may distort the relative evaluation of health-care performance.

Leading change within health services

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Jacobs ◽  
Paul Rouse ◽  
Matthew Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Change Processes ◽  
Leading Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Layered Complex ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Much health service delivery occurs within a network structure, with co-operation and competition coexisting. Leading change for successful outcomes is a difficult task even outside of this multi-layered complex context, with reports that up to two-thirds of change processes are unsuccessfully implemented. This can have a major impact on stress, effectiveness and efficiency. This paper aims to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Theories supporting a generic implementation system for managers were explored so that people placed into situations in which they needed to lead and manage change could access a systematic approach that enabled clarification of the network's goal(s), valid communication among members of the network, and performance measurement using indicators the network agrees are meaningful. Findings – The implementation pathway developed provides a change process leaders and managers of change can use within networks. Practical implications – Health service funders and managers will be helped by this systematic implementation process. Originality/value – Health service funders and managers will be assisted by the systematic implementation process.

Perception of stakeholders on governance dimensions of the Islamic banking sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-619
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Abiodun Oladapo ◽  
Roshayani Arshad ◽  
Ruhaini Muda ◽  
Manal Mohammed Hamoudah
Keyword(s):  
Banking Sector ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Islamic Banking ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Global Growth

Purpose The perception of different stakeholder groups on governance dimensions, such as transparency, accountability and ethics, in the Islamic banking sector is examined, given the global growth of Islamic banking and its purpose of enhancing economic growth and development through Shari’ah-compliant instruments. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the stakeholders in Nigeria perceive each dimension differently. Design/methodology/approach The data for the study were collected using a survey questionnaire. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. The respondents are customers, employees and shareholders of the Islamic banking sector in Nigeria. Findings Findings show that ethics is highly perceived as the key dimension in governance for the Islamic banking sector, whilst a positive and significant relationship is observed between the variables. Based on the variance analysis, there were statistically significant differences in perception between the stakeholders groups in the Islamic banking system. However, similar positive perceptions are accorded towards the overall governance dimensions across stakeholder groups namely, customers, employees and shareholders. Originality/value This study will extend the current body of knowledge in the field of Islamic finance by providing insights into policy makers, operators and regulators of the Islamic banking sector in Nigeria on the prospective stakeholders’ level of perception of the governance dimension, which could form part of the solutions to many contemporary issues in the banking system. This contribution is important, considering the clear relationship among governance dimensions which should be viewed in light of Islamic ideals.

Institutional environment, political connections of partial state ownership, and performance

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 856-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zengji Song ◽  
Abraham Nahm ◽  
Jun Yang
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Political Connection ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Partial State ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether substantial differences in institutional environment in China lead to different levels of demand for political connection. Design/methodology/approach – Using a data set of 296 listed private sector enterprises (PSEs) in China, the authors empirically investigate the effects of institutional environmental factors upon political connection. Findings – The authors find that the lower the level of regional property right protection, the more powerful the government intervention, and the slower the economic development, the more motivated the PSEs were to build relationship with the government via partial state ownership. However, the degree of local corruption was not correlated with the demand for political connection. The authors also find that partial state ownership in PSEs exerted a positive effect on performance. Originality/value – Deviating from previous literature that has been mostly concerned about the economic consequences to firms caused by political connections, this paper examines the reasons for political connection among Chinese PSEs. The authors introduce a new dimension of political connection, namely, partial state ownership in PSEs.

scholarly journals Management Practices and Performance of Public hospitals in Uganda

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
John Bosco Kakooza ◽  
Immaculate Tusiime ◽  
Hojops Odoch ◽  
Vincent Bagire
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Hospital Performance ◽  
Management Style ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
And Performance

The Daily Monitor publications ran serialized articles showing the awful state of government hospitals across the country. While the Ministry of Health insists that the problem is not as bad as it is depicted, the level of service delivery in public hospitals has come under serious public scrutiny espousing the cause for concern about policy, practice and research. There should be glaring gaps in management practices as a possible explanation. In this study, we investigated impact of management decision making, structure, processes, communication and management style on hospital performance. The study has emphasized good management as the determinant of better performance of hospitals in the Ugandan context. Findings of this study challenges policy makers to strengthen management processes in addition to mobilizing financial, human and capital resources for hospitals. The study extends the debate on application of management theory with practice in the health sector in the Ugandan context.

scholarly journals New evidence on accelerator performance based on funding and location

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Cánovas-Saiz ◽  
Isidre March-Chordà ◽  
Rosa Maria Yagüe-Perales
Keyword(s):  
Scale Up ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Business Incubators ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time

PurposeSeed accelerators (SAs) appear as a more advanced version of business incubators. These for-profit organizations in exchange of equity, help setting new start-ups by providing mentoring and funding during its first months. Due to their emergent nature, the impact and expectations of SAs remains largely unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to throw new light on this field by empirically assessing for the first time the performance and prospects of these organizations through a survey of 116 SAs.Design/methodology/approachA model based on the Business Incubators literature is built with four categories covering size, location, age and profitability variables, leading to two hypotheses to be tested empirically over a survey of 116 SAs.FindingsSome remarkable findings arise after implementation of both bivariate and multivariate analysis. The results confirm a higher size and performance in the US and in the oldest SAs at statistically significant levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is not free from limitations but the findings make a contribution to the still scarce existing literature on SAs, and provide some managerial implications to their stockholders, to investors and to entrepreneurs.Practical implicationsThe findings concerning performance indicators are especially helpful for investors, primarily concerned with the percentage return on investment factor, the period and the investment rounds needed to achieve exit. Another key issue is the SA's role as an employment seedbed. At first glance, the amount of employment, both overall and per company, might seem small given the young age of these firms. The impact of SAs on the generation of new employment is difficult to measure as it usually takes place in further stages of development of the tenant companies, the so-called scale-up process. Nonetheless, at present, the number of new companies being born is remarkable and, in terms of employment, the results are indeed promising. Our findings also offer important implications for entrepreneurs, venture investors and policy-makers. To entrepreneurs, our findings offer insight on the expectations to hold in the accelerator programs.Social implicationsFor policy-makers and would-be accelerator founders, our results support the idea shared in the literature that accelerators can be an effective entrepreneurial intervention, even in small entrepreneurial ecosystems, compared to the strongest entrepreneurial hubs (Hallen et al., 2017).Originality/valueSAs are a very recent phenomenon which is blooming all over the world, especially in developed countries. SAs are therefore considered a key agent in the prospects of any entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, no studies have so far analysed the impact and performance of this emerging instrument. This is precisely the main purpose of this paper, to offer for the first time an approximate and exploratory assessment on the impact and prospects of SAs, based on a database.

Relationship marketing strategy

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 631-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Augustine Adomah-Afari ◽  
Theophilus Maloreh-Nyamekye
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Health Training ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Training Institutions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how strategies are put in place to formulate policies regarding the introduction and implementation of relationship marketing (RM) in the health sector, and how RM strategies are designed as part of the curricula for the training of prospective health professionals in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using interviews and documentary review. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit policy makers and health educationists in Accra for in-depth interviews. Qualitative interviews were analysed using framework analysis.FindingsThe findings revealed that, currently, there is no policy framework on RM in the health sector nor included in the curricula of health training institutions in the country.Research limitations/implicationsDue to limited time and funding constraints, the study could not include many policy makers, educationists, health providers, facilities and regions outside the Greater Accra region of Ghana. This means that the authors missed out on useful insights from other relevant policy makers/educationists who would have added to the knowledge that this study contributes. There were still some areas that this study could not cover, including the lack of an exploration of the perceptions of health providers and patients.Practical implicationsEvidence from the current research provides the basis for scaling up of a similar study to the whole country to address the perennial RM or quality of care/patient satisfaction issues persisting in health facilities in the country. The outcome of this large-scale study would help to confirm the findings of the current study on the adoption and incorporation of RM into both policy framework and curricula of health training institutions in Ghana. The findings would culminate in the preparation and utilisation of guidelines on RM for client-centred service delivery in the health sector of the country.Social implicationsThis paper argues that RM orientation could enable health professionals to improve upon their healthcare service performance and quality of care so as to enhance patient satisfaction.Originality/valueThe study recommends that RM should be adopted by health policy makers and designers of curricula for health training institutions.

The disparity in geographical accessibility to healthcare resources in Iran: the comparison of two cross-section

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
Sara Emamgholipour Sefiddashti ◽  
Ali Kazemi Karyani ◽  
Sadegh Ghazanfari
Keyword(s):  
Health Sector ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Healthcare Resources ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Population

Purpose – Accessing adequate healthcare to all people is one of the main goals of the health sector. The purpose of this paper is to investigate healthcare services access development of the provinces in Iran during 2007 and 2013. Design/methodology/approach – This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included all the provinces in Iran. The data for 13 variables, including physical and human health resources, was collected from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the Statistics Center of Iran. Taxonomy technique was used to determine the degree of healthcare services access development in the provinces. Findings – The findings show that Semnan was the province with the most developed healthcare services access with development score of 0.342 while Sistan Balocehstan province was the least developed with development score of one in 2007. In the year 2013, Chahar-Mahal Bakhtiari and Sistan Baluchestan were the least and most developed provinces with scores of 0.551 and 0.989, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of the development scores in access to healthcare services in 2007 and 2013 were 0.7463±0.1268 and 0.7766±0.1058, respectively. Originality/value – Most previous studies that examined disparities in access to healthcare resources in Iran only considered one resource. This study applied a taxonomy technique to investigate the disparity and changes in access using 13 main healthcare resources. This approach helped the authors to investigate whether the decisions of the policy makers were intended to eliminate the disparities.

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