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Balancing accountability and trust: university reforms in the Nordic countries

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Abstract

This paper investigates the accountability mechanisms introduced in the universities in the Nordic countries by building on a typology of accountability types. By utilising survey data, it analyses how academics experience the changes in accountability mechanisms and how they perceive the impact of these changes on their performance. The analysis shows that especially political/bureaucratic and managerial accountability demands have been strengthened. This development has fostered debates on how to measure academic performance. Some academics, more in Denmark than in the other countries, have experienced the development as a sign of mistrust.

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Notes

  1. We have chosen not to include democratic accountability, which refers to the relationship between political leaders, the parliament, voters and elected bodies of citizens and customers; financial accountability, which involves auditors; or legal accountability, which is related to the courts. These forms of accountability are only distantly related to university academics.

  2. We use expectations about performance from unit managers as a proxy for the strength of the managerial regime as such, as we interpret the strength of this regime as a function of changed accountability demands related to both political/bureaucratic and managerial types of accountability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Hanne Foss Hansen

  2. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lars Geschwind

  3. Faculty of Management, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Jussi Kivistö & Elias Pekkola

  4. Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

    Rómulo Pinheiro

  5. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland

    Kirsi Pulkkinen

Authors
  1. Hanne Foss Hansen
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  2. Lars Geschwind
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  3. Jussi Kivistö
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  4. Elias Pekkola
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  5. Rómulo Pinheiro
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  6. Kirsi Pulkkinen
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Correspondence to Hanne Foss Hansen.

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Hansen, H.F., Geschwind, L., Kivistö, J. et al. Balancing accountability and trust: university reforms in the Nordic countries. High Educ 78, 557–573 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-0358-2

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