Abstract:
In various sectors of society including business and politics, demands are growing for people who are entrusted with power and influence to be held to account for their actions and behaviours. Advocates for accountability position it a means through which performance, transparency, and the quality of decisions-making can improve. However, there is growing evidence that accountability can have negative effects under certain conditions. Advocates for accountability furthermore propose that peers, managers, systems, professional codes, managers, personal values and self-regulation are key factors that affect how accountability is enacted or experienced within organisations. There is limited academic evidence that the factors identified in literature are key factors in the enactment of accountability within organisations. Although accountability has been a subject of a growing number or research studies, very few of the studies have been conducted in state-owned companies. State-owned companies are an organisation form used by government to further political ideals or the address market failures and are expected to continue to exist into the future. However, little is known about how state-owned companies understand, enact and manage the demands of accountability.
The aim of this study is to establish the understanding of accountability, establish which important factors positively affect accountability, establish which important factors negatively affect accountability, establish the effects of accountability demands, and ascertain what mechanisms are used to enact accountability within state-owned companies. Qualitative, exploratory research methods were used to gain new insight into practice of accountability in state-owned companies through 20 semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with Executive Managers, Senior Managers, Middle Managers, Junior Managers and Professionals. The findings of this study represent views obtained from respondents from eight state-owned companies operating in six industries and reporting to five different national government ministries. A ÔState-owned Company Accountability ForcesÓ model was developed using the findings of this study. The model outlines the key positive and negative accountability forces in force and core mechanisms used to enact accountability within state-owned companies. The findings of this study grow academic literature in the field of accountability and state-owned companies.
