Over the last thirty years, institutional and socio-economic development and the phenomenon ofglobalization have played a crucial role in changes seen in the higher education sector. Thesechanges have impacted aspects such as governance, organization, financing, management systems,and the academic and social legitimacy of universities (Burke & Associates, 2005).
Previous studies have focused on changes in performance measurement (PM) and the managementof universities, for example in the implementation of PM (Deem, 1998; Shun et al, 2006; Broadbent,2007), the assessment of academic performance (Kanji et al, 2010), the use of key performanceindicators (Ball & Halwachi, 1987; Lewis et al, 2000; Guthrie and Newman, 2007), and themeasurement of institutional and individual performance (Modell, 2003, 2005, 2006; Taylor, 2001;Kallio & Kallio, 2014; Ter Bogt & Scapens, 2012). The common factor in these studies seems to be atransition in institutional logics from academic logics to business logics (see Pettersen, 2015).
In line with this recent development, universities in Nordic countries have faced increasedcompetition for students, researchers, and resources and they are now managed using different PMtools (see Vakkuri & Meklin, 2003; Kallio et al., forthcoming). Universities are complex andheterogeneous organizations characterized by the multiplicity of ‘institutional logics’ that compete,shift, and interact (Friedland & Alford, 1991; Thornton & Ocasio, 2008).
The present study uses institutional logics to analyze how the renewal of the PM system in Finnishuniversities has led to a change in the operating logics of individual university employees. The studyis based on a survey conducted in 2015 including 672 respondents from three different universitiesin Finland. The preliminary analysis revealed that despite the way in which university employees’perceive the PM system in use, this system has initiated a change in the institutional logics ofindividual researchers and lecturers.
PMAA , 2017.
Performance Measurement Association Australasia (PMAA) Conference 2017, Dunedin, New Zealand, March 1-3, 2017