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This systematic literature review analyses the body of knowledge on the budgeting practice known as participatory budgeting (PB). This review identifies and analyses a dataset of 139 English-language papers focused on PB in the public sector published over three decades (1989–2019) in academic journals of different disciplines. The findings shed new light on PB, by systematizing this body of knowledge and explaining the PB idea journey. A research agenda is also set by clarifying overlooked areas of research and practical interests. Points for practitioners The review provides a conceptual model to cope with specific issues in each phase of a PB journey, and it also sheds light on the role of political and managerial actors. Traditional and new themes to design a PB and implement participatory mechanisms are proposed. Practitioners can benefit from indications about the use of technological tools in mobilizing participation.

Over recent years, the meaning of accountability has evolved and has reshaped what public sector institutions are expected to account for and how. Consequently, a large number of initiatives have emerged promoting non-financial reporting. In this context, public universities have started to experiment with sustainability reporting initiatives, but these efforts are still limited and challenged by the parallel development of multiple forms of reporting, which include integrated reporting (IR). IR has been interpreted as a further step in the reporting journey, suitable for representing the creation of public value and addressing accountability pressures. The current research aims at understanding if and how IR constitutes a feasible next step for improving the reporting practices of public universities. For this purpose, the research carries out a content analysis of social or sustainability reports written by a number of Italian public universities to find out which of the key elements of IR have already been included in such reports. Results show that some of those elements are already included, but often in a fragmented and non-homogeneous way. The findings pave the way for further considerations on how the potential adoption of IR may strengthen the value of social and sustainability reporting by integrating the information reported in different documents, fostering toward a bureaucracy that is more sustainable and providing more opportunities of innovation in reports on public sector organizations' accountability.

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