The loopholes of algorithmic public services: an “intelligent” accountability research agenda

Bracci, Enrico

doi:10.1108/aaaj-06-2022-5856

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 100 publications

(279 reference statements)

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“…The authoritative and mechanical epistemic method lack of sound factual basis of digitized measures poses challenges in terms of sound decision‐making and performance evaluation. This is in‐line with the findings of Bracci (2022), who argues that there is a risk of biased outputs related to how digitized measures are designed, and the reliance on such measures in decision‐making and control without considering this risk increases the difficulty in representing the performance achieved and ensuring legitimacy and trust.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Overall, we witness that the authoritative and mechanical use of digitized measures inhibit the university researchers’ practices by taking control of the concepts of what makes research quality (Nørreklit et al., 2019). There is no interactive and reflective reasoning to establish general conditions of truth to govern the social interaction (Bracci, 2022; Nørreklit et al., 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, we contribute to this literature by revealing that some of the misconceptions of research quality may be related to the transitions from analog to digital language. The analysis of the authoritative and mechanical epistemic method contributes to the accounting research on the performance measurement of universities revealing that performance measures of research do not necessarily lead to increased efficiency and effectiveness but may produce techniques that are destructive of academic practices and virtues (Bracci, 2022; Dunleavy et al., 2005). Furthermore, we show that digitized measures of research quality are not necessarily taken for granted but can be handled in different ways applying different epistemic methods with different effects.…”

Section: Conclusion and Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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University research by the numbers: Epistemic methods of using digitized performance measures and their implications for research practices

et al. 2023

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This paper explores the way by which universities create meaning of digitized performance measures on research quality and their effects on university scholars’ actions. Drawing on pragmatic constructivism, we scrutinize the epistemic methods by which the digitized performance measures of research quality are handled and used in the governance of research activities in two disciplinary fields in two university settings (Denmark and Italy) and their implications for constructing scholarly research practices. The analysis elucidates exemplars of two epistemic methods of building meaning of and using digitized performance measures: one reflective and interactive, and one authoritative and mechanical. The latter constrains the researchers’ scholarly reasoning and communication and, hence, infringes upon the scholarly fundamentals of university practices. The paper concludes that if the issues of misconceptions of research quality related to the transitions from analog to digital language are neglected, the digital transformation results in dysfunctional human and social practices.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conclusion and Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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University research by the numbers: Epistemic methods of using digitized performance measures and their implications for research practices

et al. 2023

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“…This entire movement needs to invest in devising rigorous, robust measures that will foster meaningful comparability. Present practices fall short of these requisites. Spanning across issues of both managerialism and Public Value, the digitalization of public services has also recently gained momentum, with governments increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic systems to increase efficiency and effectiveness of public‐service delivery (Bracci, 2023; Jans et al., 2023). This will likely have significant effects on higher‐education provision in both research and teaching.…”

Section: Future Research Agendamentioning

confidence: 99%

Universities in a contested space: The dominance of calculative accounting practices and the development of a research agenda

Hyndman,

Lapsley,

Liguori

2023

Financ Acc Manag

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Over the last few decades, neoliberal, managerial, reforms have dominated the university sector in a number of different countries. Calculative practices, including performance measures and indicators, have spread and targets, in terms of research outputs and increasing student numbers in order to generate “profit”, have become the norm, despite the many voices seeing this as often clashing with the mission of universities to create knowledge and contribute to social development. The paper provides an overview of the changing focus on how universities have been managed over time and, at the same time, of the emergence and measurementof Public Value themes in the university sector. A future research agenda is proposed for those interested in the study of the university sector, together with possibleresearch questions to further this area.

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“…Artificial intelligence technology can assist data mining analysis, modeling, simulation, and prediction work, accelerate the discovery of new laws and new patterns in the work of colleges and universities, reduce the duplication of work, and significantly improve the accuracy of college financial supervision, as well as the efficiency of college financial supervision personnel [6]. The application of artificial intelligence technology to the financial supervision of colleges and universities can better optimize the system design and business process of colleges and universities, realize the standardization of economic business activities, effectively monitor the exercise of power, improve the ability to prevent work risks, and thus improve the management efficiency of colleges and universities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Construction of Intelligent Financial Supervision Mechanism for Colleges and Universities Based on RPA Technology

Zhao

2024

Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences

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The RPA financial monitoring mechanism utilizes a predictive model to capture and store university data in preprocessing, and adopts a decision tree algorithm to construct a specific predictive model with good classification ability, and its logical structure is very similar to the decision-making ideas of human beings in the natural environment. CNN-LSTM financial risk assessment model is also utilized to carry out scientific risk assessment, the output of CNN is used as the input of LSTM, combining the advantages of the two to improve the learning ability of the financial fraud risk assessment model, and dynamic early warning can be accomplished beforehand for potential risk points. By analyzing the accuracy and coverage of the financial violation prediction model, 10.28% of violations were found with 96.7% accuracy. The accuracy is lower when the proportion of financial violations is higher. Risk assessment of fundraising activities and working capital of universities can be found that Z private universities have a relatively single source of income, tuition income is dominant, and in 2019, 2020 and 2022, the proportion of constructive expenditures of Z private universities reaches more than 20%, while the expenses of scientific research costs are less, however, the university’s comprehensive early warning status is relatively good. The financial risk is not significant and is in a safer range. In the university research fund violation supervision, the weight of researchers still have balance funds after two years after the completion of the project is 0.073, which indicates that the research project fund management supervision is not in place.

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The loopholes of algorithmic public services: an “intelligent” accountability research agenda

Cited by 12 publications

References 100 publications

University research by the numbers: Epistemic methods of using digitized performance measures and their implications for research practices

University research by the numbers: Epistemic methods of using digitized performance measures and their implications for research practices

Universities in a contested space: The dominance of calculative accounting practices and the development of a research agenda

Construction of Intelligent Financial Supervision Mechanism for Colleges and Universities Based on RPA Technology

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