129 research outputs found
Public sector reform in Italian higher education: The governance transformation of the universities. A comparison among perceptions of rectors and department chairs
No full textThe NPM has dominated the reforms in the higher education sector and the academic
discussion on how universities should be governed since the 1980s. Besides, the
introduction of accountability and efficiency measures in the form of performance
measurement and pay-for performance scheme, a key debated aspect of NPM is the
strengthening of the role of boards and the introduction of a more firm-like governance
structure. Much work is still needed to evaluate the implementation of NPM reforms in
the university domain, particularly with respect to the internal governance changes.
Besides formal rules, perceptions of key actors on their institutional environment play a
major role in investigating university governance. This article uses an unique dataset
on Italian universities to illustrate the internal governance patterns that emerged after
the 2010 reform and critically analyses the differences in the perceptions of rectors and
department chairs providing insights for both academic and policymakers
Le risorse finanziarie e cognitive del sistema universitario italiano. Uno sguardo d'insieme.
No full textJustice and Corporate Governance: New Insights from Rawlsian Social Contract and Sen’s Capabilities Approach
No full textBy considering what we identify as a problem inherent in the ‘nature of the firm’—the risk of abuse of authority—we propound the conception of a social contract theory of the firm which is truly Rawlsian in its inspiration. Hence, we link the social contract theory of the firm (justice at firm’s level) with the general theory of justice (justice at society’s level). Through this path, we enter the debate about whether firms can be part of Rawlsian theory of justice showing that corporate governance principles enter the “basic structure.” Finally, we concur with Sen’s aim to broaden the realm of social justice beyond what he calls the ‘transcendental institutional perfectionism’ of Rawls’ theory. We maintain the contractarian approach to justice but introduce Sen’s capability concept as an element of the constitutional and post-constitutional contract model of institutions with special reference to corporate governance. Accordingly, rights over primary goods and capabilities are (constitutionally) granted by the basic institutions of society, but many capabilities have to be turned into the functionings of many stakeholders through the operation of firms understood as post-constitutional institutional domains. The constitutional contract on the distribution of primary goods and capabilities should then shape the principles of corporate governance so that at post-constitutional level anyone may achieve her/his functionings in the corporate domain by exercising such capabilities. In the absence of such a condition, post-constitutional contracts would distort the process that descends from constitutional rights and capabilities toward social outcomes
MISSION GOVERNANCE E ACCOUNTABILITY DELLE SOCIETÀ BENEFIT
No full textLe Società Benefit rientrano tra le imprese che la letteratura definisce come organizzazioni ibride – ovvero le organizzazioni che presentano obiettivi di profitto e sociali. Tale letteratura presenta principalmente studi teorici (Battilana et al.2012; Battilana e Lee 2014; Lee e Jay 2015; Battilana, Besharov e Mitzinneck 2017), e casi studio (Battilana e Dorado 2010; Pache e Santos 2013; Battilana et al.2015).Tuttavia, le organizzazioni ibride non sono omogenee nel modo in cui enfatizzano obiettivi finanziari e non finanziari, dunque i possibili contesti di studio di questo tipo di organizzazioni possono essere molto eterogenei, ponendo dubbi sulla generalizzazione dei risultati della ricerca esistenti. Ciò che vogliamo analizzare in questo scritto è la nuova forma giuridica della S.B. e le sue caratteristiche principali. Per farlo adotteremo il framework Mission-Governance-Accountability (di seguito, MGA) sviluppato da Matacena (Matacena, 2017). Questo framework appare particolarmente interessante poiché offre una concettualizzazione utile ad analizzare in maniera critica le caratteristiche di questa nuova forma d’impresa e delineare le traiettorie di ricerca future. Più nel dettaglio, nel secondo paragrafo illustreremo la nascita del fenomeno negli Stati Uniti e in Italia, nel terzo paragrafo analizzeremo le caratteristiche delle S.B. Alla luce del modello MGA, nel quarto paragrafo concluderemo con una discussione critica e delineeremo le future traiettorie di ricerca
The Public Value of embedding SDGs into management education curricula
No full textQuesto articolo esamina il valore pubblico (Public Value, PV) generato dalle università attraverso la formazione manageriale orientata agli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile (SDGs). A tale scopo, integriamo due filoni di ricerca: da un lato, la letteratura sulla formazione manageriale, che evidenzia la necessità di rafforzare la sustainability literacy dei futuri manager; dall’altro, gli studi sul Public Value nelle istituzioni di istruzione superiore. L’approccio sincretico adottato permette di mettere a fuoco il legame tra l’offerta di corsi di management ed economia con contenuti legati agli SDGs e la creazione di valore pubblico, in particolare rispetto alle opportunità di occupazione per gli studenti. Approfondiamo questa relazione attraverso il caso dell’Università di Bologna, che offre una mappatura completa dei corsi economico-manageriali in base alla loro connessione con gli SDGs. Sulla base di un modello ipotetico-deduttivo, indaghiamo se i laureati in management ed economia esposti a un numero più elevato di crediti formativi (ECTS) su temi SDG-related abbiano accesso a maggiori e migliori opportunità professionali. I risultati mostrano che gli studenti con curricula più ricchi di contenuti sugli SDGs, soprattutto nella loro dimensione economica, hanno maggiori probabilità di trovare un’occupazione e di ottenere salari più elevati.This paper aims to analyze the public value (PV) generated by universities concerning management education to provide students with sustainable development goals-related curricula (hereafter, SDGs-related curricula). To do that, we rely on two streams of literature: the literature on management education stressing the need to improve students’ sustainability literacy to train tomorrow’s managers and the PV literature concerning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), underscoring the ongoing debate surrounding the operationalization of PV. Adopting a syncretic approach between these two streams permits conceptualizing the linkage between delivering management and economics courses with SDGs-related content and PV, particularly about students’ employability opportunities. Also, we go further in exploring the relationship by analyzing the case of the University of Bologna, as it represents an exciting ground to investigate this issue, as it provides a complete map of management and economic courses according to their relatedness to SDGs. Based on a hypothetical-deductive model, we explore whether management and economics graduates with SDGs-related themes in the curricula have more and better employment opportunities. The results demonstrate that students who completed curricula with more SDG-related ECTS points, particularly in the economics dimension of the SDGs, are more likely to secure employment and have better odds of a higher salary
Specific investments, cognitive resources, and specialized nature of research production in academic institutions: why shared governance matters for performance
No full textNew institutional economics (NIE) studies institutions and how they emerge, operate, and evolve. They also include organizational arrangements, intended as modes of governing economic transactions. Universities offer an exciting ground for testing the role of different institutional arrangements (governance forms) in coordinating (academic) transactions. In a context of contractual incompleteness where production is characterized by a highly specialized nature and requires the cooperation among co-essential figures, we argue that shared governance models (versus models with more concentrated authority) foster idiosyncratic investments in human capital and promotes performance. From the evolutionary viewpoint, we explain why institutions based on shared governance have developed within universities. The normative question of how universities should be governed is a debated issue in the literature. Since the 1980s, the new public management paradigm provides a theoretical framework that suggests analyzing university like firms. It is based on the firm's archetypical conception as top-down hierarchical organizations and as a descending sequence of principal–agent problems. We advance a different interpretation of the university–firm analogy leveraging on the NIE and its developments. To empirically analyze our hypothesis, we collected original data from Italian universities in 2015. We find that more shared decision-making processes are correlated with better research performance
Non-financial PPP for participatory priority-setting in R&I policy: the case of the Italian National Technology Cluster policy
No full textNational governments are increasingly being scrutinized for how they develop priorities and specialize decisions regarding public investments in research and innovation (R&I). Pressure stems from the need to ensure that publicly funded science and technology projects have a positive impact and increases in times of fiscal tightening and from specific policies such as the European Smart Specialization Strategy. One of the most important trade-offs governments face in the generation of specialized investments’ trajectories is overcoming information asymmetries by aggregating relevant knowledge while mediating the conflicting interests of various actors. We build on the literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) developed for R&I by analyzing how a stable and effective priority-setting (PS) process can be implemented. We argue that a particular type of PPP, a "non-financial PPP", when characterized by participatory governance, represents an effective and legitimized structure that can transform broad goals for specific fields into prioritized technological trajectories. We then analyze the case of the Italian National Technological Clusters, which were instituted by a policy launched in 2012 by the Italian government aimed at providing a governance tool for producing legitimate and informed priorities. This analysis increases the current knowledge of the unique role that specific PPPs may have as a governance tool for R&I policy
The Potential of Social Enterprises as Milestones for a Place-Based Inclusive Innovation Strategy.
No full textSeveral classes of inequalities have emerged as a consequence of the territorial polarization generated by the knowledge-based economy. Place-based policies implemented so far have demonstrated scarce effects in leveraging the underlying potential of left-behind places. In this paper, we explore whether social enterprises can be the actors of a rejuvenated innovation policy able to convey the value of knowledge and innovation to society. Despite their weak technological endowments, social enterprises, through their territorial distributive patterns and organizational characteristics, represent an installed entrepreneurial base that can be targeted by a new generation of inclusive innovation policies.
Organizing for transformative innovation policies: The role of social enterprises. Theoretical insights and evidence from Italy
No full textTransformative innovation policies can provide systemic solutions to socio-environmental challenges because of their “experimental”, “reflexive” and “inclusive” character. We contend that social enterprises can act as catalysts for transformative innovation for the geographically and socially marginalized. Thus, including social enterprises in transformative innovation policies can mitigate the negative effects of innovation-based growth, making policies more socially and geographically inclusive. Following a syncretic approach to the literatures on transformative innovation policies and social entrepreneurship, this paper identifies the key dimensions of social enterprises' transformative innovation potential: directionality (i.e., social goals as the purpose of innovation); social and geographical inclusiveness (i.e., the inclusion of marginalized areas and individuals in the provision of goods or services); reflexivity (in terms of participatory governance and monitoring the achievement of goals); and experimental character (in terms of establishing partnerships with heterogeneous actors). We then assess this capacity through an exploratory cluster analysis of Italian social enterprises. We identify three distinct groups that suggest a range of entrepreneurial approaches from largely transformative to not at all. The transformative innovation readiness of social enterprises has implications for policymakers seeking to undertake pilot schemes and implement actions that support an appropriately transformative innovation ecosystem
La governance universitaria in Italia, tra mutamento legislativo e adattamento istituzionale. Teoria ed evidenze.
No full textOver the last decades, the political and academic discussion on university
governance has been characterized by two different perspectives. On the one hand,
New Public Management: according to this approach universities are seen as institutions
that operate in a quasi-market in which political authority appoints external agents, and
introduces a variety of incentives aimed at guaranteeing that universities’ interests and
those of the individuals working for them are in line with the established goals. On the
other hand, a perspective which is primarily based on the consideration that good higher
education requires a combination of very different types of resources and competencies.
According to this perspective universities are seen as publicly regulated institutions,
whose main aim is to enhance the cooperation among the different components of the
tertiary system, and balance the interests and investments of all relevant stakeholders.
Against this backdrop, the article discusses reform law 30 December 2010, no. 240 which
provided a comprehensive overhaul of Italian universities’ governance. The authors use
a unique dataset on Italian universities to investigate what are the actual governance
patterns that emerged from the reform, and that do not necessarily reflect the formal
provisions.
The evidence shows that, despite a common regulatory framework, Italian universities
have implemented quite different models of governance. Such models range from a highly
vertical to a shared governance model. Furthermore, the data confirm our hypothesis
that in many (although not in all) universities the stakeholders that control crucial
cognitive resources and investments in the university tend to introduce rebalancing
measures in order to prevent opportunistic behavior that would otherwise expropriate
their investments
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