Background: Improving instruction and rewarding educators for student learning creates a paradigm shift in evaluating a teacher’s contribution to individual learners. Systemic performance and teacher performance are now receiving more attention than ever before in history, as they are considered foundational for student performance. Policy makers are concerned about teacher quality and want a non-subjective measure that compares teachers based on student achievement results. Superintendents and school boards are joining forces to produce frameworks that are designed to guide school districts through strategic planning. The Vision for Public Education, Equity and Excellence in Georgia is one example. Purpose: The primary focus of this dissertation is to examine A Vision for Public Education, Equity and Excellence, a state-wide project to improve public education in Georgia. The aim of the project is to influence school board policy in seven areas, early learning and student success, teaching and learning, teaching and learning resources, human and organizational capital, governance, leadership, and accountability. Research Methods: A case study provides how individual school boards are implementing the Georgia Vision Project’s recommendations, particularly teacher evaluation. The districts chosen for this study met the criteria of implementing the Vision Project with fidelity and were deemed to be addressing teacher evaluation with commitment. An instrumental case study design allowed for an in-depth look at the Vision Project’s effect on two districts. Findings: Findings reveal how two school districts in Georgia actively used the recommendations from the Vision for Public Education to strengthen strategic planning in multiple areas. Results show how exemplary teachers, building leaders, and district leaders are aligning efforts to improve the educational experience for students. This dissertation describes common themes in student data uses, teacher evaluation, and clarity of communication to benefit student achievement. Conclusion: The results suggest the Vision Project recommendations overlapped showing the complexity of school organizations. Each district used the recommendations differently however, clarity, communication and a focus on students emerged as commonalities. Hopes and fears concerning teacher evaluation arose as teachers discussed current policy requiring student test data be incorporated into teacher evaluations.

Financial markets have many different key actors, but one of the most important ones are the financial analysts. They are considered as experts in gathering and disseminating the information that firms produce, to those that seek it, such as stock recommendations and reports on firms. Related to this is a growing interest in society toward disclosures in regards of CSR as well as ESG. There has been considerable discussion in academia of whether or not CSR can be considered to be value relevant. This is a question which relate to both institutional and legitimacy perspectives in terms of theory, but also discussions in regards to agency and stakeholder theory as well:   Has value relevance of CSR disclosures increased in stock recommendations for the Nordic markets?   Thereby, the main purpose of this thesis is to find out whether or not there has been a shifting view of CSR over time, which would be evidenced in an increasing legitimization of CSR in terms of an increasing value-relevance to financial analysts. This would also be related to a shifting institutional logic, whereby it would be possible to relate to a shift in the view of the firm and its role in society. This is both looked at purely from the starting point of the dataset to the end point, but also for two different periods of time, so as to test if there is a different view of the issue after the financial crisis. In addition to this main purpose, this thesis furthermore sets out to answer whether CSR is value-relevant or not in different subsegments, such as nations, industries and the different types of recommendations that exist.   To answer the research question, an objectivist and positivist stance is taken, which subsequently leads the authors to utilize quantitative methods and statistical analysis to the data. Here, different panel models are fitted to the data to account effects that exist within it. To explain the findings, a theoretical framework is built upon three different levels: societal, firm and individual level. Here, on the societal level theories such as institutional theory as well as legitimacy theory are dealt with. On the firm level, agency theory and stakeholder theory as well as theoretical views of CSR forms the basis, and the individual level deals with theory related to the financial analyst.   In looking at the results and the analysis, one cannot draw the conclusion that there has been a shifting view of the value-relevance of CSR. Financial analysts appear to not find it value-relevant in issuing their stock recommendations, except for two cases: namely in terms of the industrial sector Basic Materials and the Buy recommendations. In terms of Basic Materials, it appears to be value-relevant in a positive manner. In regards to the Buy recommendation, it appears to have a negative effect on the value-relevance. All in all, this thesis cannot find evidence for a value-relevance of CSR to financial analysts in the Nordic markets. Essentially, the view of it appears to be pessimistic.

Academics, practitioners and media agree that the topic of work-life balance is on the agenda and valued by the new business generation. Although Sweden might be considered a working friendly country, the management consultancy industry is not recognized to be the same. With an institutional perspective we will through a discourse analysis investigate the communication on Swedish management consultancies web pages in order to explore how consultancies relate to the work-life balance discourse. In this study we look at work-life balance communication as a continuum with abstract and concrete as two opposites where the level of concreteness will decide the level of responsibility dedicated from the organizations regarding employees` work-life balance. Our findings suggest that the discourse is mostly composed of abstract descriptive talk, which indicates that the communication exists as a legitimizing result of institutional pressures, and might not be an essential matter for the concultancies` everyday practice. A big part of the responsibility to achieve a work-life balance is put upon the individual employee and even though initiatives are presented they are seldom followed up by concrete targets or supported with results.

Exporting is a critically important strategy for firms to grow, yet research in this area has tended to ignore how firms can leverage resource-based capabilities to improve export performance. Building on the resource-based view and institutional theory, the authors develop a novel perspective to explain how a firm can improve export performance by aligning its export channel with its level of market orientation capabilities, contingent on the institutional distance between home and export markets. Using a unique database of Chinese exporters, the authors find that exporters with strong market orientation capabilities prefer hierarchical export channels, while those with weak market orientation capabilities prefer hybrid channels. The analysis also indicates that the institutional distance between China and the export market moderates this relation. Moreover, the authors find that aligning export channel choice with firm-level market orientation capabilities and institutional distance yields better export performance. (authors' abstract)

This thesis consists of an introductory part, including venture capital definitions, the history of venture capital in Sweden, and an overview of the venture capital process, and four self-contained papers on venture capital and the venture capital process. Paper 1 investigates the standardisation of the contractual strategies applied in the Swedish venture capital industry. The study was based on a questionnaire data regarding the use of contractual covenants. Our results indicate that the greatest differences occur among those with different investment preferences. There would appear to be two distinct venture capital cultures controlling contractual choices in these groups. Our findings generally conform to expectations as predicated by institutional theory. Paper 2 investigate venture capital firms’ valuation practices in two different economic contexts, in the economic boom of 1999 and in the downturn market of 2002 by using an experimental case study design with a case based on a real firm. Contrary to our expectations, in times of heightened stringency and economic downturn, venture capital investors employ fewer valuation models than they do in boom times. The main contribution of our research is an increase in the knowledge of venture capitalists’ valuation practices under different market conditions. It can also contribute to researchers developing more relevant theories of valuation, valuation models and valuation practice. Paper 3 empirically examines the linkage between governance, trust and performance based on a questionnaire sent to entrepreneurs in venture capital backed companies in Sweden. The results suggest that the level of trust between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur affects the relationship between VCs governance and the portfolio company’s performance. Paper 4 analyse exit strategies and exit-directed activities among entrepreneurs in venture capital relationships. The study focuses on the effect of the venture capital organization (independent, public sector and captive) on strategy and exit-directed activities. The results indicate that firms with a trade sale strategy tend to have a higher degree of exit activities compared to other exit strategies. Furthermore, the type of venture capital organization involved (especially when comparing private independent VCs to public sector VCs) also affects exit strategies and activities.

Institutional logics create order and stability. They organize interaction and prescribe how we should behave towards each other. Such logics have generally been regarded as exclusive, in the sense that an organizational field is always guided by a single institutional logic. If there are two or more institutional logics in one setting at the same time this will create conflicting demands and contradictions. So how do organizations and individuals that act in these settings, where different institutional logics do meet, cope with the conflicting demands?    This question is researched by studying actors who organize partnerships between corporations and non-profit organizations. Institutional logics have typically been studied at field level. My study follows a more recent literature strand focusing on individuals and their way of coping with conflicting institutional logics. In this thesis, interviews, text analysis and observations are used. The interviews were conducted with CSR managers of corporations, managers of corporate partners at non-profit organizations, CSR consultants, and project managers of intermediary organizations. These actors are working in an environment where conflicting institutional logics are played out. Using a narrative approach it is shown how these actors are aware of their institutional environment and its conflicts which requires them to constantly act as translators. The study shows that the actors organize an interplay between a market-logic and a social-welfare logic by bringing together the logics and establishing limits to what extent logics can be mixed. Thus, the actors can be understood as bilingual, rather than hybrids. Furthermore, it is argued that a narrative approach provides the possibility to understand institutional logics in empirical contexts as more present and visible than they are usually considered to be. The study concludes that bilingual actors balance conflicting demands and negotiate requirements set by institutional logics in their day-to-day work.  Settings where institutional logics meet can hence be understood as both a contradiction and an ongoing interplay.

Schools’ decisions to offer Physical Education (PE) is among the possible ways of involving students in physical activity, which has significant effects on students’ health, lifelong participation in physical activities and participation in sport. This thesis explores the factors and the ways they influence secondary schools’ decisions on whether or not to offer PE in Tanzania. The study is based on Institutional Theory, and on a social constructivist approach to knowledge generation, employing qualitative research methods, such as document analysis and interviews with different actors within and related to secondary schools. The study areas and the participants were purposefully sampled and included heads of school boards, heads of schools, PE teachers, parents and students. Document reviews were used in order to gather information concerning the regulative and normative conditions that govern schools. Four schools were more carefully studied – two that offer and two that do not offer PE. In these schools I focused on cultural conditions and local frames that could influence schools’ decisions. The findings indicate a number of factors which influence schools’ decisions whether or not to offer PE. Some of these factors are the availability of teaching and learning logistics, including facilities, equipment, qualified PE teachers, text books and teaching hours for the subject. Furthermore, the contribution of the examination for promotion purposes, the pen and paper examinations, the prioritization of other programmes and subjects, reliable support for the subject and the interest of those empowered to make decisions at school level also influence schools’ decisions concerning offering the subject. On the basis of the theory used in this study, to enable schools to make decisions favouring the offering of PE, there need to be consistency among the regulations and the normative and cultural-cognitive aspects of the institution. First, the regulative conditions are those that legalize the subject by forming the basis for schools’ decisions to offer the subject; these include governing and monitoring organs. Second, the normative conditions stipulate the logic of appropriateness for how the teaching should be approached; these include various normative directives, such as the curriculum and the syllabus. Finally, the cultural-cognitive conditions exert an influence on schools’ decisions through various perceptions held about the subject within the community. The thesis concludes with some implications of the study, indicating what changes will be needed concerning both the general institutional level and the school level. / Att skolor i Tanzania beslutar sig för att erbjuda skolämnet Idrott och hälsa (Physical Education) kan vara en förutsättning för att engagera elever i fysiska aktiviteter, vilket är betydelsefullt med tanke på deras hälsa, fortsatta fysiska aktiva liv och deltagande i idrott. Denna avhandling undersöker olika faktorers inverkan på skolors (motsvarande högstadium) ställningstagande för eller emot att erbjuda Idrott och hälsa som valbart ämne. I studien, som är baserad på nyinstitutionell teori och på ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv på kunskapsutveckling, tillämpas en kvalitativ ansats genom metoder som dokumentanalys och intervjuer med olika aktörer inom och i anknytning till ett urval av skolor. Dokumentgranskningar har gjorts som grund för en analys av vilka regulativa och normativa villkor som inverkar på skolors ställningstaganden. Därutöver har fyra skolor studerats - två som erbjuder och två som inte erbjuder Idrott och hälsa. Här har syftet varit att klarlägga vilka kulturella förhållanden och lokala ramar som inverkar på skolornas beslut om att ge eller inte ge ämnet. Vid dessa skolor har intervjuer genomförts med strategiskt utvalda personer; ordföranden i skolstyrelser, skolledare, idrottslärare, föräldrar och elever. Resultaten visar att ett antal faktorer inverkar på skolors beslut om att erbjuda eller inte erbjuda Idrott och hälsa. Några av dessa faktorer är tillgången på faciliteter och utrustning, utbildade idrottslärare och läromedel. Vidare är det betydelsefullt hur undervisningstimmar i ämnet fördelas. Negativ inverkan har förhållandet att praktiskt kunnande inte bedöms i de nationella proven, att betygen i Idrott och hälsa inte har något egentligt värde i utbildningssystemet och att andra ämnen tillmäts högre status och värde. För ett positivt ställningstagande behöver det finnas ett substantiellt stöd för ämnet och ett intresse bland dem som har befogenhet att fatta beslut på skolnivå. Alla dessa faktorer inverkar på skolornas beslut om att erbjuda ämne. Utifrån den teori som används i studien måste det finnas en samsyn och överensstämmelse mellan de regulativa, normativa och kulturella villkor som styr skolan som institution för att skolor ska kunna erbjuda Idrott och hälsa. Denna studie har visat att en sådan samsyn inte föreligger. För det första bör de regulativa villkoren ge tydlig legitimitet åt ämnet genom att etablera legala förutsättningar för skolors möjligheter att erbjuda ämnet; vilket även involverar de institutioner som övervakar utbildningen. För det andra bör de normativa villkoren såsom läroplan och kursplan, vilka styr innehållet i och formerna för undervisningen i ämnet, vara relevanta och realistiska utifrån de lokala förutsättningar som råder. Slutligen bör insatser göras för att förändra de kulturella-kognitiva förutsättningarna i form av att synliggöra värdet av ämnet Idrott och hälsa med tanke på barns och ungdomars utveckling av goda hälsovanor. Avhandlingen avslutas med några implikationer av studien, vilka indikerar vilka konkreta förändringar som kan behövas såväl på institutionell och nationell nivå som på skolnivå.

The purpose of this text is to contribute to theunderstanding of a specific academic discipline (in Swedishcalled Ekonomistyrning). Another purpose is to contribute to arenewal of this field. Theoretical bases are theories from thesociological field like new institutional theory and theoriesof social constructions. The text consists of two parts. Thefirst part is about the academic discipline and the second isabout newer practices and a renewal of the discipline. In thefirst part twelve prominent academics give their views ofdifferent aspects of the discipline. The images are groupedtogether in different categories and also discussed from aninstitutional theory point of view. The second part puts focuson the pragmatic orientation in theory and on two kinds ofnewer production in practice. Two companies that producetelevision programmes and four biotech-companies are described.Interpretations are made regarding the nature of theirmanagement and control activities. Contributions from the firstpart are that (1) there are two aspects of the discipline. Thefield has first of all a strong pragmatic orientation but alsosmall and growing academic influence. The limit (2) for what isconsidered ekonomistyrning are wider and not so obvious asbefore. Traditional parts of the discipline (3) like budgetinghave been questioned and reconsidered. Consultants (4) havecreated room for new concepts like JIT, BPR, TQM, BSC and SCMinside the discipline. Contributions from the second part arethat (1) individuals are self managed and guided by theirknowledge and that these companies use (2) a "new" kind ofmanagement systems like e.g. milestones. These kinds of newpractices give vital contributions to the discussion about arenewal of the discipline. Arguments are given (3) forregarding management and control as human activities ratherthan technical questions. This calls for an extended use of newmodels, of a different language and of new images based onsocial sciences. Keywords:Ekonomistyrning, Management Accounting,Management Control, Social Construction, Institutional theory,Images taken-for-granted. / <p>NR 20140805</p>

The thesis conveys three discrete, yet interconnected, studies embracing issues revolving around the exploration of integrated reporting adoption and embeddedness using an institutional theory lens. Integrated reporting can be described as ‘a holistic and integrated representation of the company’s performance in terms of both its finance and its sustainability’ (King III, 2009, p. 54). The first study explores the mimetic, normative and regulative institutional factors, at both an organisational field (meso) and country (macro) levels, affecting the adoption of integrated reporting. Moreover, it provides a portrayal for the adoption of the new practice among corporations. The study uses a relatively large sample driven from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report list and tests it empirically using panel data from 2002- 2010. The second study develops a measure to capture sustainability embeddedness in corporate reports and uses the measure to explore and describe sustainability embeddedness in the integrated reports. Additionally, indicators on sustainability embeddedness in the de facto GRI guidelines are highlighted in comparison to the measure developed. Finally, the third study explores the determinants of sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports using a decoupling lens. More specifically, the study examines the effects of integrated reporting age (as a proxy for early and late adoption), the level of reporting of GRI sustainability guidelines (GRI application level), report assurance and corporate governance on sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports. The study finds that the application of integrated reporting emerged in 2001 amongst only a few corporations in Europe and South America, and was spread among all continents by 2010. While mimetic and normative factors at a meso level were significantly related to integrated reporting adoption, regulative and normative factors at a macro level were found to be of limited association with integrated reporting adoption. Interestingly, corporate size, a firm characteristic control variable, was found to be negatively associated with IR adoption. Exploring sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports in the second study reveals that on average integrated reporters covered 54.4% of the indicators on sustainability embeddedness on the constructed index. Integrated reporters were found to show that sustainability is embedded in some aspects as stakeholder dialogue, executive members’ commitment to sustainability and developing measures to report on various environmental impacts. Conversely, integrated reporters conducting business as usual and prioritised financial aspects in others aspects as remuneration, promotion and appraisal, employee sustainability engagement and investor dialogue regarding sustainability. The results also show that there are great discrepancies in the levels of sustainability embeddedness coverage between integrated reporters. Sustainability embeddedness scores were found to decline, especially in the most recent years of adoption. Regression results in the third study did not find evidence that early adopters of integrated reporting had significantly higher sustainability embeddedness than later adopters. Additionally, corporate governance mechanisms were also unable to explain sustainability embeddedness scores, with the exception of the positive association between corporate two-tier boards and sustainability embeddedness. Embedding sustainability was found to be mainly associated with GRI application level. There was limited evidence to suggest that integrated reporters providing assurance for their reports had higher sustainability embeddedness scores. The studies, taken together, contribute to the body of literature on CSR adoption in general and the adoption of integrated reporting and its practices in particular. The studies also provide contribution and implications by testing institutional theory in a new context.

This research focuses on developing a framework for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) technology adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). WiMax has emerged as a technology to overcome the limitations of traditional and existing broadband technologies and support a great number of organisations and consumers/citizens in providing a higher speed over substantial distances i.e. in areas that are difficult for wired infrastructure to reach. Despite all the interest in the types of broadband adoption as demonstrated by SMEs in several countries, there seems to be slow progress and lack of information supporting the decision making process for WiMax technology adoption by SMEs specifically in the context of KSA. This may illustrate that SMEs adopt WiMax technology solutions at a slower pace and make them characterised as laggards in terms of new technologies adoption. This research takes into consideration this literature gap and makes a step forward and investigates on WiMax technology adoption by SMEs in KSA with an organisational cultural view, vendors’ commercialisation strategies and government policies by analysing the normative literature related to this research. The data collection of this study was carried out in two phases including quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first phase of the research provided results indicated that, the Saudi SMEs who participated in this research are strongly dominated by clan culture and adhocracy culture. These cultures also have a positive impact on the Internet technologies adoption such as WiMax by SMEs. It is found that, the combination of clan and adhocracy cultures in Saudi SMEs is making them more likely to adopt latest Internet technologies. In the second phase, the results showed a wide difference in views among SMEs, WiMax vendors and government agencies involved in WiMax technology diffusion to SMEs in Saudi Arabia. Although WiMax technology started as an innovation that has the potential to be disruptive and could replace the widely diffused fixed wire line Internet connection, the research findings showed an interesting deviation from this path. In particular, the WiMax technology market analysis in Saudi Arabia highlighted the vendors’ tendency to treat WiMax technology as a sustaining innovation. Research findings also indicated that, the Saudi government provided funds for Information and Communications Technology‘s diffusion in the country. However, the level of awareness displayed by SMEs is persistently low. Knowledge deployment, mobilisation, innovation directive and subsidy have been emphasised by SMEs as the most important government interventions that might have an impact on WiMax adoption by them. Finally, further important issues have been uncovered by the research such as taxation, experience exchange, herd culture/bandwagon, consumer right protection and customer service in relation to the adoption of WiMax by SMEs. The perceived future prospect of these additional issues has been considered as an influence on adoption of WiMax technology by SMEs. The findings of this research can be useful to guide analysts and researchers in determining critical aspects of the complex issues involved in technologies adoption, and lead to suggestions for further valid research.