Dr Andrea Bernardi

Purpose – This paper analyses public sector accounting and organization reforms, focusing on
the departments in charge of defence, military procurement and war between 1850 and 2000 in
Britain. Over this period, three parliamentary acts, resulting from a power struggle between the
Treasury and Parliament, produced the shift between two institutional logics: probity (spending
properly) and performance (spending well). The purpose of this paper is to describe how the
acts produced a shift between two institutional logics.
Design/methodology/approach – We adopt Quattrone’s (2015) procedural notion of
institutional logics and the consequent concept of ‘unfolding rationality’. Using documents
from the National Archives, we analyse three reforms: The Exchequer and Audit Departments
Act 1866 (towards probity), The Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921 (towards
performance), and the National Audit Office Act of 1983 (towards performance and probity).
Findings – For a long time, the actors narrated in this story argued and acted as if probity and
performance were incompatible. The two are now treated as compatible and equally important.
Before that, the ‘incompatibility’ was a rhetorical, or ‘procedural’, device. We argue that a
procedural rather than substantive notion of institutional logics is more suitable to explain the
trajectory that was the result of constant negotiation among actors.
Originality/value – The originality of this paper stands in highlighting the link between the
institutional logic of public-administration accounting and military history. This link emerges
also thanks to a very long time-horizon. Additionally, from a theoretical viewpoint, we have
put Quattrone’s approach to the test in a context very different from the original one (the Jesuit
order).
Practical implications – Our study might contribute to understanding of the increase in
national defence-spending at continental level and the call for a common EU military
procurement strategy that followed the invasion of Ukraine. The war could produce changes in
what is a traditional tension between two logics: sovereignty or efficiency.

This paper aims to highlight the role of solidarity funds in the development and support of national co-operative movements. Those are financial institutions specialized in supporting the start-up and growth of co-operatives. By adopting a case study approach, our analysis shows that solidarity funds emerged globally with similar objectives. Our international comparison focuses on Italy but includes France, the United Kingdom and Québec as a specific Canadian province with a French institutional environment. Despite their crucial importance, there is limited available research on this subject. To this end, our paper has policy implications; we need to consider establishing such institutions in countries where co-operatives are lagging behind as traditional financial institutions are often unable to finance co-operatives because of their property rights regime.

In this paper we present an empirical study on the perception of the cooperative firm among entertainment and
performing arts workers. In particular, the study is based on workers belonging to associations established during the first pandemic emergency from Covid-19 in 2020. Our study reveals a perception of deterioration of the cooperative model. At the same time, the participants in our research demonstrate a confidence in the ideal
cooperative firm and look with interest at new cooperatives in other working sectors. The data was collected
through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with cooperative and non-cooperative associated workers.

Inequality has been increasing for decades in both rich and developing countries and the academic literature addressing it struggles to provide explanations, let alone solutions. This paper is concerned with a relatively underexplored area, the relationship between macro-level inequality and organizational inequality. The core focus of the article is the recognition that the two phenomena are closely bound up one with the other. This is made possible by adopting Rousseau’s notion of inequality as hierarchy and willingness to accept subordination to authority and disparity of treatment. In doing so we highlight similarities and dissimilarities between Rousseau and Marx. Inequality remains an issue of hierarchy at both the macro and organizational levels. As it was for Rousseau, so it is today but it’s much more layered than in Rousseau’s day: inequality in society is the accepted degree of hierarchy among its members, inequality in the economy and at work is the extent to which, accepted or not, there is an imbalance of power, financial resources, remuneration of work, and access to opportunities and services. The increase in inequality is due to a radical change in the socio-economic model of advanced economies. This change involves a shift towards financialization, a pressure on labour through flexibility, the decline of trade unions’ power, and the retrenchment of public social spending. 

The Capability Approach, first developed by Amartya Sen, can be used as a mean to analyse occupational health and safety related behaviours. Accidents at work more frequently occur among atypical workers and migrants, making this an interesting context in which to apply Sen’s theoretical framework; namely showing how freedoms, rights, organisational climate and capabilities are important factors in risk prevention. It is logical to expect that workers’ participation and rights should provide a safer environment, but the application of the Capability Approach offers a tool to measure organisational inequalities and their consequences. Furthermore, its application could help to improve occupational health and safety chiefly among atypical workers. In this paper, I consider Safety Capability to encompass the workers' attitude to their own protection, their understanding of safety procedures and the risks they face, and their freedom to ask their organisation to comply with the law and implement safe work processes.