Calculating pay in Swedish schools: Accounting, performativity, and misfires

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12236
• Author: Cemil Eren Fırtın,Gustaf Kastberg
• Date: 01 November 2020
• Published date: 01 November 2020

Received: 27 February2019 Revised: 7 January 2020 Accepted:13 January 2020

DOI: 10.1111/faam.12236

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Calculating pay in Swedish schools: Accounting,

performativity, and misfires

Cemil Eren Fırtın Gustaf Kastberg

School of Public Administration,University of

Gothenburg, Goteborg, Sweden

Correspondence

GustafKastberg, School of Public Administration,

Universityof Gothenburg, Sprängkullsgatan 19,

41123, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Email:Gustaf.Kastberg@spa.gu.se

Earlierversions of this study have been presented

at10th International Public Sector Conference,

EuropeanInstitute for Advanced Studied in

Management,Lund University and New Public

SectorSeminar 2018, Calculative practice and

theshaping of public services, University of

EdinburghBusiness School. We are thankful for

allthe comments that we have received in these

occasionsto develop this study.

Abstract

This is a study of individual differentiated pay (IDP) for teachers in

Sweden. We regard IDP as part of the observed accountingization

of professional work. Our aim is to contribute to the understand-

ing of accounting as a performative calculative device through the

study of how performance is made an element of individual pay. As

we sought to answer “How are merits and performance of profes-

sionals turned into a set IDP?” we observed the ways in which IDP

had diverse performativeconsequences, which made the connection

between performance and merit less influential in the process of set-

ting wages. We contribute to the theorizing of accounting as a per-

formative practice by introducing two propositions thatindicate the

importance of considering the extent to which accounting is turned

into a dominant narrativeand the extent to which the operations can

be visualized in a relevant, stable manner. The propositions are the

result of the approach to include visualizations as a focal dimension

of performativity. The concept stresses the importance of recogniz-

ing the prerequisites of relevance and correspondence.

KEYWORDS

accountingization, performance measurement, performativity,

school, visualizations

1INTRODUCTION

This study concerns something that everyone is uncomfortable talking about, but everyone is interested in: the

individual salary. A dramatizing dimension is its negotiation. Here, we address how the pay level is set. Decisions

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c

2020 The Authors. Financial Accountability & Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

420 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/faam FinancialAcc & Man. 2020;36:420–438.

FIRTIN ANDKASTBERG 421

on which level applies, and for whom, have become a matter of performance under the labels of performance-

related pay, pay for performance, and performance incentives (Ball, 2003; Chamberlin, Wragg, Haynes, & Wragg,

2002; Cutler & Waine, 2004; Forrester, 2001; Jones & Hartney, 2017). This presupposes measuring and eval-

uating merits, performance, and efforts. Although performance remuneration at unit or organizational level is

well covered in the literature (Kastberg & Siverbo, 2007), less attention has been paid to the performance

dimension of setting the level of the monthly individual salary. Our case is individual differentiated pay (IDP)

for teachers in Sweden. IDP has been described as an attempt to “ensure that salaries reflect employees’ indi-

vidual contributions to the organizational outcomes and enable teachers for salary development” (SKL, 2015,

p. 4).

We regard IDP as part of the observed accountingization and economization of professional work and organiza-

tions (Lapsley, 2007; Miller & Power, 2013; Power & Laughlin, 1992), where accounting has been described as pro-

viding a “dominant narrative of everyday doings in organizations” (Miller & Power, 2013). The study aims to con-

tribute to the literature on performativity of accounting (Callon, 1998a; Themsen & Skaerbaek, 2018). The concept

of performativity captures the active role of how accounting intervenes and mobilizes actors (Mouritsen, Hansen,

& Hansen, 2009; Vosselman, 2013). In terms of accounting, performativity is about understanding the “productive”

nature of accounting (Miller & Power, 2013). For example, Power (2015) illustrates the object formulation in the

case of impact management for higher education institutions. Although a substantial number of studies illustrate

the performative functioning of accounting, there is still a need for studies that explore the dynamics and “counter-

processes” at play (Vosselman, 2013). Accounting sometimes seems to be “co-opted” by the professional domain

point in that direction (Kastberg & Siverbo, 2016). Recent studies (Boedker,Chong, & Mouritsen, 2019) indicate that

there is a need for an advanced understanding of performativity because of observations of lack of performative

effects.

Although object elaboration is central to the performativity thesis (Miller & Power,2013; Power, 2015), drawing

on the literature on professions and professionalism, we might expect to find measuring and valuing performance to

be challenging (Freidson, 2001). The work is carried out in close relationships between client and professional worker

and the specificity of each case makes it difficult to ex ante rule by standards and guidelines and ex post control by

results (Hofstede, 1981; Mintzberg, 1983). This is certainly true also of teachers who have been described as conduct-

ing work in a closed classroom (Hargreaves,2000; Helsby, 1995) with no or minimal interference by colleagues or prin-

cipals. One might add that the maintaining of vagueness and obfuscating of actual performance have been described

as a strategy byprofessional workers to safeguard autonomy and maintain control over work (Abbott, 1988; Alvesson,

2001). Therefore, the challenge can be described as one where measuring, qualifying, and valuing must be applied to

something that is vague, intrinsic, and performed by actors who might even be opposed to the veryidea. When scruti-

nizing IDP,we might therefore expect counter-processes that provide a foundation for an elaborated discussion on the

reach of accountingization.

Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of accounting as a performative practice by studying how perfor-

mance is made an element of individual pay. Therefore, we formulate our research question as “How are merits and

performance of professionals turned into a set IDP?” Wewill first introduce a theoretical framework,where we expand

the understanding of performativity in action with the help of the concept of visualizations. We observe in the analysis

of our empirical case the wayin which IDP had diverse performative consequences. This made the connection between

performance and merit less influential in the wage-setting process. These observations allow us to contribute to the

theorizing of accounting as a performative practice by introducing two propositions that indicate the importance of

considering the extent to which accounting is turned into a dominant narrativeand the extent to which the operations

can be visualized in a relevant, stable manner.The propositions are the result of the approach to include visualizations

as a focal dimension of performativity. The concept stresses the importance of recognizing the prerequisites of rele-

vance and correspondence. In the next section, we develop a discussion on the relationship between the concepts of

performativity and visualizations.