Changing institutional logics: shifting to a new service model in the Finnish public sector

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the implementation of corporatized shared services (CSS) in Finnish municipalities and the shift of operating logics. The diffusion of the new logics gradually proceeded to two levels: the individual level and the collective level. At the individual level, identity and cognitive skills were important to the diffusion of the new logics. At the collective level, shared services encouraged managers and employees to share not only practical experiences, but also collective identity.

IMPACT

By studying the adoption of corporatized shared services (SSC), providing accounting and HR services in Finnish municipalities, we prove how this new organizational form was an important starting point for new, more efficient, customer-oriented approaches to be introduced into municipal support services. When new organizational practices are introduced, it is critical to recognize individual cognition and identities as fundamental mediators in order that staff adopt more customer-oriented thinking. An important finding for practitioners was that the opportunity to network with other professionals might empower employees and stimulate innovation.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting
• institutional logics
• municipalities
• shared services

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Professors Janne Järvinen, Robert Scapens, Jan van Helden, Eija Vinnari and Postdoctoral researcher Oana Apostol for their valuable comments for the earlier versions of this manuscript.

ORCID

Kirsi-Mari Kallio http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8305-6699