Accounting, Accountability, and Ethics in Public Sector Organizations

This article challenges the performativity of organizational economics in the construction of “nexus-of-contract” organizations (or market bureaucracies) and inherent frames of instrumental accountability in the public sector. It argues for a duality between instrumental accountability and relational response-ability, and it shows how such a duality is related to a conceptualization of the public organization as a moral community rather than a market bureaucracy. Relational response-ability originates from the interconnected intentions of individuals at local positions. It encourages and channels intrinsic motivation, virtuous behavior, and stewardship. In a duality with instrumental accountability it may prevent a performance management paradox from occurring.