Analysis of Accounting and Control Systems in Urban Mobility PPPs for Public Value Creation

This study analyzes the ways accounting and performance control practices contribute to the process of public value creation among PPP actors. The framework of performativity is used as a theoretical lens. Specifically, the study analyzes how calculative accounting practices set behavioral boundaries within which PPP actors operate and how open competitive tendering metrics influence private operators to create value in the public sector at a lower cost to the community.

Empirical data came from a hybrid organization tasked with the collective transport of passengers by bus in Turku City, Finland. Data are based on document analysis and interviews. Key findings show the relevance of calculative accounting in setting boundaries of a temporal world of PPPs’ operations, starting from competitive tendering for new contracts of collective transport of passengers and expanding to the duration of the selected PPP contracts. Only private operators able to demonstrate the ability to create value at a lower cost to the community prevail. In addition to cost savings, the data show the power of calculative practices to reduce carbon emissions from buses of the selected private operators.

The findings contribute to a growing body of literature on public value creation by adding a cost-saving and environmental improvement approach.