Enablers and limiters of measuring performance: a grounded theory study of Saudi universities

Aseeri, A. and Broad, M. J. (2008) Enablers and limiters of measuring performance: a grounded theory study of Saudi universities. Management Accounting Research Group (Merg) Conference, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. 13 - 14 Nov 2008.

Abstract

In recent years, the development of management control systems and performance measurement in particular within higher education institutions has been a major focus of policy makers and academics.
Recent studies have, for example, attempted to provide an objective framework for performance of academic administration (Dorweiler, and Yakhou, 2005), they have examined how private sector performance management techniques could be applied to higher education (Chen et al., 2006, Umashankar and Dutta, 2007), they have tested the usefulness of performance management for universities in developing countries (Waal, 2007) and investigated the relationship between strategy, accounting and performance management in UK Higher Education (Broad et al., 2007).
This paper reflects on the use of performance measurement systems within two Saudi government universities. It has become apparent that government universities within Saudi Arabia follow similar rules and regulations, yet the manner in which they have operationalised their internal performance measurement systems is very different.
This paper is concerned with developing an understanding of the thinking, perciption and use of performance measures in a Saudi university context. This research uses an interpretive grounded theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1998) to generate a theory which is grounded in data obtained during the study.
It particularly focuses on the actions, interactions and processes of those involved and suggests that there are enablers and limiters of performance management, which operate at organisational and individual levels.
Data was collected through face to face semi-structured interviews with over fifty administrators and academics within the two universities. The data was analysed using the coding structures advocated by Strauss and Corbin (1998) to develop a contextualised theory which helps understand the complexities of performance management within the universities studied.

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