Creating Visibilities: KPIs as a Technology of Governance within Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Parisi and Bekier (2022) explore the role of performance measurement systems as technologies of government relying on the notion of ‘governmentality’. Specifically, they focus on the relevance of key performance indicators (KPIs) in evaluating and managing the effects of COVID-19 on a sample of six European cities involved in a European project to create circular economy-oriented cities. Despite the need for engaged citizens and governments in redirecting urbanisation to drive a positive change for humanity and the life-supporting systems that we depend upon (Andersson et al. 2014), there is a lack of studies exploring the role of cities (Lapsley, Miller, and Panozzo 2010) in sustainable development and circular economy (Czarniawska 2010). This article not only focuses on cities as the main driver of the circular economy but also contributes to the limited literature concerning the role of accounting in crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Parisi and Bekier 2022). Parisi and Bekier (2022) focus on the capacity of accounting to shape governance practices in response to the project ́s objectives through KPIs. This paper adopted a qualitative method consisting of several interviews with the leaders of each city’s project. They found that KPIs became the benchmark by which project managers adapted their activities and governance practices and transformed them to adapt to the impacts of the pandemic. As a consequence, they were able to achieve the expectations laid out by the performance indicators. Therefore, KPIs were a flexible tool that helped envision the necessary changes to meet the targets set before the pandemic. In addition to the empirical evidence mentioned, they also rely on theoretical arguments on the role of accounting as a governance practice and the capacity of local programmes to adapt to the ongoing situation. They conclude by stressing the role of accounting, particularly of KPIs, as a technology of government that contributed to making the COVID-19 pandemic calculable and quantifiable. Additionally, KPIs helped to represent the effects of the pandemic by creating visibilities, by making certain issues of the pandemic calculable and governable. Therefore, they could identify different possibilities of intervention while also obscuring others. This paper contributes to the existing literature by showing the role of accounting in governance practices and the process by which accounting helps in the evaluation and