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Digitalization, accounting and accountability: A literature review and reflections on future research in public services
Author(s) -
Agostino Deborah,
Saliterer Iris,
Steccolini Ileana
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
financial accountability and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.661
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1468-0408
pISSN - 0267-4424
DOI - 10.1111/faam.12301
Subject(s) - accountability , realm , social accounting , public relations , political science , equity (law) , accounting , relevance (law) , business , sociology , management accounting , law
This study discusses the current state of the art and future directions of research on digitalization, accountability, and accounting in public services. Through a systematic literature review, we investigate 232 articles published between 1998 and the first quarter of 2020. These studies are analyzed looking at the implications of the increasing digitalization of the public realm for the (i) production of data, (ii) consumption of data, and (iii) their subsequent effects. Based upon this analysis, we identify the following emerging critical digital accountability issues and related future research avenues: the potential for dialogic and horizontal, multicentric accountability; the blurring of accountability roles and boundaries; the increasing relevance of translation processes and translators’ roles—and the need to ensure accountability in such translations; the need to pay stronger attention to social equity and inclusivity implications of digitalization.