Structure, Agency and Innovation: Performance Information in International Institutions

This thesis explores the role of performance information in innovation within international institutions, examining how innovators—those directly involved in innovation processes—use such information in their daily activities and decision-making. Drawing on Strong Structuration Theory, the study addresses two research questions: The first investigates the attributes of performance information as an external structure, while the second explores how its use is shaped by both internal and external structures. A case study was conducted across four international institutions with innovation labs, employing semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Findings reveal that performance information, as an external structure, plays a critical role in shaping the constraints and opportunities available to innovators. Innovators use performance information both formally and informally, for rational and non-rational purposes, such as legitimising, compromising, and building consensus. The thesis advances Public Administration literature by offering a taxonomy of performance information used in innovation and identifying the preconditions that shape its influence. It also provides new insights into the diverse and non-neutral ways in which performance information is employed in practice. Additionally, it contributes to accounting literature on the situated use of performance information by showing how innovators’ use mediates both internal and external structures, contributing to the reproduction and transformation of performance information and other external structures within international institutions. Finally, this research underscores the value of public management and accounting perspectives in understanding how international institutions function in practice and offers actionable suggestions for practice.