Accountability in the Social Economy: The Case of Private Social Solidarity Institutions

Augusta Ferreira, Carlos Santos, Helena Inácio, Alberto J. Costa, Ana Maria Bandeira, Brízida Tomé, Carla Joaquim, Cristina Góis, Denise Curi, Deolinda Meira, Graça Azevedo, Mafalda Jesus, Maria Goreti Teixeira, Patrícia Monteiro, Rúben Duarte and Rui Pedro Marques
Additional contact information
Augusta Ferreira: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Carlos Santos: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Helena Inácio: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Alberto J. Costa: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Ana Maria Bandeira: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Brízida Tomé: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Carla Joaquim: Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Cristina Góis: Coimbra Business School Research Centre|ISCAC, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, 3045-093 Coimbra, Portugal
Denise Curi: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Deolinda Meira: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of Porto, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Graça Azevedo: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Mafalda Jesus: Confederação Nacional das Instituições de Solidariedade, 4050-492 Porto, Portugal
Maria Goreti Teixeira: Confederação Nacional das Instituições de Solidariedade, 4050-492 Porto, Portugal
Patrícia Monteiro: Confederação Nacional das Instituições de Solidariedade, 4050-492 Porto, Portugal
Rúben Duarte: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Rui Pedro Marques: Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of University of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-27

Abstract: Given the extreme importance of improving the accountability of private social solidarity institutions (IPSS), both for reasons of legal compliance and for reasons of improving legitimacy and notoriety among their stakeholders, in order to be accountable to them and in order to maintain their sustainability, this article aims to present a framework designed under a more comprehensive research project for the assessment of IPSS accountability, as well as the preliminary results of a pilot test of Portuguese IPSS. The framework was developed from a combination of methodologies that included a literature review, field work and a focus group, resulting in six dimensions with 76 indicators. For the pilot test, the data were collected by questionnaire for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The results of the pilot test, despite the limited number of entities, allowed the identification of some trends and indicators where entities show lower results and where they will have to focus to improve their accountability. Some possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were also identified. Therefore, we believe that the framework designed answers the research question: how can we promote accountability (social, financial and economic) in the social economy sector, in particular in the case of IPSS?

Keywords: accountability; governance; IPSS; indicators; sustainability; transparency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1147/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1147/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:3:p:1147-:d:729042

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().