Management control for risk management in the public sector: a levers of control perspective

Georgiou, Vasileios (2025) Management control for risk management in the public sector: a levers of control perspective. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis investigates the integration, or the interaction and influence, of risk management tools with management control systems and vice versa, within the Greek public sector. It employs the Levers of Control (LOC) framework (Tessier and Otley, 2012), to examine how these two processes are integrated and influence each other in practice, in contemporary public sector risk management. This is done in an effort to reconcile previous literature that recognises this integration but requires more evidence on their practice (Bracci et al., 2022). Hence, this study addresses a gap in the existing literature by providing empirical insights into how management control systems deployed in public sector risk management, and how they interact with each other to form response to an organised uncertainty. Through this integration, this study also unravels how management control systems are utilised to make sense of emergent risks, in an effort to answer the calls to better understand the connection of management control and risk management (Bhimani, 2009; Soin et al., 2013). Specifically, it examines the case of a Greek public sector organization responsible for overseeing projects funded by the European Union. This organisation has a well-designed and implemented risk management system, that interacts with various controls tools to build a holistic approach to managing risk. Through the revised Levers of Control framework (Tessier & Otley, 2012), it was evident that risk affects the design and function of control systems at all organisational levels, with performance management being central in that effort. Moreover, various control tools were used interactively to induce knowledge and graphically depict uncertainty.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HG Finance; H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Accounting and Finance
• Supervisor's Name: Kominis, Dr. Georgios and Favotto, Dr. Alvise
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85264
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 13 Jun 2025 11:07
• Last Modified: 13 Jun 2025 11:10
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85264
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85264