Berend van der Kolk

My name is Berend van der Kolk and I work as an associate professor at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, School of Economics and Business. I am interested in how people behave in organizations and the role of management practices such as performance measurement in shaping this behavior. With my co-authors, I address research questions such as “What is the impact of management practices on employee motivation?” (link), “How can social and financial goals be balanced?” (link), and “What are the social and ethical implications of performance measurement?” (link) I research and teach topics related to accounting, psychology, organization studies and philosophy, and make use of both qualitative (e.g. interviews) and quantitative (e.g. surveys) research methods.

I hold degrees in Accounting (BSc, MSc), Business Administration (MSc) and Philosophy (BA) from the University of Groningen, where I also defended my Ph.D. thesis in 2016. From 2016 to 2021 I was an assistant professor at IE Business School Madrid, and previously I held visiting positions at the London School of Economics and the University of Sydney. I am an associate editor of the Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting, and an editorial board member of the Journal of Accounting Education and the European Journal of Management Studies. In 2020, I was included on the Thinkers50 radar, an annually published list of emerging management thinkers.

Scholarly International Publications

• Van der Kolk, B. (2022), Numbers speak for themselves, or do they? On performance measurement and its implications, Business & Society, forthcoming.
• Toldbod, T. and B. van der Kolk (2021), Cascading Control Changes, Incoherence, and Dialogue: Insights from a Longitudinal Case Study, European Accounting Review, forthcoming.
• Carrera, N. and B. van der Kolk (2021), Auditor Ethics: Do Experience and Gender Influence Auditors’ Moral Awareness? Managerial Auditing Journal, forthcoming.
• Delfino, G.F. and B. van der Kolk (2021), Remote working, management control changes and employee responses during the COVID-19 crisis. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 34(6), pp. 1376-1387.
• Van Elten, H.J., B. van der Kolk and S. Sülz (2021), Do Different Uses of Performance Measurement Systems in Hospitals Yield Different Outcomes? Health Care Management Review, vol. 46(3), pp. 217-226.
• Van der Kolk, B., P.M.G. van Veen-Dirks and H.J. ter Bogt (2020), How Combinations of Control Elements Create Tensions and How These Can Be Managed: An Embedded Case Study, Management Accounting Research, vol. 48, September, 100677.
• Van der Kolk, B. (2020), Debate: Motivating Civil Servants – Insights From Self-Determination Theory, Public Money & Management, vol. 40(8), pp. 554-555.
• Van der Kolk, B., P.M.G. van Veen-Dirks and H.J. ter Bogt (2019), The Impact of Management Control on Employee Motivation and Performance in the Public Sector. European Accounting Review, vol. 28(5), pp. 901-928.
• Van der Kolk, B. (2019), Management Control Packages: A Literature Review and Guidelines for Public Sector Research. Public Money & Management, vol. 39(7), pp. 512-520.
• Van der Kolk, B. (2019), Ethics Matters: The Integration of Ethical Considerations in Management Accounting Textbooks. Accounting Education, vol. 28(4), pp. 426-443.
• Van der Kolk, B. and W. Kaufmann (2018), Performance Measurement, Cognitive Dissonance and Coping Strategies: Exploring Individual Responses to NPM-Inspired Output Control. Journal of Management Control, vol. 29(2), pp. 93-113.
• Ter Bogt, H.J., G.J. van Helden and B. Van der Kolk (2016), New Development: Public Sector Controllership – Reinventing the Financial Specialist as a Countervailing Power. Public Money & Management, vol. 36(5), pp. 379-384.
• Van der Kolk, B. and T. Schokker (2016), Strategy Implementation through Hierarchical Couplings in a Management Control Package: An Explorative Case Study. Journal of Management Control, vol. 27(2), pp. 129-154.
• Van der Kolk, B., H.J. ter Bogt and P.M.G. van Veen-Dirks (2015), Constraining and Facilitating Management Control in Times of Austerity: Case Studies in Four Municipal Departments. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 28(6), pp. 934-965.
• Ter Bogt, H.J., G.J. van Helden and B. van der Kolk (2015), Challenging the NPM Ideas About Performance Management: Selectivity and Differentiation in Outcome-Oriented Performance Budgeting. Financial Accountability & Management, vol. 31(3), pp. 287-315.