A Curse and a Blessing: A study of the role of financial control in a growing public sector organization

Sammanfattning: This qualitative paper examines the role of financial control in the Swedish Armed Forces in relation to the recently initiated growth journey. The core aim is to explore how financial control shapes the ability to grow in order to yield understanding of the challenges that organizational actors in the public sector face after decades characterized by budget cuts, reduced public expenditure and economic austerity. By doing so, we contribute to the PSAR domain by adding richness to the field through the investigation of the relatively unexplored phenomenon we term capability growth. In addition, we contribute by classifying growth in the public sector as a heterogeneous concept. This is done by contrasting our case of capability growth with a previous study conducted on crisis growth. By conceptualizing the Swedish Defense Sector as a Strategic Action Field, and complementing the theory with the concept of field frames, we explain why it is difficult to proceed from austerity to capability growth, and simultaneously delineate the role of financial control in this aspired field transition as both restrictive and enabling.