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I am writing to invite you to the accounting research seminar on Wednesday, 18 November at 4.00 pm.

We would be delighted if you could attend this seminar in person.

Abstract: This study investigates the behavioural and emotional consequences of Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) in UK business schools, examining how managerialist accountability regimes shape academics’ gaming practices and emotional wellbeing. Drawing on 52 semi-structured interviews with academics across 18 UK business schools, supplemented by documentary analysis and social media ethnography, the study explores how academics experience and respond to performance pressures associated with the Research Excellence Framework (REF), Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and National Student Survey (NSS). The findings reveal four interconnected forms of gaming: promotion, teaching, research and grooming. These practices include promotion bargaining, manipulation of student feedback and NSS results, strategic management of research profiles, goal displacement and coercive authorship. Research, promotion and grooming games are more prominent in research-intensive universities, whereas teaching-related gaming is more prevalent in teaching-intensive institutions. Alongside these behavioural responses, PMSs generate significant emotional consequences, including anxiety, burnout, jealousy and alienation, particularly among early- and mid-career academics. These experiences are exacerbated by opaque evaluation criteria, job insecurity, excessive workloads and declining collegiality. However, some academics perceive performance metrics as motivating, revealing a divide between “achievers” and “strugglers”, characterised by contrasting experiences of pride and emotional distress. Drawing on managerialism and workplace democracy, the study demonstrates how quantification, competition, hierarchical authority and individualised accountability reshape academic behaviour, autonomy and wellbeing. It contributes to accounting and higher education debates by exposing the behavioural distortions and hidden emotional costs of metricised accountability, highlighting the need for more transparent, equitable and supportive performance measurement systems in higher education.

Short biography: Dr Shahenda Shehata is an Assistant Professor in Accounting at Heriot-Watt University, UK. She holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on performance measurement systems, accountability, managerialism, and organisational behaviour, particularly how performance metrics influence academic gaming behaviours and wellbeing in higher education.

She received the Best Full Accounting Paper Award at the BAFA Scotland Annual Conference 2026. Along with publishing in ABS3/4* journal/s, she has also contributed to wider policy debates through publications with the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and the London School of Economics (LSE) Africa Blog. Her emerging research interests include sustainability accounting, ESG disclosures, and artificial intelligence, particularly multilingual bias in AI-based ESG assessments. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) as Conference, Events and External Relations Lead.