Agency Relationships and Management Control: The Case of Public Universities in Colombia

Abstract

In the context of management of public universities in Colombia, the existence of agency relationships between the actors is a reality. Management control is configured as a mediation in any agency problems that may arise, mitigating the existence of undesirable practices in the management of this type of institutions. However, the information that makes management control should be public in order to allow visibility of the actions of managers. Evidence in this case shows that universities have a low-intermediate level of publication of such information, which limits the participation of different agents in the control required for the management of resources and the behavior of the managers of these organizations.