ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how pragmatic constructivism (PC) can enhance the understanding of accounting in the public sector and strengthens its role, with particular reference to the issue of ambiguity. It focuses on three key issues. The first one is how actors construct their reality in relation to the world by integrating values, facts, communication and possibilities. The second is alignment of different actors' values. The third is the pragmatic true nature of performance measurement systems, that is, the ability of such systems to express the reality of actors by integrating facts, values and possibilities. The lack of validity of the formal performance measurement system causes ambiguity in terms of unclear goals and tasks. The analysis conducted in Tuscany Regional Authority (TRA) according to the PC approach delivers the picture of a reality disaggregated among the actors and, as a consequence, factual possibilities are denied.
