Managing the Technological Revolution: How Audit Partners Nurture, Control, and Standardize Change

Abstract

We investigate how audit partners of non-global network firms (NGNFs) (i.e., firms other than the “Global 7”) shape the audit technologies through the lens of institutional theory. A paradigm within institutional theory, institutional work, suggests partners are positioned as empowered leaders of change; however, another school of thought within institutional theory paradoxically suggests partners will be limited in this capacity because of isomorphic pressures (i.e., forces that promote conformity). Using an experiential survey, we explore the dynamic between isomorphic pressures as they occur alongside partners’ institutional work. We uncover a synergistic, rather than paradoxical, relationship between how isomorphic pressures foster conformity amidst innovation stemming from within these firms. Data suggest partners engage in creating and maintaining acts of institutional work that are informed by marketplace expectations and ambiguity around technology. Findings document practice implications regarding “messy” client data and inconsistencies between performance metrics and firm-level technology-based audit tool (TBAT) values.