Isomorphic Factors Research Articles

Sustainable procurement implementation among public sector organisations in Ghana: The role of institutional isomorphism and sustainable leadership

Developing nations face institutional impediments in the implementation of sustainable procurement strategies. However, in the right institutional environment, these countries can overcome any hindrance and successfully implement sustainable procurement strategies to promote economic growth and environmental stewardship. Accordingly, this study examines the role of institutional isomorphism (mimetic, coercive, and normative isomorphism) and sustainable leadership in sustainable procurement among public sector organisations (PSOs) in Ghana. The hypothesised relationships wereanalysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).The findings support the role of isomorphism and sustainable leadership in sustainable procurement implementation. Specifically,coercive and mimetic isomorphic forces influence sustainable leadership significantly and positively. Second, coercive and mimetic isomorphic factors, as well as sustainable leadership, influence sustainable procurement practices.Based on these findings, we recommend that development partners make significant contributions to the green transition by applying coercive actions,such as threats of withdrawal of financial support for government budgets and policies. In addition, the findings of the study suggest that coercive and mimetic forces can foster a culture of ethical responsibility, by influencing leaders to make decisions that contribute to environmentally and socially responsible procurement activities.

Literature Review and Research Prospect on the Drivers and Effects of Green Innovation

With increasing and global environmental and climate problems, green innovation has become an important means to solve the environmental crisis. With the increasing practice of green innovation in enterprises, scholars at home and abroad have discussed the drivers and effects of green innovation from different perspectives. Based on an analysis of 119 articles about the drivers and effects of green innovation in top international journals from 2006 to 2021, this paper tries to find the consistencies and contradictions of research conclusions and to explore the possible research opportunities, sorting out the main theoretical mechanisms of the existing research on the drivers and effects of green innovation, pinpointing the consistency of these theoretical perspectives in explaining the different drivers and effects of green innovation, and putting forward research prospects. The results show that the drivers of green innovation include two kinds of factors: environment and organization. The pressure of external environment and system drives enterprises to adopt green innovation practices to cater to isomorphic factors, to obtain more environmental performance, and to improve organizational legitimacy. The lack of development resources, such as knowledge and technology, within an organization drives enterprises to carry out green innovation practices and enhance organizational competitive advantage by learning and absorbing new external knowledge, new technology and other resources. In addition, resource-based view and institutional theory are two commonly used theoretical perspectives, and their theoretical logic obtains consistent support in explaining the drivers and effects of enterprise green innovation.

The content and determinants of CSR anti-corruption disclosure: the case of public-listed companies in Indonesia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the content and determinants of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) anti-corruption disclosures (ACDs) of public-listed Indonesian companies using institutional and legitimacy theories.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis method is used to extract the anti-corruption information in the annual reports. This study uses 40 checklist items developed and used by prior studies to measure the extent of CSR ACD. Univariate and multivariate analyses are applied to examine the determinants of ACD.FindingsThe results show that the disclosure level of anti-corruption is considerably satisfactory at 44.9%. The whistle-blowing theme is the most frequently reported. Size of firm and industry type have significant effects on ACD. Surprisingly, the findings show that government ownership has a negative effect on ACD.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to one year of observation and is therefore unable to capture changes in the level of disclosure due to policy changes. The results of this study help anti-corruption decision-makers by taking into account the company’s legitimacy and isomorphic factors when formulating ACD policies and efforts that could be made to promote greater disclosure of anti-corruption information.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the discourse of CSR by providing a more comprehensive extent and more determinants of ACD practice in an emerging country from the lens of legitimacy and institutional theories.

Environmental Accountability Practices of Environmentally Sensitive Firms in Ghana: Does Institutional Isomorphism Matter?

Operational activities of firms accumulate over time and adversely impact the environment, which, in turn, threaten the earth’s ecosystem and sustainable development agendas. Both internal- and external-specific pressures may play a crucial part in a firm’s decision to conform to environmental accountability practices (EAP). This paper examines the associations between institutional isomorphic forces and EAP among environmentally sensitive firms in Ghana. A representative sample of 166 environmentally sensitive firms were randomly selected and included in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain relevant data for the analysis. Multiple regression models estimated the hypothesized crude and adjusted associations between EAP and isomorphic factors (mimetic, normative and coercive pressures). Initial adjustment with the isomorphic factors revealed significant associations of mimetic pressure which arises when companies engage in competition seeking superior performance and normative force with EAP but not coercive. A further control for the firm’s characteristics found a strong association of normative pressure with EAP. The findings suggest that mimetic and normative pressures may be essential in an attempt to stimulate EAP among environmentally sensitive firms in Ghana. Our results are broadly consistent with the predictions of institutional theory as it applies to EAP. Efforts to ensure environmental reporting among firms should strengthen normative and mimetic forces, particularly in the low- and middle-income settings.

Institutional isomorphism, environmental management accounting and environmental accountability: a review

Environmental sustainability has received much attention in recent times by world leaders. This is largely due to the rate at which the natural environment is deteriorating and thus, presenting an urgent need for action to ensure the continuity of the earth ecosystem to sustain life. Consequently, the world has witnessed heightened pressure on firms to engage in environmental accountability practices. This is partly because firms have been implicated as major contributors to environmental degradation, particularly in low-income settings. Extensive research has, therefore, been directed by the academic community to understand the nature and extent to which institutional factors and the firm’s initiatives may predict firm environmental accountability practice. This paper, therefore, aimed at providing a review and synthesis of institutional isomorphism, environmental management accounting and environmental accountability, and to propose a theoretical framework to investigate the nexus among these concepts. We observed that the relationship between the institutional isomorphic factors and environmental accountability practices defies consistency. Based on the findings, we advance a theoretical framework to help focus and understand the complex relationships among institutional isomorphic factors, environmental management accounting implementation and environmental accountability which are paramount to protecting the earth’s ecosystem and sustenance of human life.

A Governança e o desempenho das instituições comunitárias de ensino superior: um estudo multicaso da Unijuí e da Univates

O objetivo deste estudo foi identificar as contribuições da governança no desempenho das Instituições Comunitárias de Ensino Superior (ICES), Unijuí e Univates. O estudo foi realizado utilizando a orientação paradigmática interpretativista da realidade social, classificado como uma pesquisa social com finalidade aplicada, através dos níveis de estudo exploratório e descritivo, com abordagem qualitativa. Os procedimentos técnicos utilizados foram pesquisa bibliográfica, estudo multicaso, pesquisa documental e de campo. Os dados foram coletados por entrevistas semiestruturadas e a análise de dados foi realizada utilizando o método Direct Research. Os resultados demonstraram que em ICES o número de alunos não necessariamente reflete um desempenho econômico-financeiro positivo e crescente. Para tanto, compreende-se que, quanto mais qualificados, engajados, reestruturados e antecedidos por planejamento, os integrantes da estrutura de governança estiverem, melhores serão os resultados obtidos. Observou-se que os valores e as dimensões da governança estiveram presentes nos períodos analisados. Os atores institucionais, integrantes da estrutura governança, demonstraram aprimoramento da gestão com o passar dos anos, proporcionando vantagem competitiva. Na Unijuí foram identificados quatro períodos de mudanças e adaptações estratégicas, e na Univates três períodos. Embora o estudo empírico se concentre em duas organizações específicas, é razoável supor que este cenário, por fatores isomórficos, reflita em boa parte a dinâmica de funcionamento do sistema comunitário gaúcho de educação superior laico.

Factorizations of complete graphs into tadpoles

A tadpole (also a canoe paddle or lollipop) is a graph that arises from a cycle and a path by gluing a terminal vertex of the path to an arbitrary vertex of the cycle. In this article, we show that all tadpoles factorize the complete graph if n is odd. We use methods similar to those used for isomorphic factorizations of complete graphs into spanning trees. In Section 4 of this article, we show that our methods do not work for isomorphic factorizations of into tadpoles if n is even.

INDECOMPOSABLE NON UNISERIAL MODULES OF LENGTH THREE

We investigate a particular class of indecomposable modules of length three, defined over a $K$--algebra, with a simple socle and two non isomorphic simple factor modules. These modules may have any projective dimension different from zero. On the other hand their composition factors may have any countable dimension as vector spaces over the underlying field $K$. Moreover their endomorphism rings are $K$--vector spaces of dimension $\leq 2$.

A new method of processing laser scanning data of radial section dimensions for ring forgings

Ring forgings are widely used in petrochemical, power generation, aerospace, nuclear industry and other industrial fields. In the forging process, the radial section size data greatly affect the forging accuracy of ring forgings. Therefore, a new method of processing laser scanning data of radial section dimensions for ring forgings is proposed. Firstly, the information space set of laser scanning data is established. This information space is divided by continuous concentric circles. Secondly, according to the information relationship between the various areas in the information space, the uniform isomorphism factor is defined. By combining the gradient descent method with the uniform isomorphic factor, the undetermined coefficients are solved. Thirdly, the reduction ratio is set according to the density of scanning data points. By combining the reduction ratio with the undetermined coefficients, the number of points needed to be reserved in each area of a concentric circle is determined. The remaining points and the repetitive points in the intersection of two concentric circles are deleted. Finally, the method is repeated until the last point of the laser scanning data. In this way, the laser scanning data of radial section for ring forging is processed. When the method is applied in the experiment, the size data of radial section is extracted from the processing data of laser scanning radial section line. Two groups of dimension data measurement experiment for standard and non-standard ring forgings are carried out respectively. The dimensions measured from the unprocessed and processed data points are compared with true values. The dimensions measured from the processed data have higher accuracy and smaller error. The feasibility of this method is proved.

A test of construct isomorphism of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game scale: A multilevel 43-nation study.

BackgroundWe examined the equivalence of the individual and the country-level factor structure of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale, a tool designed to measure antagonistic beliefs about social relations (i.e., perceived social antagonism) in the struggle for limited resources.AimsIn this article we focused on a test of construct isomorphism in a multilevel modeling approach. It was hypothesized that the BZSG measure satisfies all requirements for a strong level of configural isomorphism, and thus that it is useful to investigate BZSG at both the individual and the country levels. The relationships between the BZSG at a country level with other macro-socio-economic indicators were also investigated.MethodMultilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) was carried out on a cross-country sample composed of 11,368 participants from 43 different countries. We also used the country-level latent BZSG factor in each country as an indicator of a property that we attributed to a particular culture: cultural dimension (collectivism-individualism), macroeconomic indicators (GDP per capita and GNI per capita) and macrosocial indicators (Human Development Index and Democracy Index) describing societies.ResultsThe results revealed an isomorphic factor structure of perceived social antagonism (measured by BZSG scale), defined in terms of the equivalence factor structure at the both individual and country levels. Furthermore, the relationship between the perceived social antagonism, gross national income per capita, and collectivism were confirmed.ConclusionsOur study supports the usefulness of the BZSG scale for cross-cultural comparison, in the case of its isomorphic structure. At the country level, antagonistic beliefs emerge in hierarchical collectivist societies with lower income. The main contribution of this article is the presentation of the test of construct isomorphism. We made an effort to present a full perspective on construct isomorphism putting together two different but very recent approaches.

Some antecedent factors that shape actors’ adoption of enterprise systems

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a conceptual model based on technology-organization-environment (T-O-E) and institutional frameworks and examines how the traditional and isomorphic factors explain adoption of enterprise systems (ES) by service small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in Nigeria. The model extends the T-O-E framework by integrating environmental typology with institutional changes in order to recognize homologous behavior in the social systems. Logistic regression and Wald’s statistics were used to analyze the data from field survey questionnaire administered to a purposive and snow-ball sample of 262 executives. The results show that adoption of ES is significantly influenced by organizational, technological and isomorphic factors though normative and mimetic isomorphism had negative coefficients; a unit increase in the complexity of the two attracts less analogous modeling and mimicry or vice versa. The technical, economic and legitimated elements are critical adoption determinants; thus, managers make informed decisions that improve competitive advantage when they understand the institutional homogeneity that drives less efficiency in the social structure.

The sufficiency of the divisibility condition for 20 divides K(m, n, s)

F. Harary, R.W. Robinson and N.C. Wormald studied a complete tripartite graph K(m, n, s), and putted forward the conjecture, for t|(mn + ms + ns), t > 1 and t is even, then G has a t isomorphic factorization subgraphs. For t divides mn + ms + ns and t = 2, 4, they obtained that then G has a t isomorphic factorization subgraphs. In this paper, we used the decomposition and Congruential method and obtained the conjecture is true for t = 20.

Isomorphic factors in the adoption of ERP by Indian medium-sized firms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to adopt an institutional theory perspective to investigate the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems by medium-sized firms in India. The rationale for this study is to provide a more complete understanding of ERP adoption, moving beyond the traditional technical and economic perspectives to include social, cultural and structural influences. These later influences are more implicit, insidious and pervasive and hence require elucidatory studies such as this, but offer a greater understanding of the adoption of information systems (IS).Design/methodology/approachThe study is undertaken by means of nine case studies of medium-sized firms in India that have adopted ERP systems. Qualitative interviews were undertaken with a range of staff in each firm and are supplemented by data from other sources such as site visit notes.FindingsInstitutionally based studies have tended to focus on three high-level isomorphic pressures: coercive, normative and mimetic. The study identifies number of more detailed factors that contribute to each of these three pressures. These more detailed factors are then used to consider how factors can interact and how they can explain aspects of the Indian context of the study.Originality/valueThe conceptual contribution of this study is to move beyond the technical and economic rationales frequently identified for the adoption of IS by identifying influences that are social, cultural and structural in nature. The study shows that the three high-level isomorphic pressures, mimetic, coercive and normative are comprised of more detailed factors. The empirical contribution of the paper is to identify these detailed factors, and to explore their influence, in the case of ERP adoption by Indian medium-sized firms. The study is of value to practitioners, since it is at the detailed level of factors that managers can recognize the forces they are subject to and can take action. It is also valuable to researchers since the detailed factors help address two limitations of institutional theory; a lack of agency perspective and a degree of conceptual ambiguity.

The sufficiency of the divisibility condition for 6 × 2k divides complete tripartite graph K(m, n, s)

In this paper, we will use the decomposition and congruence methods, and proved the conjecture when t = 6 × 2k, and the conjecture that G has an isomorphic factorization into t isomorphic subgraphs. The conjecture was proposed by Harary, Robinson and Wormald, and when t = 2, 4 and t | (mn + ms + ns), they proved a complete tripartite graph G = K (m, n, s) if t = 2, 4 and t | (mn + ms + ns), and for all odd t > 1, the divisibility condition is false to be a sufficient condition for t | (1, 1, m).

The isomorphic factorization of complete tripartite graphs K(m, n, s) into 9 × 2k isomorphic factors

F. Harary, R.W.Robinson and N.C.Wormald come up with the conjecture that a complete tripartite graph K(m, n, s), when t > 1, t is even, and t∣(mn + ms + ns), then G has an isomorphic factorization into t isomorphic subgraphs. In this paper, with the decomposition and coresidual methods, we will show that the conjecture is true for the case that t = 9 × 2k.

A general group theoretical method to unfold band structures and its application

We present a general method to unfold energy bands of supercell calculations to a primitive Brillouin zone using group theoretical techniques, where an isomorphic factor group is introduced to connect the primitive translation group with the supercell translation group via a direct product. Originating from the translation group symmetry, our method gives a uniform description of unfolding approaches based on various basis sets and therefore should be easy to implement in both tight-binding models and existing ab initio code packages using different basis sets. This makes the method applicable to a variety of problems involving the use of supercells, such as defects, disorder and interfacial reconstructions. As a realistic example, we calculate electronic properties of a monolayer FeSe on SrTiO in checkerboard and collinear antiferromagnetic spin configurations, illustrating the potential of our method.

Formulação Estratégica e Fatores Isomórficos: Análise do Arranjo Produtivo Local de Malhas de Imbituva

This article aims to describe the isomorphic factors present in organizational interactions with the local production arrangement of knitwear of city Imbituva. These factors, according to the institutional perspective, which influence the formulation of strategic organizations. To conduct the study, a documentary research of descriptive and qualitative nature. The results lead to conclude that organizations are influenced by isomorphic coercive, mimetic and normative factors. It is still possible to infer that while the shares of APL promote development activities, on the other side ends up limiting the autonomous action of organizations because of the dependencies created in relation to access resources and knowledge, as well as in reducing costs in terms of economies of scale through the power of collectivity.

Strategic Formulation Factors Before Isomorphism: Analysis of Local Production Arrangement of Knitwear of Imbituva

This article aims to describe the isomorphic factors present in organizational interactions with the local production arrangement of knitwear of city Imbituva. These factors, according to the institutional perspective, which influence the formulation of strategic organizations. To conduct the study, a documentary research of descriptive and qualitative nature. The results lead to conclude that organizations are influenced by isomorphic coercive, mimetic and normative factors. It is still possible to infer that while the shares of APL promote development activities, on the other side ends up limiting the autonomous action of organizations because of the dependencies created in relation to access resources and knowledge, as well as in reducing costs in terms of economies of scale through the power of collectivity.

Towards a conceptual model of whistle-blowing intentions among external auditors

Whistle-blowing has received considerable attention in the ethics literature. However, following the collapse of Arthur Andersen in the Enron debacle, whistle-blowing within audit firms has taken on greater importance. Given the profession's requirements to be confidential, independent and to act in the public interest (e.g. Sarbanes–Oxley Act, 2002), there is a need for a model that is specific to the audit profession (e.g. Louwers, Ponemon, & Radtke, 1997), and in particular, that addresses auditors' whistle-blowing intentions. This paper presents a conceptual model on whistle-blowing intentions among external auditors where an auditor's individual factors (attitudes toward whistle-blowing, perceived behavioural control, independence commitment, personal responsibility for reporting and personal cost of reporting) have a direct influence on his or her intentions to whistle-blow, but are moderated by isomorphic factors (perceived organisational support and team norms) and issue-specific factors (perceived moral intensity). Using justice and institutional theories, the proposed model anticipates that whistle-blowing within an audit firm produces both positive and negative consequences to society, the audit firm and the individual whistle-blower. However, where audit firms have adequate formal supporting mechanisms for reporting wrongdoings to internal and external parties, the negative effects and personal costs of reporting will be minimised.

On two sequences of sets of mappings of abstract sets into a Dedekind ring

This paper establishes some interrelations between a finite sequence of sets of mappings of an abstract set S into complete residue systems of pairwise relatively prime elements of any Dedekind ring and the corresponding sequence of sets of mappings of the set S into the complete residue system corresponding to the product of these elements. A relationship is revealed between the established interrelation and Lang's theorem on isomorphic factor rings. A string model is presented that is an interpretation of structures investigated in the cases of the ring of integers and a one-element set S. It is shown that the results obtained can be used for computing the number of combinatorial objects defined in terms of finite residue rings.