Isomorphic Pressures Research Articles

What Digital Technologies are Used Today by Accounting Firms to Deliver Services

Abstract Nowadays for carrying out their activity, enterprises rely a lot on information and communication technology. In a dynamic business environment characterized by many uncertainties, the accuracy and speed of information production are crucial. Internal and external accountants prepare the information needed by managers to make decisions. Advances made in information and communication technology ensure near real-time information and instant communication. This paper investigates digital technologies used today by accounting firms to deliver services considering the driving factors for adoption and the impact of their use. We mobilized institutional theory as a theoretical framework, accounting services industry from Romania as context and semi-structured interviews as research methods involving 17 accounting experts. The results indicated that adoption of digital technologies within accounting firms is mainly driven by coercive and mimetic isomorphic pressures coming from the state and competitors. International and local accounting firms affiliated to international networks implemented digital technologies to a greater extent compared to local independent accounting firms which intend to invest more in digital technologies when the electronic invoicing system becomes mandatory for all enterprises. For clients with a large amount of data, accounting firms use import interfaces to exchange data between information systems. Cloud applications and virtual meeting platforms enable the provision of digital services and today because of digital technologies large companies can also outsource their accounting services. Some accounting firms are required by contract to use digital technologies provided by their clients. Accounting experts claimed that automation solutions decrease the processing time of documents and ensure a similar quality to the manual work performed by human employees. Showing what digital technologies are used today and their impact for accounting services industry represent the main contributions of our study. Our research has implications for smaller accounting firms since our findings can represent for them an important source of information.

Determinants of corporate climate change disclosure: Is the mediating role of corporate strategic response to environmental governance and policy matter? Evidence from emerging market

AbstractWe examine the determinants and the mediating role of corporate strategic response to environmental governance and policy (EGP) with the extent of corporate climate change disclosure (CCD) through the isomorphic pressures. We collect data from annual reports of Bangladeshi listed manufacturing corporations and we analyze data via partial least square‐structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM). Our study findings indicate that board specialty in terms of independent directorship, board human capital reflected by education, and experience, as well as the corporate values include corporate convictions and commitments reflected by vision, mission, core objectives have significant and positive relationships with CCD. The EGP also mediates the abovementioned relationships. Furthermore, the EGP mediates the relationship between corporate attributes (total assets, ROA, ROE, leverage) and CCD. Our findings suggest that when corporations strategically response to environmental issues by putting in place environmental‐related governance and policy, factors such as corporate attributes, board specialty, and corporate values play stronger role in promoting corporate climate change disclosure in developing economies like Bangladesh. Our results offer implications to policymakers, governmental units, professional bodies, social catalysts, and industry practitioners, on their important role in promoting sustainable development by encouraging corporations to manage their environmental issues strategically via corporate governance, strategic environmental management and climate change disclosure.

Institutional Pressures and Sustainable Business Practices: A Case of Strategic Environmental Management

Sustainability and environmental conservation have become key concerns for the developing and developed world, prompting firms to embrace sustainable business practices. The recent decade has witnessed a rise in environmental sustainability consciousness, with businesses and legislators incorporating environmental aspects into their strategic planning and practices. Strategic environmental management emphasizes the implementation of environmental management strategies through the incorporation of environmental concerns into business plans and decisions. This study proposes to investigate the isomorphic pressures that influence organizational behaviour and the significant determinants for addressing sustainable business practices. The qualitative research design is adopted and data is primarily collected through semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study from four significant service sectors highlighted various certifications, business requirements, corporate image and corporate social responsibility as the driving forces behind strategic environmental management. Legislations from government the appeared as the most influential factor to assume responsibility for the environment and society by the firms.

Copy Once or Twice? Isomorphic Pressures and Special District Fiscal Reserves

Both general purpose local governments and special districts accumulate and drain fiscal reserves to prepare for and respond to financial uncertainty. Whether or not fiscal reserves behavior are subject to isomorphic pressures is an emerging question in the literature. While multiple papers have provided evidence of a single isomorphic pressure, no paper has separately tested for three distinct isomorphic pressures in the fiscal reserves literature. With a panel dataset of Kentucky school districts from 2004 to 2019, this article uses descriptive and inferential methods to provide evidence of coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphic pressures. Collectively, these findings not only build the literature on special districts but call into question the role of normative pressures from the Government Finance Officers Association and coercive pressures from state-imposed fiscal reserve rules.

Codes of Conduct for Undergraduate Teaching in the Top-400 Universities on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

Teaching codes of conduct form part of the ethics infrastructure of universities seeking to raise teaching standards and promote academic integrity. These codes stipulate desired teaching practices necessary for faculty members to make informed choices regarding their teaching role performance. This study investigated the existence of publicly posted codes of conduct for undergraduate teaching in a random sample of 100 universities ranked among the Times Higher Education World University Rankings top-400 institutions. Based on DiMaggio & Powell’s (1983) model of institutional isomorphism, we posited the Times Higher Education World University Rankings top-400 institutions as an organizational field. Findings reveal tepid isomorphic pressures for codes of conduct in this organizational field as a slight majority of these top universities publicly post codes of conduct with tenets reflective of ethical principles for teaching. Lower ranked universities post codes with more of these tenets than higher ranked universities and in particular tenets very protective of students as clients. These tenets relate to moral behavior and whose ethical infringement have legal ramifications, such as not having sexual relationships with students, harassing students, or teaching while intoxicated from alcohol or drugs. Isomorphic pressures to publicly post codes may be stronger among lower ranked universities that emphasize teaching and research. Since a code of conduct may increase faculty members’ sensitivity to ethical issues but not actually promote ethical behavior, we recommend reinforcement activities for faculty members.

Institutional isomorphism and performance management: exploring the linkage and relationship in English social housing

This paper investigates institutional isomorphism within English social housing through the theoretical lens of strategic performance management. By employing a multiple case study analysis, we uncover how external isomorphic pressures are sensed within the organization as a strategic dissonance through its strategic performance management system. Housing Associations (HAs) need to respond to these ‘sensed’ external changes by adapting their internal strategic performance management, which are then measured and reported in a rapidly changing external environment. We argue that by focusing on changes in managing performance, organizational performance can become a lens by which the internalization of isomorphic pressures in social housing can be studied. A conceptual framework for social housing has been developed to study how HAs manage their performance in a rapidly changing context.

Retaining remote teaching and assessment methods in accounting education: Drivers and challenges in the post-pandemic era

Despite the availability of studies on teaching and assessment during the pandemic, little is known about the factors that contribute to their retention in the post-pandemic era. This study aims to address this gap by examining the reasons for retaining remote methods and the challenges of maintaining them. Using a case study approach, data were collected through eleven interviews and document analysis of the first and leading academic accounting degree program in Sri Lanka. Isomorphic pressures and PEST factors were used to analyze the drivers for retention and the challenges, respectively. The study finds that coercive pressures dominate in Sri Lanka for the retention of remote teaching and assessment methods, driven by government policies and the country's economic crisis. However, mimetic and normative forces also reinforce these methods, driven by peer pressure and the desire to keep up with global trends. Conversely, political, economic, social, and technological factors impede the retention of remote learning and assessment methods, acting as a powerful force that drives back these remote methods to pre-pandemic practices. Hence, educational policymakers must allocate adequate funds and enhance infrastructure for remote education. We urge educators to gain more knowledge and skills in remote teaching and assessment methods, and learners to demonstrate responsibility, organization, and commitment towards the benefits of remote education.

Effects of Globalization and Isomorphism on Higher Education Institutions in India – Pathways of Academic Autonomy

Abstract— Globalization has interaction on each and every connection of life, people. Higher education is not an exception from these transformations. Effects of globalization on higher educational institutions (HEIs) include student mobility, faculty exchange, research, rankings, academic collaborations, diverse cohorts and international enrolments. Globalization also brought isomorphic pressures on HEIs to become equivalent and comparable. This paper discusses isomorphism which leads to Indian universities becoming more homogenous and thus consequently loosing autonomy and in turn individual identity. Secondly, it discusses the constraints on academic autonomy of new HEIs due to peer pressure isomorphism. with their academic autonomy. This report is based on university affiliated HEIs which opted autonomous status under the new schemes and policies. In this report two case studies, Government College of Engineering, Pune and MIT Academy of Engineering, Pune, are presented. Keywords : Isomorphism; Higher Education Institutes (HEIs); Academic Autonomy.

Evidence of neo-bureaucracy and institutional isomorphism in the implementation and functioning of the balanced scorecard: A case study

Recent years have seen constant pressure for more efficient management in the educational sector, and some studies have addressed the application of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in this sector. Analysis of this literature shows that theoretical developments in this research area are scarce, so this article aims to examine the presence of institutional isomorphism and neo-bureaucracy in the implementation and development of the BSC in a public educational institution in Brazil. It investigates how the presence of isomorphic pressure and neo-bureaucratic characteristics influence the implementation and development of the BSC in this sector. An interpretative approach was adopted to study this topic, resorting to a single case study. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, and treated using qualitative analysis software, i.e., Nvivo, (QSR International, Version 10). The presence of neo-bureaucratic characteristics was found in the implementation and development of the BSC, with these characteristics contributing to the success of the tool in the teaching institution studied. We also found the presence of isomorphic pressure, in the decision to introduce the BSC, showing a clear presence of coercive isomorphism. However, as in any single case study, the results cannot be generalized.

Idiosyncrasies, isomorphic pressures and decoupling in technology platform business

PurposeThis study aims to explore the ways and contexts in which fintech firms are being developed, operated in the market and responds to competitive pressures and technological changes through isomorphism and decoupling mechanism.Design/methodology/approachHow can new technology platform business successfully distinguish themselves from competitors while also ensuring that they are seen as legitimate and appropriate? This paper draws on a case study of fintech start-ups in Indonesia.FindingsThis study shows that managing market pressures for distinctiveness (customer-appealing) versus business pressures for profits (investor returns) drives firms’ quest for optimal distinctiveness. It is evident that fintech firms increase their control by consolidating themselves through their industrial association and by forming a close relationship with regulators. However, to escape the iron cage of the field, they increasingly control the coupling of profitability and compliance.Originality/valueThrough a qualitative-inductive approach, this study provides insights into technological development of platform business in the context of financial services and responsive movement towards cashless society.

Isomorphic Pressures to Catalyze Innovation Diffusion in Construction Project–Based Organizations: Identification of Source Factors

Innovation is widely considered the lifeblood of organizational survival and growth. However, despite its importance, innovation diffusion does not take place spontaneously in organizations. In fact, diffusion of innovations (DoI) in project-based organizations (PBOs) is widely considered notoriously lukewarm. Nevertheless, it is inspiring to observe that project teams could suddenly change their lukewarm attitude in DoI when they receive pressure from the authority and industrial associations, or when they notice their peers starting to adopt an innovation. There seem to be some isomorphic pressures such as coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures that drive DoI. This research aims to identify the source factors of the isomorphic pressures that can be used to catalyze innovation diffusion with a focus on construction PBOs. It does so by conducting a 3-year in-depth case study in an international construction firm using a mixed-method approach including semiconstructed interviews and nonparticipatory observations. The research identified 12 specific source factors under the three categories of isomorphic pressure, i.e., coercive pressure, mimetic pressure, and normative pressure. Coercive pressure can arise from organizational policy, company culture, and influence from seniors; memetic pressure can stem from the influence of peer project teams as well as change agents such as innovation champions; and normative pressure derives from the sharing in regular events/meetings and related training. The practical contribution is that based on the source factors identified, top managers can tactically create such pressures to catalyze DoI meanwhile avoiding excessive pressures that might hinder DoI in their companies. Future studies are recommended to unravel the mechanism through which these source factors interact to take an effect, and based on that, devise the strategies that can harness the isomorphic pressures to boost DoI.

Diagnosing the Institutional Forces Impacting Australia’s Aerial Firefighting Capability

Climate change is resulting in more wildfires, and increasingly, there are overlapping wildfire seasons between the northern and southern hemispheres. The changing climate is especially impacting the nature of aerial firefighting. This study uses an institutional lens to analyse the resources and structures associated with aerial firefighting in Australia. A set of convergent interviews of subject matter experts surfaced the key issues that have led to the current aerial firefighting situation in Australia and showed the relationships between issues. The convergent interviewing method is used to identify the core, common issues that influence the aerial firefighting system in Australia. The results highlight how aerial firefighting suffers due to the complexities that exist between the states and from a lack of a national strategy. A lack of process standardisation, an overreliance on, often international, LATs and the lack of a coordinated mitigation approach are particularly notable specific issues. Institutional theory suggests that Australia’s aerial firefighting capability has succumbed to isomorphic pressures, with the desire for legitimacy driving ever-increasing institutionalization. To respond to the changing environment, institutional entrepreneurs will be needed to create new norms and significantly change the embedded structures.

Control and its perception in CEE parent companies and their developed market subsidiaries

Our article examines control perceptions among Central and Eastern European (CEE) parent companies and their subsidiaries in developed markets based on human resource management and corporate social responsibility practices. Through a multiple case study approach, we identify the usage of impersonal and personal control mechanisms across three parent companies from the Czech Republic and their subsidiaries in Germany. We also identify perception gaps regarding the intensity of the asserted parental control of subsidiary practices. Due to isomorphic pressures, parental interference in practices with a high contextuality in the developed host market result in the perception of being tightly controlled in the subsidiary, which is in contrast to the parent’s perception. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that close personal ties between parent and subsidiary managers alleviate the control perception on the subsidiary side and consequently the overall control perception gap.

Impacts of institutional isomorphism on the adoption of social procurement in the Chinese construction industry

PurposeSocial procurement (SP) is a complicated and risky innovation, the adoption of which needs to be accompanied by complementary process and organizational change. To date, however, there has been little empirical evidence explaining whether and how different sorts of external pressures affect the level of SP adoption in the construction sector. Drawing on institutional theory, this study aims to analyze how three types of isomorphic pressures (i.e. coercive, mimetic and normative pressures) influence the adoption of SP in the construction sector.Design/methodology/approachThe impacts of these pressures are empirically tested with survey data collected from 134 construction firms in the Chinese construction industry.FindingsThe findings show that both coercive and mimetic pressures have a considerable impact on the adoption of SP. However, there is little evidence in this study that normative demands had a major impact on SP.Practical implicationsThis research is a useful instrument for promoting a favorable social attitude regarding construction procurement. Through socioeconomic regeneration and development, procurement can be considered as a significant route for social transformation, economic development and poverty reduction.Originality/valueThis study addresses the paucity of research into SP in the construction industry by establishing the institutional drivers to procuring services and products from a social enterprise perspective. Findings from this study extend the frontiers of existing knowledge on SP in the construction industry.

Public, private, or in between? Institutional isomorphism and the legal entities in Swedish and Finnish higher education

ABSTRACT In the past few centuries, an accelerating process of legalization and classification have moulded the diverse range of earlier institutions into a limited number of isomorphic organizational forms. Today, institutions of higher education, with their roots in the corporate forms of medieval universities, can also have the legal status of, for example, government agencies, associations under public law, foundations, and joint stock companies. This article investigates the types of legal entities Swedish and Finnish institutions of higher education have been organized into in the period from the 1990s until 2020, and why these particular types have been chosen. It also explores how the special characteristics, aims, and demands of the university have caused adaptations to organizational forms such as joint stock companies and foundations. Comparative studies benefit from investigating societies that are as similar to each other as possible, making it easier to identify and isolate the effects of the factors that actually differ. In this respect, Finland and Sweden are ideal for comparative studies. Both Swedish and Finnish institutions of higher education have experienced coercive, mimetic, normative, and managerial-professional isomorphic pressure. However, there are important pre-existing national differences, such as the greater reliance on public agencies in Sweden and the multiplicity of semi-private legal entities in Finland, most significantly the associations under public law. These differences made the transition of universities into independent legal entities seem natural in Finland in 2009, while it was too radical in the Swedish context.

Memory laws, mnemonic weapons: The diffusion of a norm across Europe and beyond

The diffusion of memory laws across Europe maps onto global trends towards legal memory protection writ large. Through applications of cosmopolitan memory and norm diffusion, this article demonstrates that differences across laws – although they derive language and sentiment from a shared global norm – also adhere to the specific memory politics of the state. The author proposes that three categories of memory law have emerged since the 1980s, each resulting from isomorphic pressures exerted by an international community with expectations of shared sociolegal human rights norms. The article concludes with a case study of recent laws in Russia (2014) and Poland (2018): both illustrative of a new nationalistic paradigm of memory laws as mnemonic weapons in ongoing memory wars. By tracing isomorphic similarities across Europe, this article reveals a mirroring of language that has recently appeared in the United States. It is with an eye towards worldwide shifts in populism that the current research remains urgent. This study offers a theoretical contribution from which memory scholars might draw when considering globally relevant mnemonic trends.

Factors Influencing Public Higher Education Institutions’ Performance Reporting in the Romanian Context

Our study aims to facilitate a deeper understanding of the factors influencing performance reporting in the specific context of the hybrid higher education system in Romania, a former communist country in Eastern Europe with little experience in managing the notion of public sector performance. Performance reporting impacts higher education institutions’ development. The study’s approach offers opportunities to understand the main factors that influence and are influenced by mandatory elements stipulated in the specific norms in the public-university domain. Institutional and operant theories explain and sustain multilevel (institutional, organizational, and individual) performance-reporting analysis. In terms of research design, the theoretical exploration led us to formulate hypotheses while empirical data were collected from 23 Romanian public universities, ensuring the results’ reliability. The results indicate that the performance-reporting concept and practical demand in public universities depend on both exogenous causes (isomorphic pressures) and endogenous factors (different behaviors of organizations and individual performers). The performance reporting of Romanian public higher education institutions enriches the scientific literature and the practical sphere by offering comprehension of a European country’s evolution with roots in a communist system, having a lot of specific approaches, as a base for comparison with similar Eastern European entities or experienced countries.

Do Board Gender Quotas Generate Horizontal Spillovers?

AbstractUsing a panel of unlisted Italian banks over the period 2006–2018, we examine the extent to which a law that mandatorily introduced female quotas in the boards of Italian listed companies in 2012 had spillover effects on the boards of unlisted banks, which were not required to comply with the quota. Our results show that both the probability of having at least one woman on the board and the proportion of women on the boards of unlisted banks have been rising significantly after the passing of the law. These findings, which are robust to estimating different specifications and to using different estimation techniques, suggest that the quota law contributed to generating a fairer attitude towards women and, more in general, a change in social norms on gender equality. This may have, in turn, generated isomorphic pressures on unlisted banks, inducing them to mimic the board composition of their listed counterparts.

Business school doctoral programs and the future of business research

We apply a neo-institutional theoretical lens to interpret the extent of any significant similarities or differences in doctoral programmes across business schools in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Overall, we characterise the state of doctoral education in business as lacking adequate funding, primarily attracting students with limited professional or industrial experience but having diverse approaches to the role of formal training as part of the doctoral programme. Although we view these findings as somewhat inevitable given institutional and isomorphic pressures, they are of concern if ANZ business schools are to produce research that is both rigorous and relevant beyond the academy. Comparisons across institutional groupings and discipline areas largely suggest relatively common approaches to doctoral programme design and administration across and within institutions. JEL Classification: M00

Managers’ perspectives on restaurant food waste separation intention: The roles of institutional pressures and internal forces

The hospitality industry, particularly restaurants, generates a large amount of food waste daily. This study draws upon institutional theory using the lens of isomorphic pressures and two internal factors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and restaurant size, to investigate what drives food waste separation intention in the restaurant sector of a developing economy. Data collected from 395 restaurant managers show that normative, coercive, and mimetic pressures positively impact intention; isomorphic pressures are mediated by CSR to achieve higher intention; and the crucial interaction between restaurant size and CSR significantly strengthens food waste separation intention. The study contributes to institutional theory by offering a novel integrated model to explain the respective mediating and moderating roles that CSR and restaurant size play between institutional pressures and behavioral intention in food waste management.