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Article
Publication date: 6 September 2022

Abdullahi B. Saka, Daniel W.M. Chan and Saheed O. Ajayi

Although there has been a surge in the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) in the construction industry, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still…

Abstract

Purpose

Although there has been a surge in the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) in the construction industry, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still struggling and perceive its adoption as risky. The SMEs in developing economies are especially on the disadvantaged side of the digital divide. Extant studies have focused on large firms and there are scanty studies on the influence of the external environments on BIM adoption in SMEs. Thus, this study espouses institutional theory (INT) to examine the influence of coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures on BIM awareness and adoption in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative approach was employed, and data were collected from the Nigerian construction SMEs via an empirical questionnaire survey using a sequential stratified and convenient sampling method. Hypothesized relationships between the coercive, mimetic, and normative pressure and BIM in SMEs were empirically tested using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique and the model was validated with the “PLSpredict” procedure.

Findings

The results revealed that coercive and mimetic pressures significantly influence BIM adoption in SMEs while normative pressures have the strongest influence on BIM in SMEs. Also, BIM awareness is an important predictor of BIM adoption. The findings also shed light on the influence of firmographics on BIM awareness and adoption in Nigerian SMEs.

Originality/value

The study empirically validates the applicability of INT and highlights that BIM adoption is not only influenced by internal responses to the need for efficiency but also by external pressures. It implies a clear need for intentional isomorphic pressures in driving BIM adoption in SMEs. The study employs the INT to explain a phenomenon that has not been theoretically explored in the context of SMEs in developing economies. Lastly, the study provided valuable insights into driving BIM adoption, together with the effective practical implications for implementation and potential research areas for further studies.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 January 2023

Stefanía Carolina Posadas, Silvia Ruiz-Blanco, Belen Fernandez-Feijoo and Lara Tarquinio

This paper aims to analyse the impact of the European Union (EU) Directive on the quality of sustainability reporting under the institutional theory lens. Specifically, the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the impact of the European Union (EU) Directive on the quality of sustainability reporting under the institutional theory lens. Specifically, the authors evaluate what kind of institutional pressure has the highest impact on the quality of corporate disclosure on sustainability issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors build a quality index based on the content analysis of sustainability information disclosed, before and after the transposition of the Directive, by Italian and Spanish companies belonging to different industries. The authors use an OLS regression model to analyse the effect of coercive, normative and mimetic forces on the quality of the sustainability reports.

Findings

The results highlight that normative and mimetic mechanisms positively affect the quality of sustainability reporting, whereas there is no evidence regarding coercive mechanisms, indicating that the new requirements do not provide a significant contribution to the development of better reporting practices, at least in the two analysed countries.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies assessing the quality of sustainability reporting through an analysis involving the period before and after the implementation of the EU Directive. It enriches the literature on institutional theory by analysing how the different dimensions of isomorphism affect the quality of information disclosed by companies according to the EU requirements. It contributes to a better understanding of the impact of the non-financial information Directive, and the results of this paper can be relevant for regulators, practitioners and academia, especially in view of the adoption of the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive proposal.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 31 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 January 2024

Joseph Kuruneri and Wiston Zivanai

Governments worldwide seek to optimize value in public project bids. Social procurement (SP) has become a global tool for achieving project goals. The purpose of this study is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Governments worldwide seek to optimize value in public project bids. Social procurement (SP) has become a global tool for achieving project goals. The purpose of this study is to assess the understanding of SP among contractors and identify its drivers to optimize the value associated with public projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 15 major contractors were interviewed to obtain their views on SP, appreciate their current practices and identify the main drivers of SP in projects. A semistructured interview was used to gather relevant data. Neo-institutional theory is the lens of the study used to provide the focus of the research. The collected data were analyzed using the thematic data analysis technique.

Findings

The study found that SP is understood as corporate social responsibility and is not handled in a structured manner guided by policies or clearly defined procedures. Additionally, research has shown that compliance requirements, rather than value and goodwill, are the main inspiration for SP practices.

Research limitations/implications

The study’s limitation is the fact that it was conducted in the context of Botswana and only used the interview technique as the solo data collection method. The other limitation is the lack of empirical literature on SP concerning the lack of SP policy in Botswana.

Originality/value

This study raises awareness of the concept of SP among contractors in Botswana and eases its implementation within the industry.

Details

Modern Supply Chain Research and Applications, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3871

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 December 2023

Rania AbuRaya

This study aims to investigate the role of institutional and stakeholder interaction in the development of integrated reporting policy by the International Integrated Reporting…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the role of institutional and stakeholder interaction in the development of integrated reporting policy by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). It helps advance the theory of integrated reporting and offers insights into its fundamental concepts and relevant issues.

Design/methodology/approach

A flexible pattern-matching qualitative research approach is used and an analytical framework of integrated reporting historical foundations and conceptual background is developed. An IIRC case analysis is conducted by using a chronological content analysis of the International Integrated Reporting Framework and related initiatives and publications for integrated reporting policy pronouncements.

Findings

Institutional and stakeholder pressures within both the organization’s macro and micro contexts have played an effective role in transforming corporate reporting practices. In an integrated reporting context, institutional forces of normative and mimetic isomorphism seem to have more influence on organizations than coercive pressures, where stakeholder pressures with limited official power derive influence from their legitimacy while urgency is evidently implied. Findings indicate that integrated reporting policy has emerged analogously with the institutional environment and stakeholders’ expectations. The distinct nature of integrated reporting has caused a paradigm shift from silo thinking of wealth creation to integrated thinking of value creation.

Research limitations/implications

This is an exploratory study that does not consider different prominent integrated reporting models. It has important implications for policymakers in articulating the integration of financial and nonfinancial metrics for reporting overall corporate performance. It can help academics build on integrated reporting foundations for conducting future research and assist practitioners in operationalizing integrated reporting policy into practice. Moreover, it has potential prospects for international business in developing integrated reporting policies and strategies aimed at creating mutual value in specific international contexts.

Originality/value

Integrated reporting represents a new internationally developing reporting trend with distinct reporting features and foundations for value creation. The study provides considerable addition to emerging research into the growing awareness of integrated reporting policy, develops a conceptual model of institutional and stakeholder interaction and theorizes on such interplay, identifies the potential influences under which integrated reporting is likely to occur and offers key insights into integrated reporting policy. Hence, it contributes to the ongoing global challenge of promoting the reporting transition to integrated reporting and its perceived future endorsement.

Details

Critical Perspectives on International Business, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1742-2043

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2023

Md Mamunur Rashid, Dewan Mahboob Hossain and Md. Saiful Alam

This study aims to investigate the nature of management accounting (MA) change and the institutional pressures driving the change using the context of an emerging economy …

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the nature of management accounting (MA) change and the institutional pressures driving the change using the context of an emerging economy – Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

The study collected data from 20 listed companies in Bangladesh through in-depth interviews. It uses the typology of MA change proposed by Sulaiman and Mitchell (2005) in identifying the nature and extent of MA change executed during the preceding three years. A modified version of Granlund and Lukka’s (1998) model is used to identify and explain the impact of institutional and economic pressures on MA change.

Findings

This study finds that MA changes have taken place in the Bangladeshi listed companies in the forms of modification, addition and replacement during the preceding three years. The findings also showed that mimetic and coercive pressures influence the adoption of new MA techniques or changes in the existing MAP. The impact of economic forces (specifically the advancement of operating technology and competition intensity) on MA change is also well evident.

Originality/value

This study focuses on the typology of MA change and the institutional forces affecting the MA change, which have rarely been addressed in the context of an emerging and developing economy.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Evy Rahman Utami and Zuni Barokah

This study aims to investigate the determinants of anti-corruption disclosures by construction firms in Asia-Pacific countries.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the determinants of anti-corruption disclosures by construction firms in Asia-Pacific countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample comprises construction companies from seven Asia-Pacific countries from 2015 to 2019. The authors hand-collected data on anti-corruption disclosures by using content analysis.

Findings

This study provides empirical evidence that government ownership, country-level accounting competence and high-quality auditors increase companies’ anti-corruption disclosures. Meanwhile, this study finds that uncertainty avoidance does not affect companies’ anti-corruption disclosures.

Practical implications

This study has a number of implications. First, government and professional accountant organizations need to improve accountants’ knowledge and competence through education, training and continuous professional development. Second, public accounting firms need to ensure the quality of their auditors, particularly in the technical competence in financial and nonfinancial reporting. Finally, universities must improve and update their curriculum regarding nonfinancial reporting issues.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to examine anti-corruption disclosure practices in the most corrupted settings, i.e. the construction industry in Asia-Pacific countries. It uses the isomorphism perspective to explain the influence of government ownership, country-level accounting competence and high-quality auditors on anti-corruption disclosure transparency. The number of prior studies investigating this association is very limited. Moreover, disclosures of anti-corruption information are complex and sensitive; thus, coercive, normative and mimetic pressures are required to achieve higher transparency and sustainability.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2023

Md. Khokan Bepari, Shamsun Nahar, Mohammad Istiaq Azim and Abu Taher Mollik

This study aims to examine the strategies that auditors in Bangladesh follow in identifying and reporting key audit matters (KAMs). The study also examines the factors affecting…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the strategies that auditors in Bangladesh follow in identifying and reporting key audit matters (KAMs). The study also examines the factors affecting auditors’ strategies in the identification and disclosures of KAMs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have conducted interviews with audit partners, chief financial officers (CFOs) and regulators involved in KAMs reporting and monitoring. The authors have used the lens of institutional theory of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism and the concept of decoupling.

Findings

Auditors have used a decoupling strategy by identifying and reporting greater number of industry-generic KAMs than that of other countries in an effort to minimize risks and avoid regulatory scrutiny, although they disclose remote risks as KAMs and mask severe problem areas of the client. Because of the principle-based approach of International Standards on Auditing (ISA) 701 and because of the pressure and misunderstanding from the audit committee, auditors report industry-generic items and generic descriptions of KAMs.

Practical implications

The findings have important implications for the standard setters and local and global audit firms for the diffusion of new auditing standards in different jurisdictions. Without the development of audit firm-level capability and the corporate governance environment, changes in standards may not be effective in achieving the objectives of the standards.

Social implications

Although auditors consider that the KAMs reporting requirements provide with opportunities to enhance audit profession’s legitimacy and public trusts, the actual KAMs reporting practices are driven by the market logic, an urge to maintain the status quo with clients and eventual rationalization of the impairment of professional independence.

Originality/value

Given the dearth of prior research on the implementation and diffusion patterns of ISA 701 KAMs reporting, this study fills the gap in the literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first known study to examine auditors’ strategic responses to balance among conflicting priorities in reporting KAMs.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2022

Corina Joseph, Mariam Rahmat, Sharifah Norzehan Syed Yusuf, Jennifer Tunga Janang and Nero Madi

This paper aims to describe the development of the ethical values disclosure index (EVDi) for Malaysian companies using the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and isomorphism…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development of the ethical values disclosure index (EVDi) for Malaysian companies using the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and isomorphism perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reports an inclusive examination of international and national guidelines in relation to the code of ethics and ethical values in making the disclosure.

Findings

The final 10 categories and 40 items under review have been developed in an instrument, the proposed EVDi, for measuring the commitment undertaken by companies in communicating ethical values information to stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications

The EVDi may fulfil the function of good governance to inculcate ethical work culture throughout companies.

Social implications

Effective ethical values in communication may reduce the likelihood of illegal activities and cost of acting unethically in organisations.

Originality/value

The value of this paper is its approach of using the isomorphism concept from the institutional theory to address the SDG 16 by developing the EVDi. The new index incorporates core elements of moral values adapted mainly from the professional bodies that regulate the accounting profession and other related organisations. The index is an initiative used to measure companies' commitment to promoting ethical values through disclosure. The efforts to measure the level of commitment supporting the SDG 16 promote effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. 39 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2022

Lexis Alexander Tetteh, Cletus Agyenim-Boateng and Samuel Nana Yaw Simpson

This paper aims to explore the role of public sectors auditors in strategically responding to institutional pressures to conduct a performance audit of Sustainable Development…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the role of public sectors auditors in strategically responding to institutional pressures to conduct a performance audit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

To gather in-depth and rich empirical data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior and middle management auditors of Ghana's Supreme Audit Institution (SAI).

Findings

The findings indicate that the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, the government, auditees, political executives and the Audit Service Board all exert institutional pressure on Ghana's audit of SDG implementation. In response to these pressures, the SAI deploys acquiescence, compromise and manipulation strategies that result in the coupling, and in some cases, the loose coupling of SDG audit practices.

Research limitations/implications

Observation method of data collection would have given the researchers first-hand knowledge of the role of auditors, the institutional pressures to SDG audit and the strategic response to the institutional pressures. The authors were unable to accompany the public sector auditors to their field audits. This would have aided in obtaining more detailed empirical data.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that external and internal factors affect public sector audit of SDG implementation. Because the SAI of Ghana is dependent on the central government for budgetary allocation and auditees for miscellaneous logistics, it is under coercive pressure to meet rent seeking demands of political executives. As a result, SAIs in emerging economies must revisit the other side of accountability by reinforcing a constructive dialogue with those held accountable, particularly politicians and auditees.

Originality/value

This study's contribution is the exploration and application of institutional theory and Oliver (1991) model for responding to institutional pressures to a novel research area, namely, SDG implementation audit by public sector auditors in an emerging economy.

Details

Journal of Applied Accounting Research, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-5426

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2023

Jenny Jing Wang

The purpose of this paper is to explain how aspects of institutional theory can be used to explain how tertiary educational providers must necessarily adopt the same features…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explain how aspects of institutional theory can be used to explain how tertiary educational providers must necessarily adopt the same features while competing in the market for students. Using new institutional sociology (NIS), the authors seek to explain this phenomena and how such diverse private providers have borrowed from the polytechnics and universities to share the same institutional features.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs NIS to explain how tertiary educational providers must necessarily adopt the same features while competing in the market for students. In the last few decades, the Auckland tertiary market for overseas students has enjoyed strong growth before Covid-19.

Findings

Decoupling provides a link between NIS and legitimacy theory in that it explains how symbolic strategies are aimed at some kind of legitimization rather than directed at technical efficiencies. It is argued that the public tertiary providers are more prone to decoupling than PTEPs because they are less attentive to costs due to their more monopolistic position in the market.

Originality/value

Originally, the market was dominated by the local universities and polytechnics with few private providers. Currently, private providers cater for a large share of the certificate and diploma market and have a growing stake in the degree market. As these changes came about so, more diverse private providers entered the market. This paper explains how these diverse entrants came to share the same organizational features.

Details

Journal of Accounting Literature, vol. 45 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0737-4607

Keywords

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