Search results

1 – 10 of 543
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 June 2024

Cristina Gianfelici, Ann Martin-Sardesai and James Guthrie

This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades…

Abstract

Purpose

This research explores how contextual elements and significant events influence the changing storylines within a company's directors' reports spanning a period of six decades. These elements and events encompass the internal dynamics of the family that owns the company, industry-specific advancements, political and socioeconomic climates, and explicit guidelines related to corporate reporting.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs a case study methodology to analyse the directors' reports of Barilla, a prominent Italian food manufacturer, within the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism. A systematic content analysis is conducted on sixty directors' reports published between 1961 and 2021. The study also identifies and examines significant contextual events within this six-decade period, which are linked to four key institutional factors.

Findings

Based on the research findings, the directors' reports exhibited notable fluctuations throughout the studied timeframe in reaction to shifts in the institutional setting. Our investigation highlights that each institutional element experienced crucial pivotal moments, and given their interconnected nature, modifications in one factor impacted the others. It was noted that these pivotal moments resulted in alterations in the directors' reports' content across various thematic areas. Additionally, despite Barilla being a multinational company, it was found that national events within Italy had a more pronounced influence on the evolving narratives than global events.

Originality/value

Previous research on directors' reports or chairman's statements has primarily focused on the influence of macro-level institutional factors on the narratives. In contrast, our study considers both macro-level and micro-level institutions, specifically examining the internal events within a family business and how they shape the content of directors' reports. Our study is also distinctive in its analysis of specific critical junctures and their interactions with the investigated institutional factors. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, few existing studies span a timeframe of sixty years, particularly concerning an Italian company.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 August 2024

Lizbeth Alicia Gonzalez-Tamayo, Adeniyi D. Olarewaju, Adriana Bonomo-Odizzio and Catherine Krauss-Delorme

This study examines how perceived institutional support, parental role models, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, representing both macro-level and personal-level factors…

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines how perceived institutional support, parental role models, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy, representing both macro-level and personal-level factors, collectively influence students' intentions to pursue entrepreneurship in Mexico and Uruguay.

Design/methodology/approach

This research utilized quantitative methodology, specifically survey techniques, to collect data from students attending private universities. The study achieved a valid sample size of 419 respondents. Various reliability and validity tests were conducted before structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized relationships between variables.

Findings

The analysis revealed that perceived institutional support does not directly impact students' entrepreneurial intentions (EI). Instead, its effect is mediated through entrepreneurial self-efficacy and the presence of parental role models, both of which are strong predictors of EI. Additionally, the study identified a direct correlation between students' nationality, their academic programs, and their EI. Age and gender, however, did not significantly influence EI.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides theoretical insights into understanding EI by combining macro-level and personal factors. This integrative method contributes to a more comprehensive approach of predicting EI within the context of Latin America.

Practical implications

The study suggests boosting investment to improve the quality of institutions, fostering an environment that supports entrepreneurship, and offering students opportunities to learn from successful role models.

Originality/value

This study was conducted in the context of two economies in Latin America. The novelty lies in combining perceived institutional factors and individual motivators to understand EI in Latin America. It uniquely emphasizes the significance of familial influences, particularly parental role models, in its analysis.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 31 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 July 2024

Anna af Hällström

Managing megaprojects is challenging due to their inherent complexity and uncertainty. Collaborative project delivery models have been introduced as an alternative to traditional…

Abstract

Purpose

Managing megaprojects is challenging due to their inherent complexity and uncertainty. Collaborative project delivery models have been introduced as an alternative to traditional project management in public infrastructure megaprojects and are often realized through collaborative contracts. These project organizations act as institutional arenas for logic interaction as actors with differing institutional backgrounds interact within the project. This paper aims to study the delivery phase of three megaprojects through an institutional lens, investigating the institutional interaction and alignment of logics therein.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple case study was employed to reach deep insight into the phenomenon. Sixty-one interviews were conducted over 3 cases with representatives from all levels of the project hierarchy. Respondents were selected through snowball sampling. In two cases, observations of the shared project office were conducted. Data analysis built on first-order codes and second-order themes, collected into a theoretical framework.

Findings

The empirical evidence demonstrates the dynamics shaping institutional logics and gives evidence for changing logics in projects with a well-applied collaborative contract. However, there is a risk of resistance and a return to traditional logics since institutional change is slow and an unsuitably applied collaborative contract can lead to adherence to the conventional way of work.

Originality/value

Current research has focused on the regulatory framework and procurement phase of such models, but little attention has been given to the delivery phase and the interaction of conflicting logics. This paper can serve as an exemplar of the different logics found within public infrastructure projects and their interaction and alignment. Contributions include a heightened emphasis on the start of the project as a meeting point for differing institutional logics and the role change necessary when using a collaborative contract.

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Waris Ali, Jeffrey Wilson, Osama Sam Al-Kwifi and Amr ElAlfy

This study uses meta-analysis to examine the relationship between corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) and stock price crash risk (SPCR) and to discern the moderating effects…

Abstract

Purpose

This study uses meta-analysis to examine the relationship between corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) and stock price crash risk (SPCR) and to discern the moderating effects of country-level institutional quality and cultural dimensions on this link.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used mean correlation coefficients to test the relationship between CSR and SPCR and meta-regressions to test the moderating effects. The analysis considers 65 effect sizes from 24 empirical studies.

Findings

The results showed that CSR reduces the chances of SPCR. The inverse relationship between CSR and SPCR is stronger in masculine, high power distance and long-term oriented cultures and is less pronounced in individualistic, uncertainty avoidance and indulgent cultures. The inverse relationship is also stronger in countries where high-quality institutions exist.

Research limitations/implications

This study is based on correlation coefficient analysis and excludes studies publishing only regression results. Furthermore, it provides guidance to lessen SPCR. Findings suggest that such initiatives may mitigate the risk of stock price crashes for firms. Through meta-analysis, this research investigates the correlation between environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and stock price crash occurrences, offering insights with significant implications for the European financial landscape and globally.

Originality/value

This is a pioneer meta-analysis that investigates the link between CSR and SPCR and the moderating effects of country-level institutional quality and cultural dimensions. Our study sheds light on the potential impact of promoting a sustainable and responsible business environment in Europe through comprehensive ESG disclosure under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 June 2024

Mahmud Al Masum and Lee Parker

This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how the technical logics of a World Bank-led performance management reform interacted with the social, political and historical logics within a developing country (DC) regulatory organisation. The institutional environment both within and outside the organisation was considered to understand the performance management reform experience.

Design/methodology/approach

An interview-based, longitudinal, qualitative case study approach was used to locate accounting in its technical, social and political space. A large regulatory organisation in Bangladesh was investigated as a case study to reveal how traditional organisational practices and public sector norms mediated a performance management reform. Informed by the institutional logics (IL) and economies of worth perspectives, interviews were used to locate IL at macro-level and associated organisational actors’ strategic responses that ultimately shaped the implementation of a performance management system (PMS).

Findings

This paper reveals how accounting, as a social and political practice, influences accountability reform within a regulatory organisation. It provides an account of both the processes and resultant practices of an accounting reform initiative. While a consultative and transparent performance management process was intended to enhance accountability, it challenged the traditional organisational authority structure and culture. The new PMS retained, modified and adjusted a number of its characteristics over time. These adjustments reflected an amalgamation of the influence of institutional pressures from powerful constituents and the ability of the local agents (managers) in negotiating and mediating the institutionalisation of a new PMS.

Practical implications

The findings of this paper carry major implications for policy makers, particularly with respect to the design of future reform programs on PMS.

Originality/value

This paper offers a theoretical mapping of IL and its organisation-level interpretations and practices. Thus, the authors locate power and influence at field and firm levels. The findings of this study reflect historical, political and cultural backgrounds of the case study organisation and how these contextual forces were active in shaping the meaning of reform logics. Though the institutional environment and agents were unique to the case study organisation, this research offers a “process generalisation” that reveals how a best practice PMS was translated and transformed by the traditional organisational practices in a DC regulatory context.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 32 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 July 2023

Alhassan Musah

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of institutional quality on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using a data set comprising 45…

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of institutional quality on the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using a data set comprising 45 African nations during the timeframe 2000 to 2020.

Design/methodology/approach

The data are divided into two periods, with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) data covering the years 2000–2015 and the SDGs data spanning from 2015 to 2020. Controlling for other factors, the researcher employs an index of institutional quality and applies the generalized method of moments (GMM) method to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings demonstrate a noteworthy inverse relationship between institutional quality and the achievement of both the MDGs and SDGs. The findings reveal a significant and positive link between economic growth and the achievement of the MDGs, while the impact on the SDGs is shown to be insignificant. Population growth significantly drives the SDGs. The results further reveal that trade openness and industrialization contribute positively to the achievement of both the MDGs and SDGs.

Practical implications

The findings emphasize the importance of improving institutional quality, promoting economic growth and supporting trade openness and industrialization for sustainable development in African countries.

Originality/value

The contribution of the study is twofold. Firstly and to the best of the author’s understanding, this research marks an initial endeavor to empirically investigate the nexus between institutional quality and the SDGs in the context of Africa. Secondly, it adds novelty to the literature by examining how institutional quality influences both the SDGs and their precursor the MDGs, providing insights into the actual contribution of institutions to development within the framework of these two major global compacts.

Details

Journal of Business and Socio-economic Development, vol. 4 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2635-1374

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 November 2023

Cristian Barra and Pasquale Marcello Falcone

The paper aims at addressing the following research questions: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency? And which pillars of institutional quality…

1053

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims at addressing the following research questions: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency? And which pillars of institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

Design/methodology/approach

By specifying a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method where GHG emissions are considered as the bad output and the GDP is referred as the desirable one, the work computes the environmental efficiency into the appraisal of a production function for the European countries over three decades.

Findings

According to the countries' performance, the findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries. In this environmental context, the role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries.

Originality/value

This article attempts to analyze the role of different dimensions of institutional quality in different European countries' performance – in terms of mitigating GHGs (undesirable output) – while trying to raise their economic performance through their GDP (desirable output).

Highlights

  1. The paper aims at addressing the following research question: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

  2. We adopt a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method, considering 40 European economies over a 30-year time interval.

  3. The findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries.

  4. The role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries, while the performance decreases for the low middle-income countries.

The paper aims at addressing the following research question: does institutional quality improve countries' environmental efficiency?

We adopt a directional distance function in the context of stochastic frontier method, considering 40 European economies over a 30-year time interval.

The findings confirm that high and upper middle-income countries have higher environmental efficiency compared to low middle-income countries.

The role of institutional quality turns out to be really important in improving the environmental efficiency for high income countries, while the performance decreases for the low middle-income countries.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 51 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 23 September 2024

Mikaela Sundberg

Goffman’s (1961) work on total institutions has been relatively neglected in the fields of organizational research. This paper compares the conceptions of obedience to authority…

Abstract

Goffman’s (1961) work on total institutions has been relatively neglected in the fields of organizational research. This paper compares the conceptions of obedience to authority in two different types of voluntary total institutions and how such conceptions affect interaction contrary to the aims of the organizations. Consequently, by addressing how conceptions of authority and constructions of the obedient self shape conditions for underlife, the analysis provides knowledge about the variety of ways in which total institutional authority works and contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms of organizational underlife.

Details

Sociological Thinking in Contemporary Organizational Scholarship
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83549-588-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 September 2024

Nabila Abid, Junaid Aftab and Marco Savastano

Drawing an inference from institutional theory and dynamic capabilities view, this study empirically examined the impact of three institutional dimensions (regulative, normative…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing an inference from institutional theory and dynamic capabilities view, this study empirically examined the impact of three institutional dimensions (regulative, normative and cognitive) and green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO) on a business firm’s performance. In addition, the moderating effect of dynamic capabilities on the relationship between GEO and firm performance was also explored.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 527 information technology (IT) firms in Pakistan using paper–pencil questionnaires, and the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings showed that the regulative and normative institutional dimensions enhance GEO and firm performance in the selected developing country. However, the cognitive institutional dimension fails to report any substantial influence on GEO and firm performance. The findings raised concerns about lower individual accountability as well as the promotion of green practices and firm performance. In addition, dynamic capabilities positively moderate the GEO influence on firm performance.

Originality/value

With the interplay of institutional dimensions, GEO (as mediator) and dynamic capabilities (as moderator), this study developed and tested a unique framework to understand their influence on firm performance. Specifically, we extended the literature by giving evidence that among the three institutional dimensions, only regulative and normative are considered more important because of their direct and indirect (through GEO) positive effect on firm performance. In contrast, the cognitive institutional dimension failed to report any significant direct or indirect impact on firm performance in our study.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 August 2024

Zahirul Hoque and Matt Kaufman

The organizational decision-making perspective (ODM) has a legacy regarding its concern for budgeting as an essential organizational routine in decision-making. Budgeting has also…

Abstract

Purpose

The organizational decision-making perspective (ODM) has a legacy regarding its concern for budgeting as an essential organizational routine in decision-making. Budgeting has also become a direct concern to organizational institutional theory (OIT) because of its prominent role in institution building, where budgeting can build trust in inter-organizational relationships. This paper builds on these two perspectives to explore organizational budget processes' formation, disruption, and re-creation over time.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted a comprehensive review and critical analysis of the ODM and OIT perspectives, focusing on a fundamental paradox between ODM's emphasis on stability through organizational routines and OIT's focus on organizational legitimacy through the decoupled expression of organizational values. We then expanded on these paradoxical concerns in the context of budgeting, formalizing them into specific research propositions for future studies.

Findings

Tensions around the stability, decay, and re-creation of budgets as organizational routines emerge as a pressing issue requiring further empirical investigation from the ODM perspective. A critical issue in the OIT perspective is the potential for organizational budgets to provide an opportunity to decouple from practice through routinized expressions of rationality and to facilitate loose coupling in practice. These findings offer a fresh perspective and open up new avenues for future research in this area.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the accounting and organizational research literature by shedding light on how organizations respond to the potential decay of budget routines and the manifestation of organizational values in decoupling processes by further re-creating and elaborating budget processes.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

1 – 10 of 543