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This paper aims to evaluate the progress made in understanding the impact of multi-level institutions on entrepreneurship.

Based on scientific articles published between 1992 and 2017, the authors take a unique focus on both institutional theory applied and research topics of this area. Bibliometric method and systematic literature review method are used.

The results demonstrate that although institutional theory is well prepared for entrepreneurship context operating at different levels, the major knowledge foundation used predominantly focuses on macro and meso level. When it comes to research topics, entrepreneurship is often simplified as the founding of new venture, and the unique venture founding process has rarely been explored.

This paper is the first to provide a full picture of the multi-level institutions and their consequences on different kinds of entrepreneurial activities. The authors’evaluation of this research area also points out directions for future study.

The purpose of this research paper is to report the results of a study that explains the relationship between institutional pressure and environmental management accounting (EMA) adoption. Specifically, it looks at the pressure of government and other parties in society concerning EMA adoption among manufacturing companies in Malaysia.

Drawing from the new institutional sociology theory, the paper seeks to identify the extent to which institutional pressure influences EMA adoption level. A total of 74 accountants from manufacturing companies in Malaysia participated in the survey. Institutional pressure (coercive isomorphism, normative pressure and mimetic processes) was tested against the level of EMA adoption via multiple regression analysis. Next, semi‐structured interviews were employed with four survey participants to gain further insights into the survey results.

The findings of this study reveal some influence of institutional pressure on EMA adoption. Of these, normative pressure in terms of training and accounting body membership was found to be the most forceful.

Recognising the important role of accountants in managing environmental issues in organisations, this study highlights the influence of education and training as determinants of EMA adoption.

This paper offers a preliminary understanding from the new institutional sociology perspective concerning the type of pressure that influences manufacturing companies in Malaysia to adopt EMA.

Purpose – This paper examines the public sector reforms in Fiji and the introduction of market‐oriented practices in the Public Rental Board (PRB). The tensions between profit seeking and provision of public service are explicated. Design/methodology/approach – The case study method is employed. The empirical evidence is interpreted using new institutional sociology as well as the technical rational perspective. Findings – The PRB implemented private sector business techniques such as economic rents, sale of state houses, and performance measurement in the form of the balanced scorecard. Such a businesslike approach was demanded by financial institutions such as the World Bank. In return for lending money, international financiers expect a more efficient, wealth producing economy. However, global trends in the form of imposed restructuring of the public sector do not necessarily meet local needs. Tensions are created between the mission and performance of the state rental organization charged with providing accommodation for the less fortunate in Fiji. Research limitations/implications – Institutional theory may be helpful in explaining the introduction of private sector practices into the public sector. The technical rational explanations in terms of achieving greater economy and efficiency need to be considered in relation to institutional factors and the mission of state organizations. Practical implications – The case study illustrates the limitations of the introduction of private sector techniques of managerialism into one state sector organization. There are implications for other state sector organizations in Fiji and elsewhere. Originality value – The paper improves understanding of the rationales for public sector reform especially in developing countries. The reforms can be understood from a technical rational perspective, but may need also to be understood in terms of external institutional influences.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Environmental management accounting (EMA) has received increasing interest since 2000 and is now regarded as an effective tool to deal with environmental issues and the economic performance of companies and countries. This study aims to examine the impacts of institutional pressures on the adoption of EMA by manufacturing companies operating in Libya. The study examines how such adoption is impacted by four contingent factors, namely, company size, company age, environmental management system adoption and business type.

Data was collected from a sample of medium- and large-sized manufacturing companies operating in Libya by means of a questionnaire survey. Institutional pressure and contingency factors were tested against the level of EMA adoption via multiple regression analysis and moderator multiple regression.

The results indicate that the relationship between coercive pressures and EMA adoption varies as a function of company size. This result indicates that when companies face pressures, the way they respond depends on specific circumstances and characteristics of the company such as company size.

The key contribution of this study to the body of knowledge comes from being able to combine contingency and the new institutional sociology perspective of the institutional theory to create a complementary perspective. This was achieved by examining the moderating effect of the four contingent variables on the relationship between institutional pillars and EMA adoption in manufacturing companies in Libya.

This study aims to explore the barriers and motivations to integrating environmental performance into balanced scorecards (BSCs).

This research adopted a qualitative case study approach with semi-structured interviews within an Australian public health service organisation. Secondary document analysis was performed using annual reports, strategic plans and website data.

The internal barriers creating resistance to incorporating environmental performance dimensions into the BSC include the existing role of environmental disclosure, insufficient sustainability BSC knowledge, lack of BSC champion support, organisational culture and limited environmental commitment practices. Solutions revealed to support decisions to integrate environmental performance in the BSC include recruiting sustainability expertise, articulating financial motivations and recognising external pressures.

The findings provide suggested actions for other organisations facing similar challenges regarding integrating environmental performance into a BSC.

In the current business environment, organisations face growing pressure to consider environmental performance in their BSCs. This study provides insights into the potential problems that prevent or delay the integration of environmental issues into BSCs.

This study provides evidence on how institutional and external factors influence barriers and motivations to embed environmental performance measures into a BSC. This study demonstrates how health-care organisations can effectively overcome barriers by modifying specific institutional artefacts. This is an important contribution to the body of knowledge because there is limited empirical research regarding integrating environmental issues into a public sector BSC that projects key organisational commitment indicators.

This paper aims to extend the literature by examining the need for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for Sri Lankan small and medium entities (SMEs) and investigating the institutional pressures that drove the adoption of the IFRS for SMEs in a developing country, Sri Lanka.

The theoretical framework adopted in this study draws on insights from new institutional sociology theory. An interview-based qualitative research was conducted with accountants and owners of SMEs, representatives from government agencies and the accounting standards-setting authority of Sri Lanka.

The emphasis on the need for international accounting standards for SMEs due to international structures and activities is not a priority for Sri Lankan SMEs. Sri Lankan SME owners do not receive requests to provide internationally comparable financial statements from their trade partners and international activities such as foreign exports, borrowings and ownerships are irrelevant business activities for them. Hence, findings reveal that the decision to adopt the IFRS for SMEs was in response to institutional pressures rather than alleged benefits of internationally comparable financial information. It appears from the results that the influence of local users’ needs and the government interference on the development of accounting standards does not exist in Sri Lanka.

The research is limited to a single country. The data were collected from SMEs in Sri Lanka, as intended by the research boundary.[AQ1] The study has implications for policy makers, and standard setters charged with developing and implementing an appropriate financial reporting framework for SMEs.

The extant literature on IFRS for SMEs is sparse and mostly conducted through questionnaire surveys with a single user group of SME financial information.

Purpose – This article examines a detailed case study of the symbolic use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in an Egyptian state-owned company (AQF Co.) that is partially privatized by drawing on new institutional sociology (NIS) and its extensions. It explains how the ceremonial use of IFRSs is shaped by the interplay between institutionalized accounting practices, conflicting institutions, power relations, and the role of information technology (IT) in institutionalizing accounting rules and routines.

Methodology/approach – The research methodology is based on an intensive case study informed by NIS, especially the interplay between conflicting institutions, power relations, and IT role in institutionalizing accounting practice. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews, discussions, and documentary analysis.

Findings – The findings revealed that the company faced conflicting institutional demands from outside. The Central Agency for Accountability required the company to use the Uniform Accounting System (as a state-owned enterprise) and the Egyptian Capital Market Authority (CMA) required the company to use IFRSs (as a partially private sector company registered in the stock exchange). To meet these conflicting institutional demands, the company adopted loosely coupled accounting rules and routines and IT was used in institutionalizing existing Uniform Accounting System and preserving the status quo.

Research limitations – This study has limitations associated with its use of the case study method, including the inability to generalize from the findings of a single case study and the subjective interpretation by the researcher of the empirical data.

Practical implications – This article identifies that the interplay between institutional pressures, institutionalized accounting practices, intra-organizational power relations, and the role of IT in institutionalizing accounting routines contributed to the ceremonial use of IFRSs in an Egyptian state-owned enterprise. Understanding such relationships can help other organizations to become more aware of the factors affecting successful implementation and internalization of IFRSs and provide a better basis for planning the introduction of IFRSs into other organizations worldwide.

Originality/value of article – This article draws on recent research and thinking in sociology, especially the development and application of NIS. In addition, this article is concerned with the symbolic use of IFRSs in a transitional developing economy, Egypt, and hence contributes to debate about exporting Western accounting practices and other technologies to countries with different cultures and different stages of economic and political development.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the compatibility of actor network theory (ANT) and new institutional sociology (NIS) in analysing a case study of accounting change.

This is an interpretive case study.

The Finnish case city experienced several path‐dependent changes concerning performance measurement (PM), financial reporting and the adoption of enterprise resource planning system (ERP). New tools such as the ERP have a potential to transform the actors and to change the agency of the actors. Furthermore, the concepts drawing on both ANT and NIS can together enrich analyses of accounting changes.

The case analysis suggests guidelines for using ANT and/or NIS in accounting studies.

Understanding accounting developments as an intentional and path‐dependent process affected and constrained by complex networks, pressures and actors should contribute to better management of accounting changes.

Being informed by both ANT and NIS improves our understanding of accounting change and stability, serendipity, practice variations, changes beyond the minimum required to satisfy external requirements, and of the continued use of some accounting tools despite their limited functionality. Furthermore, we introduce the concepts dynamic agency and constrained transformation for studies of accounting change.

This paper aims to study the influence of political-economic reform and especially privatisation on the quality of financial reporting of the Egyptian companies.

The paper analyses data from official documents and 34 interviews with company executives, financial analysts, external auditors and Stock Exchange regulators to inform our understanding of the relationship between changes in the Egyptian environment and the quality of financial reporting.

The findings of the research suggest that the recent Egyptian political-economic reform, resulting in privatisation has significant influence on negative accounting practices and hence on lowering the quality of financial reporting through its effect on: departure from uniform accounting system and public accounting regulations; issuing new stock exchange regulative rules; reviving the role of Stock Exchange; and increasing competition within Stock Exchange regarding raising funds.

This paper contributes to the literature by identifying the effect of socio-cultural factors on motivating executives to 7 exercise negative accounting practices and hence producing low-quality financial reports (FRs) and by highlighting the fact that accounting practices cannot be generalised worldwide due to the absence of universal socio-cultural factors which shape these practices. This paper employs new institutional sociology theory and contributes to that theory by acknowledging the active interplay between institutional context and economic environment.