Multilevel institutional analysis of accounting change in public management

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to provide a multilevel institutional analysis of public sector accounting change. It seeks to explain the implementation of changes to state-sector budgeting systems, taking into account the complex of factors that drive and shape the cumulative processes of accounting change. Design/methodology/approach The study presents the results of an interpretive case study set in a Jordanian public organization, Jordan Customs. It uses triangulation of data collection methods including interviews, observations and documents and archival records. The study adopts a multilevel analysis of institutions to better understand the implications of public accounting changes for the re-engineering and improved delivery of public services in Jordan. Findings The paper concludes from its analysis of public sector organizations that change in their accounting systems has occurred on three institutional levels. New budgeting methodologies were produced and reproduced based on re-consideration and re-enacting of theoretical accounting bases and procedures. Through this process, accounting change was itself reformed and new accounting routines further embedded extant accounting institutions and norms. Budgeting change, as a fundamental accounting change, is in this conception generated by external pressures and institutionalized in accounting routines over time. Research limitations/implications The paper is subject to the limitations of the case study approach. The propositions presented from the case studied need to be confirmed in further research into accounting system changes in other public organizations. The authenticity of the conclusions of this study would be greatly enhanced if supported by findings from other studies. The study has significant implications for the ways in which the dynamics of accounting change emerge at three levels of institutional analysis. By explaining the interaction between the “external” sources of and “internal” responses to change, accounting practice is shown to be both formed by and formative of broader socioeconomic processes. This overall sensitivity to the nature of accounting has significant implications for how accounting change can be studied. Originality/value The paper presents an interpretive case study of the practical issues of organizational change in a multilevel analysis that considers the experience of institutional pressures from the perspective of organizational actors. The study contributes to both management accounting literature and institutional theory by providing further understanding of the dynamics of accounting change in a developing nation’s public sector.