Institutional theory and IFRS: an agenda for future research

Abstract

This paper highlights the capacity for Institutional Theory [IT] to render in-depth understanding of change processes associated with the adoption and implementation of international accounting standards by countries and organisations. Although the fact of requiring the adoption of IFRS could be characterised as a form of coercive power, recent developments in IT help to explore the extent to which adoption and diffusion of IFRS is shaped by agency, the interests of actors involved in the adoption process, and the role of institutional entrepreneurs and institutional work. We provide a structured review of literature that uses an IT framework in the context of adopting and implementing IFRS. The review brings together various streams of IT and current debates in the management and organisation literature. This allows us to outline an agenda for future research that proposes six new research questions for investigation. These research questions are intended to encourage greater regard for the capacity of the theoretical toolkit of institutional logics to explore institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work, and the institutional dynamics of change processes associated with the adoption, maintenance and disruption of accounting systems.