Contemporary Streams of Institutional Theory and Their Application to Management and Accounting

An increasing number of research communities in social science acknowledge the need for inter-disciplinary approach in conventional studies. In such conditions, the understanding the ‘theoretical lenses’ repertoire and its potential to extend previous knowledge becomes crucial under the quest for contribution to the literature.

The overall aim of this course is to learn and reflect upon the contemporary streams of institutional theory and their application to management and accounting research. Specifically, the course ambition is to equip PhD students with a deeper understanding of institutional logics, institutional entrepreneurship and institutional work and how these streams can be connected to their own research projects. These three streams of institutional theory become increasingly valuable in management and accounting research. At the same time, they are challenging to use under theoretical pluralism agendas. In this regard, the opportunities and challenges of these streams will be examined during the course. In a long-term perspective, the course seeks to contribute to the development of PhD students’ analytical skills, and therefore facilitate the number of individual and joint international publications by researchers from Nordic countries.

The course will consist of the following parts:

Day 1:

1.1 General presentation and discussion of contemporary development of management and accounting research with institutional theory as theoretical lenses:

• the value of institutional theory for conceptualizing management and accounting research;
• institutional theory and the structure-agency issue;
• from old streams (isomorphism and decoupling) to new streams of institutional theory;
• the value of domain and method theory distinction.

1.2 Institutional logics and its application to management and accounting research:

• presentation of theory and its analytical tools;
• discussion of examples of theory use in management and accounting literature;
• presentation and discussion of student papers.

Day 2:

2.1 Institutional entrepreneurship and its application to management and accounting research:

• presentation of theory and its analytical tools;
• discussion of examples of theory use in management and accounting literature;
• presentation and discussion of student papers.

2.2 Institutional work and its application to management and accounting research:

• presentation of theory and its analytical tools;
• discussion of examples of theory use in management and accounting literature;
• presentation and discussion of student papers.

Day 3:

3.1 Combining theories and theoretical pluralism:

• possible paradigmatic issues and justifications for theories combinations;
• discussion of examples from management and accounting studies, personal reflections of the faculty and PhD students;
• presentation and discussion of student papers.

The course will be arranged through combining the competencies of Nord University Business School and its partners from other Scandinavian universities, therefore, enhancing the Nordic research cooperation. Faculty will be represented by:

• PostDoc Evgenii Aleksandrov (Nord University Business School, Norway)
• Professor Anatoli Bourmistrov (Nord University Business School, Norway)
• Professor Giuseppe Grossi (Nord University Business School, Norway)
• Professor Katarina Kaarbøe (Norwegian School of Economics, Norway)
• Associate Professor Daniela Argento (Kristianstad University, Sweden)