What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Since the end of the 1990s, sustainability reporting has become an increasingly relevant topic in business and academia. However, literature is still limited in quantity and no major reviews of the latest developments have thus far been presented. This paper provides a review of 178 articles dating from 1999 to 2011 from journals related to business, management, and accounting. Our aim is to identify what determinants of sustainability reporting are examined in the literature and to identify (in)consistencies, gaps, and opportunities for future research. We specifically illuminate factors influencing the adoption, the extent, and the quality of reporting. Based on our findings we provide an otherwise often missing link to theory (especially legitimacy, stakeholder, signaling, and institutional theory). Finally, possible future research themes are discussed by illuminating gaps and underexposed themes in the area of regulation and governance as well as reporting quality and stakeholder perception.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2330264_code1468472.pdf?abstractid=2290524&mirid=4

Determinants of Sustainability Reporting: A Review of Results, Trends, Theory, and Opportunities in an Expanding Field of Research

Determinants of sustainability reporting: a review of results, trends, theory, and opportunities in an expanding field of research

Sustainability is and will be a crucial issue for the present and future generations. The current assumption that natural resources are infinite and that the regenerative capacity of the environment is able to compensate for all human action is no longer acceptable. Hence, sustainability issues will influence all organisational aspects of the human life, from the economical, political, social and environmental points of view. The reason is simple: until now, all human activities have been based on the paradigm of unlimited resources and unlimited world's capacity for regeneration; from now on, the awareness of the termination of this assumption means that all related behavioural models must be changed. This is a very impressive objective embracing all fields of culture, economy, technology and much more. A continuing effort, together with a reasonable time span, will be required to pursue this goal. Fortunately, nature and the environment are capable of self-regulation and will give man a chance to recove...

Sustainable manufacturing: trends and research challenges

https://oem.bmj.com/content/oemed/26/3/249.2.full.pdf

Questionnaire Design and Attitude Measurement

This paper explores the organizational dynamics of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). ERM is the main form taken by firms’ increasing efforts to organize uncertainty, which ‘exploded’ in the 1990s. The ERM approach seeks to link risk management with business strategy and objective-setting, entering the domains of control, accountability and decision making. In this work, the organizational variations of ERM are investigated through a longitudinal multiple case study, using data from three companies collected over a 7-year period (from 2002 to 2008). The findings contribute to our understanding of ERM as a practice, revealing its trajectory within the organizations as it encounters pre-existing logics, and as both are shaped by risk rationalities, experts and technologies.

/pdf/the-organizational-dynamics-of-enterprise-risk-management-2exz85mss2.pdf

The organizational dynamics of Enterprise Risk Management

This study attempts to understand the organizational drivers of internal audit effectiveness in the light of recent changes in the ‘mission’ of internal auditing and its central role in corporate governance. On the basis of data from 153 Italian companies, our survey shows that the effectiveness of internal auditing is influenced by: (1) the characteristics of the internal audit team, (2) the audit processes and activities, and (3) the organizational links. Internal audit effectiveness increases in particular when the ratio between the number of internal auditors and employees grows, the Chief Audit Executive is affiliated to the Institute of Internal Auditors, the company adopts control risk self-assessment techniques, and the audit committee is involved in the activities of the internal auditors.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/ijau_392.pdf?abstractid=1394653&mirid=1&type=2

Identifying Organizational Drivers of Internal Audit Effectiveness

Over the past 20 years, the issue of performance measurement in Social Enterprises (SEs) has gained increasing relevance among researchers and practitioners. From an academic perspective, there has been an explosion in methodologies and tools for assessing social performance and impact, but with little systematic analysis and comparison across different approaches. From a practitioner perspective, SEs need to start measuring their performances in a systemic way, in order to support decision making and ensure accountability towards their stakeholders. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the state of the art literature by developing an approach that could be applied to/by SEs to measure their results with respect to social, environmental and economic impacts. The proposed approach consists of a “general” PMS model for SEs—i.e., the performance dimensions that should be measured—and a stepwise method to be used by SEs to develop their own PMS. For sake of clarification, the proposed approach is applied to the case of an Italian SE competing in the energy sector to develop a set of key performance indicators.

/pdf/performance-measurement-for-social-enterprises-32n2pqh70n.pdf

Performance Measurement for Social Enterprises

Purpose – To describe the main characteristics of Internal Audit Departments in six Italian companies and investigate the influence of enacted regulations on their development.Design/methodology/approach – The research has been carried out through a multiple case study, which compared the Internal Audit Departments of six Italian companies, gathering evidence by interviews with chief internal auditors, by obtaining examples of internal audit reports, policy documents and corporate briefing notes.Findings – The range of situations considered highlighted the diversity in Internal Audit Department characteristics, confirming the relevance of institutional pressures, but also providing evidence of the influence of additional elements in their development.Research limitations/implications – Results provided by this research cannot be regarded as generally applicable or generalizable, although this study should contribute to the development of a deeper understanding of the characteristics of Internal Audit Depa...

Internal audit in Italian organizations: A multiple case study

Moving from the growing relevance of the enterprise risk management (ERM) concept, this paper provides empirical evidence of ERM in practice. The paper presents ERM actual uses in a panel of nine Italian companies from different industrial fields and legislative settings and analyses the relationship between the uses and the characteristics of the ERM tool implemented in each case. The data analysis highlights the existence of different activities that are supported by the ERM tool and also different types of use (i.e. responsive, discoursive and prospective) corresponding to a different contribution of ERM to managerial action. These uses related to the specific characteristics of the tools generally indicated with the label ‘ERM’.

Marika Arena

Papers

The organizational dynamics of Enterprise Risk Management

Identifying Organizational Drivers of Internal Audit Effectiveness

Performance Measurement for Social Enterprises

Internal audit in Italian organizations: A multiple case study

Is enterprise risk management real