ABSTRACT
In recent years, institutional theory has had a major impact on research in a wide variety of fi elds within the social sciences, including economics, sociology, political science, organisational theory, public administration, and also accounting. There is an extensive body of literature on institutional theory, which has been well summarised elsewhere (see, for instance, Nooteboom 1999; Brinton et al. 2001; Scott 2001). In the accounting literature, three particular types of institutional theory have had signifi cant infl uences on accounting research, and especially on management accounting research. These are generally referred to as new institutional economics (NIE), old institutional economics (OIE), and new institutional sociology (NIS). However, with the exception of transaction cost economics (TCE), which is a particular branch of NIE, institutional theory has not been widely used to study accounting in inter-organisational relationships. Thus, the primary aim of this chapter is to explore how institutional theory could be used in such studies.
