Moderating Effects of Institutional Logics on Strategic Response to Coercive Institutional Change

Abstract

Using institutional theory, the study examines the relationship between compliance behaviors and attitudes of small business owners and managers toward external coercive institutional change pressures. Organizations can experience conflicting institutional pressures (Pache & Santos, 2010). Variation in change pressures suggest heterogeneous impacts from institutional demands for change (e.g. Herremans, Herschovis, & Bertels, 2009). This study traces Internal Revenue Service regulatory, normative and cognitive-cultural changes targeting the tax preparation industry and examines the relationship between owner/managers attitudes about the changes and their compliance behaviors. Additionally this study traces the historical development of commercial and professional institutional logics in tax preparation and further examines the moderating effect of the two logics on the attitude – compliance relationship.