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This research investigates the phenomenon of budgeting practices in the Tanzanian
Central Government. It seeks to understand how budgeting systems under the New
Public Management (NPM), World Bank- and IMF-exhorted systems were adopted
and implemented. There were several motives for this research: the significance of
budgeting in financial management, the sparsity of empirical studies on NPM in
developing countries, and a call for an understanding of the local contexts of the
country and an evaluation of the reforms themselves. Additionally, the complexity of
NPM reforms and the mixed results of previous empirical studies, indicated the need
for a more appropriate methodology. The study adopts interpretive research and
executes a grounded theory strategy. It develops a substantive grounded theory on
budgeting practices and a formal grounded theory on accounting changes in
organizations (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss, 1987). Fieldwork was undertaken
in three Tanzanian Ministries.
Struggling for conformance is the central phenomenon of the substantive and the
formal grounded theory. The substantive grounded theory explained a process
through which the Tanzanian Central Government actors were determined to
implement budgetary reforms, despite difficulties. Struggling for conformance was
illustrated by the establishment of rhetorically applied (rhetorical) rules and
regulations, followed by budgeting attempts and games in their implementation, due
to the uncertain environment, complex budgeting systems, the donors‟ influence, and
cultural and administrative practices. The process of struggling for conformance had
positive and negative impacts on budgeting operations and budgeting allocations.
The formal grounded theory proposes that organizations adopt and implement
accounting changes in order to achieve legitimacy, efficiency and self-interests.
Rhetorical rules on accounting changes are established and implemented through
accounting attempts and games, which may reveal the coexistence of instrumental
and ceremonial aspects of accounting (Covaleski and Dirsmith, 1991), and even
fulfill individual, rather than organizational, interests (strategic deterioration).
Struggling for conformance is caused by conflicting and enabling power, complex
rules, and a fragmented environment. Its consequences reflect the extent of the
acquisition of efficiency and legitimacy.
This research contributes to the limited amount of empirical accounting research on
NPM in developing countries, to grounded theory and interpretive accounting
research, and to the expansion of New Institutional Sociology. It further provides a
framework of struggling for conformance, which produces possible explanations for
the complexities of budgetary and NPM reforms, the adoption and implementation
of accounting changes in organizations, and loose coupling |
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