Managers’ active agency in building accountability processes: Insights from Integrated Reporting Implementation

This paper delves into the micro-foundations of accountability by examining how individual managers’ managers' values and actions shape organizational practices, focusing on the implementation of Integrated Reporting (IR). Using the framework of inhabited institutions and based on twenty-five semi-structured interviews with top and mid-level managers in early-adopting companies, we demonstrate how managerial decisions, values, and interactions significantly influence the broader organizational accountability structure. Our analysis reveals a spectrum of approaches to IR adoption, emphasizing the importance of individual-level factors such as background, motivations, and values in creating diverse forms of accountability, ranging from “"mechanistic” " to “"organic.” ." Additionally, we explore how these varying accountabilities intersect with different degrees of organizational members’ members' responsibilization. This paper contributes to the discourse on the micro-foundations of accountability by highlighting the pivotal role of individual leadership in transforming traditional accountability mechanisms and integrating personal values with strategic organizational actions.