Budgeting in institutional complexity: The case of performing arts organizations

This paper aims to account for the heterogeneous uses of the budget within different organizations which experience institutional complexity. We focus on organizations where institutional complexity is salient: French not-for-profit theatres. We refer to neo-institutional theories to contribute to the management accounting literature on budgeting in institutional complexity. Various situational factors (Greenwood et al., 2011) might act as filters that influence the ways the logics shape budget uses within organizations. We focus on one factor, the funding situation, considered in terms of the number and relative weights of public funders and the uncertainty of the funding. We have selected two representative French theatres, which present differences in their funding situations, but similarities as regard other situational factors. We show how budget uses in organizations confronted with institutional complexity are shaped by multiple logics. We highlight budgeting as a hybrid practice. We bring to light a variety of practices which we relate to the funding situation. More generally, we show how heterogeneous budget uses within different organizations result from multiple logics that are filtered by situational factors.