Ceremonial Implementation at Overseas Locations: A Multi-Case Study of a Bilateral Development Cooperation Agency

Prior studies on institutional duality claim that the subsidiaries of multinational corporations ceremonially adopt organisational practices to show their legitimacy in the institutional environments of their parent-firms and host countries, and that ceremonial adoption has safeguarding functions. However, the studies have focused on the snapshot moment of adoption and overlooked the implementation of practices after adoption. Besides, they have ignored overseas offices (OOs) of public sector organisations. Constructing a novel term 'ceremonial implementation' that includes both adoption and implementation and combining neo-institutionalist, micro-political, and Scandinavian institutionalist perspectives, this research explores how the OOs of a bilateral development cooperation agency (BDCA) create, maintain, and disrupt the safeguarding function of ceremonial implementation under conditions of institutional duality.

For this purpose, the researcher conducted a multi-case study of BDCA OOs in Country A in Central Asia and Country B in Southeast Europe. Data were obtained through in-depth remote interviews with 39 informants ([i] expatriates and [ii] locally hired employees including local coordinators) and analysed them using; (i) the 'asking small and large questions' technique, (ii) thematic analysis, (iii) five data analysis techniques, and (iv) theoretical propositions and plausible rival explanations. This research identified a three-phase process regarding the safeguarding functions of ceremonial implementation. The first phase is the emergence of discrepancies due to conditions of institutional duality. The second is the decision to act ceremonially. Then, the third phase, 'the creation, maintenance, and disruption of safeguarding function', begins. Whether ceremonial implementation serves as a safeguard cannot be determined until actions are taken. If it successfully protects OOs, the function is likely to be sustained, and the practices can be incorporated into the OOs as ceremonial forms. If any conditions such as management staff or the intensity of external/internal pressures change, ceremonial implementation may cease to function as a safeguard.