Institutional work, accountability and corruption: evidence from a social business organization in Bangladesh

Purpose This study aims to investigate how organizational actors engage in institutional work to shape and sustain intra-organizational accountability mechanisms and identifies which forms of institutional work are most effective in combating corruption and fostering accountability within a social business organization. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on institutional work theory, this study uses a survey-based methodology using primary data from 250 Grameen Bank employees across different organizational levels. Boundary work, practice work and relational work are operationalized through validated survey constructs. Probit and logit models are used to examine how these forms of institutional work, alongside employee characteristics, predict perceptions of organizational transparency and corruption. Findings Results show that punitive measures and enforcement mechanisms (boundary work) are the most effective institutional practices for promoting transparency and reducing corruption. In contrast, corruption-prevention measures and anti-corruption training have limited impact, pointing to gaps in practice. Employee experience also plays a significant role, with longer-tenured employees reporting higher perceptions of corruption. These findings underscore the need for adaptive institutional work to maintain and refine accountability mechanisms over time. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on a single social business in a developing country, which may limit generalizability. Future research could adopt comparative or longitudinal designs to examine how accountability mechanisms evolve across different contexts. Practical implications Organizations should strengthen enforcement-led accountability (boundary work) while rethinking the design and delivery of ethics training to ensure contextual relevance. Interventions targeting experienced staff are critical to prevent the normalization of deviance. Originality/value This study contributes to institutional work literature by highlighting the role of micro-level practices in shaping intra-organizational accountability. It expands research on organizational governance by demonstrating how different forms of institutional work interact to influence transparency and corruption prevention in a complex organizational setting.