Beyond Institutional Pressures: Understanding Internal Audit Maturity Through The Structuration Theory in Malaysian Publicly Listed Companies
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study explores internal audit maturity (IAM) in Malaysian public-listed companies (PLCs), where audit functions are mandated by Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market Listing Requirements but continue to exhibit uneven practices. Framed by Giddens’ duality of structure, the research evaluates whether IAM extends beyond the “Repeatable” stage, how maturity differs across audit arrangements, and how antecedent adoption contributes to maturity. A content analysis of 200 annual reports was conducted using a checklist aligned with the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF), and IAM was modelled as a higher-order construct using a two-stage structural equation modelling approach. Discriminant validity concerns led to a reconceptualisation of audit structure, processes, and relationships into a formative construct termed Internal Audit Organisational Capability, with resources maintained as a separate dimension. The findings reveal that the overall level of maturity is modest yet higher than the basic repeatable stage, with in-house functions outperforming outsourced and co-sourced models. These results challenge institutional theory’s expectation of uniform adoption under regulatory pressure and highlight the importance of agentic practices in shaping audit capability. The study contributes by refining the conceptualisation of IAM and demonstrating that maturity arises from both institutional structures and the active agency of auditors.
DOI: 10.14419/n1fcds77
Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia
Subfield: Accounting
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: Universiti Utara Malaysia
OpenAlex ID: W4416247946
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