Exploring Institutional Logics in Participatory Budgeting: A Case Study of a Local Government in Sri Lanka

This study explores how Participatory Budgeting (PB) actors employ diverse logics to dominate the PB implementation during political and administrative leadership periods in a Sri Lankan local government context. The study contributes to the limited literature on PB and institutional logics in accounting studies by exploring how political, administrative, and citizen empowerment logics interact in shaping the PB processes and their outcomes. Drawing on the institutional logic theory, this interpretive case study relies on document analysis, informal discussions, and semi-structured interviews with local politicians, administrators, and community members. The finding reveals that political actors use PB as an instrument to develop their political strength by modifying PB practices during political leadership. In contrast, administrators introduce procedural adherence to rules and regulations and tend to marginalise the contribution of citizen participation in administrative leadership. The role of citizens in making final budgetary decisions under both leaderships is scant despite rhetorical discourses on citizens' empowerment. Therefore, the study underscores the need for a balanced approach to ensure citizen empowerment, which combines political inclusiveness, administrative accountability, and transparency, and citizen engagement within a budgeting process to foster democratic participation and participatory decision-making in local government.