Managing expectations in financial markets: voluntary accountability practices of capital market regulators in Spain and Turkey

Abstract

In recent decades, independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) have been introduced as part of public administration reforms around the world. Unlike traditional administrative agencies, most IRAs are not accountable to the executive and their accountability relationship to the legislative tends to be weak. Nevertheless, these agencies often engage in acts of voluntary explanation and justification of their decisions to stakeholders. Based on a comparative study of financial regulation agencies, this article shows that these IRAs resort more actively to voluntary accountability when the expectations of actors interacting with the agency are at conflict. Specifically, we argue that the agency’s ability to manage expectations is shaped by the level of agency independence and the degree of organizational capacity. Our findings contribute to the existing debates by conceptualizing voluntary accountability as a mechanism for managing stakeholders’ conflicting expectations through the lens of financial regulation based on original evidence from Spain and Turkey.