What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Over the past few generations, expectations of comfort, cleanliness and convenience have altered radically, but these dramatic changes have largely gone unnoticed. This intriguing book brings together the sociology of consumption and technology to investigate the evolution of these changes, as well the social meaning of the practices themselves. Homes, offices, domestic appliances and clothes play a crucial role in our lives, but not many of us question exactly how and why we perform so many daily rituals associated with them. Showers, heating, air-conditioning and clothes washing are simply accepted as part of our normal, everyday lives, but clearly this was not always the case. When did the daily shower become de rigueur? What effect has air conditioning had on the siesta at one time an integral part of Mediterranean life and culture? This book interrogates the meaning and supposed normality of these practices and draws disturbing conclusions. There is clear evidence supporting the view that routine consumption is controlled by conceptions of normality and profoundly shaped by cultural and economic forces. Shove maintains that habits are not just changing, but are changing in ways that imply escalating and standardizing patterns of consumption. This shrewd and engrossing analysis shows just how far the social meanings and practices of comfort, cleanliness and convenience have eluded us.

Comfort, cleanliness and conveniencethe social organization ofnormality

This article is intended as a contribution to the ongoing conceptual development of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI) and provides initial guidance on becoming and being sustainable. We organize and integrate the diverse body of empirical literature relating to SOI and, in doing so, develop a synthesized conceptual framework onto which SOI practices and processes can be mapped. SOI involves making intentional changes to an organization’s philosophy and values, as well as to its products, processes or practices to serve the specific purpose of creating and realising social and environmental value in addition to economic returns. A critical reading of previous literature relating to environmental management and sustainability reveals how little attention has been paid to SOI and what exists is only partial. In a review of 100 scholarly articles and 27 grey sources drawn from the period of the three Earth Summits (1992, 2002 and 2012), we address four specific deficiencies that have given rise to these limitations: the meaning of SOI, how it has been conceptualised, its treatment as a dichotomous phenomenon and a general failure to reflect more contemporary practices. We adopt a framework synthesis approach involving first constructing an initial architecture of the landscape grounded in previous studies which is subsequently iteratively tested, shaped, refined and reinforced into a model of SOI with data drawn from included studies: so advancing theoretical development in the field of SOI.

Sustainability‐oriented Innovation: A Systematic Review

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis

For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Towards Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future

Kompendium der Innovationsforschung

Consumption and sustainability are complex issues—they cannot be reduced to the choice of consumer goods or to “green consumption.” Doing so would neglect the multifaceted embeddedness of consumer ...

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Conceptualizing sustainable consumption: Toward an integrative framework

Under the assumption that there is a close interrelatedness between sustainability research and transdisciplinarity, the authors have explored the experiences of researchers in the sustainability area with this mode of knowledge generation. The paper refers to two standardised surveys carried out in extra-university research institutes in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg. Explored were the actual research practice and the structural, cultural and personal factors which play a role regarding the feasibility of transdisciplinarity. In the everyday practice of researchers, it was found that it is extraordinarily complicated to overcome disciplinary limitations and to abandon the epistemological security of one's own discipline. This is a duplicate form of insecurity: insecurity concerning the research object and insecurity concerning one's own identity and professional future as a scientist. Thus, cultural (scientific) and structural factors prove to be inhibitory to transdisciplinarity. In the future, ...

Transdisciplinarity in sustainability research: Diffusion conditions of an institutional innovation

Ecological innovation includes the development and implementation of new products, new technologies, new production processes, new resources, new markets and new systems that integrate economy and ecology, i.e. introduce ecological aspects in economic strategies. Six qualitative case studies give insight into intraorganizational conditions of ecological innovation, also asking for companies' perception of external needs. As a result, the following hypothesis was developed: if the integration of economy and ecology becomes a factor of competition, dynamic and innovative companies will be proactive in this area. Five distinct results lead to this conclusion: a normative conflict between economy and ecology does not exist for ecologically innovative companies; ecological innovations, the integration of economy and ecology, are intrinsically motivated; cultural identity and quality orientation are necessary, in spite of insufficient prerequisites for the readiness to execute ecological innovations; ecological innovations are part of an ongoing improvement and learning process of a company and innovative companies create their own relevant environments and use them for their own purposes. Communication is an absolute imperative for sustainable development. Finally it is necessary to discuss some critical points apt to hamper an ongoing process towards sustainable economy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Innovation towards sustainable economy ‐ the integration of economy and ecology in companies

Sustainable practices can be initiated or encouraged by governmental regulation and economic incentives. A major element to promote sustainability will be, however, the exploration and organization of discursive processes between and among different actors. Many analysts agree that sustainability will remain a highly desirable, but unrealistic option for development, if people do not feel a degree of ownership and identity with the goal of sustainability for their own life and a preference for its policy implications. Inviting the public to be part of the decision-making process from the beginning improves the likelihood that the resulting decision will be accepted. Participatory processes are needed that combine technical expertise, rational decision making, and public values and preferences. To accomplish such an integration, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration are potential solutions. Many different procedures and forms of mediation have been proposed and some tested. One major attempt of the authors has been the organization of round-table discourses among a wide variety of stakeholders to develop environmental policy goals or to design local and regional waste management plans. These discourses are based on the assumption that each participant can contribute to the common good if the setting of the discourse encourages the generation of shared values and discourages strategic reasoning. The emphasis of the paper will be on the model of cooperative discourse and first applications in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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Birgit Blättel-Mink

Papers

Kompendium der Innovationsforschung

Conceptualizing sustainable consumption: Toward an integrative framework

Transdisciplinarity in sustainability research: Diffusion conditions of an institutional innovation

Innovation towards sustainable economy ‐ the integration of economy and ecology in companies

Discursive methods in environmental decision making