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W. Richard Scott

Other affiliations: University of Colorado Boulder
Bio: W. Richard Scott is an academic researcher from Stanford University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Institutional theory & Social movement. The author has an hindex of 51, co-authored 123 publications receiving 37987 citations. Previous affiliations of W. Richard Scott include University of Colorado Boulder.


Papers
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Book
22 May 1995
TL;DR: Early Institutionalists Constructed an Analytic Framework I Three Pillars of Institutions Constructing an Analytical Framework II Content, Agency, Carriers and Levels Institutional Construction, Maintenance and Diffusion Institutional Processes Affecting Societal Systems, Organizational Fields, and Organizational Populations Institutional processes Affecting Organizational Structure and Performance Institutional Change Looking Back, Looking Forward
Abstract: Introduction Early Institutionalists Institutional Theory and Organizations Constructing an Analytic Framework I Three Pillars of Institutions Constructing an Analytic Framework II Content, Agency, Carriers and Levels Institutional Construction, Maintenance and Diffusion Institutional Processes Affecting Societal Systems, Organizational Fields, and Organizational Populations Institutional Processes Affecting Organizational Structure and Performance Institutional Change Looking Back, Looking Forward

8,382 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Early versions of this paper were presented at the "Conference on Institutional Change," held at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, May 15-16, 1987; and at a conference, "Critical Perspectives on Organizational Theories," sponsored by the International Sociological Association and held at Conference Center De Narwal, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, July 19-21, 1987 as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Early versions of this paper were presented at the "Conference on Institutional Change," held at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, May 15-16, 1987; and at a conference, "Critical Perspectives on Organizational Theories," sponsored by the International Sociological Association and held at the Conference Center De Narwal, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, July 19-21, 1987. Thanks are due to the conference organizers: Paul J. DiMaggio and Walter W. Powell, Stanford Conference; and to Marshall W. Meyer and Ad Teulings, Wassenaar Conference. I also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments received on earlier versions of this paper from Ronald L. Jepperson, John W. Meyer, and Walter W. Powell.

3,310 citations

Book
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an analytical framework of three Pillars of Institutions: defining institutions, defining institutions and defining institutions' legitimacy and legitimacy, as well as three assumptions associated with these Pillars: Content, Agency, Carriers and Levels.
Abstract: Preface to Third Edition Introduction 1. Early Institutionalists Early Institutional Theory in Economics Early Institutional Theory in Political Science Early Institutional Theory in Sociology 2. Institutional Theory Meets Organization Studies Institutions and Organizations: Early Approaches Foundations of Neoinstitutional Theory 3. Crafting an Analytic Framework I: Three Pillars of Institutions Defining Institutions The Three Pillars of Institutions The Three Pillars and Legitimacy Basic Assumptions associated with the Three Pillars 4. Constructing an Analytic Framework II: Content, Agency, Carriers and Levels Institutional Content and Organizations Agency and Institutions Varying Carriers Varying Levels of Analysis 5. Institutional Construction Creating Institutions Selected Studies of Institutional Construction 6. Institutionalization Three Conceptions of Institutionalization: Underlying Mechanisms Maintaining and Diffusing Institutions Carriers and Institutional Mechanisms 7. Institutional Processes and Organizations Organizations and Institutions: Three Views Legitimacy and Isomorphism Institutional Context and Organizational Structure Interactive Processes Strategic Processes Sources of Divergence 8. Institutional Processes and Organization Fields Conceptualizing Organization Fields Field Structuration Processes Structuration, Destructurating, and Restructuration 9. An Overview and a Caution Distinctive Features The Maturation of Institutional Theory and Research A Cautionary Comment References Index About the Author

2,556 citations

Journal ArticleDOI

1,668 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors put forth a call for papers on the study of institutional theory and institutional change, and they received over 75 manuscripts for review, with a focus on institutional change.
Abstract: Institutional theory has risen to prominence as a popular and powerful explanation for both individual and organizational action. It is a vibrant theory that has heen synthesized and contrasted with a number of other approaches. Although its scope has certainly heen expanded, institutional theory has often been criticized as largely being used to explain hoth the persistence and the homogeneity of phenomena. We helieve that this focus did little to tap the full power or potential of institutional theory. We find, for example, that institutions change over time, are not ttniformly taken-forgranted, have effects that are particularistic, and are challenged as well as hotly contested. Thus, we acknowledge that although institutions serve both to powerfully drive change and to shape the nature of change across levels and contexts, they also themselves change in character and potency over time. It was in this spirit that we put forth a call for papers on the study of institutional theory and institutional change. We also believed that the topic of institutional change has emerged as a central focus for organizational researchers. Therefore, we sought to provide new understandings of the manner in which institutions are created, transformed, and extinguished and the way in which institutional processes interact to affect institutional change. We received over 75 manuscripts for review. In-

1,637 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article synthesize the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches, and identify three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based upon normative approval; and cognitive, according to comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness.
Abstract: This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.

13,229 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review agency theory, its contributions to organization theory, and the extant empirical work and develop testable propositions and conclude that agency theory offers unique insight into information systems, outcome uncertainty, incentives, and risk.
Abstract: Agency theory is an important, yet controversial, theory. This paper reviews agency theory, its contributions to organization theory, and the extant empirical work and develops testable propositions. The conclusions are that agency theory (a) offers unique insight into information systems, outcome uncertainty, incentives, and risk and (b) is an empirically valid perspective, particularly when coupled with complementary perspectives. The principal recommendation is to incorporate an agency perspective in studies of the many problems having a cooperative structure.

11,338 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of stakeholder identification and saliency based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes (power, legitimacy, and urgency) is proposed, and a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their saliency to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.
Abstract: Stakeholder theory has been a popular heuristic for describing the management environment for years, but it has not attained full theoretical status. Our aim in this article is to contribute to a theory of stakeholder identification and salience based on stakeholders possessing one or more of three relationship attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency. By combining these attributes, we generate a typology of stakeholders, propositions concerning their salience to managers of the firm, and research and management implications.

10,630 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: Deming's theory of management based on the 14 Points for Management is described in Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982 as mentioned in this paper, where he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.
Abstract: According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

9,241 citations