The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)
01 Jan 2008-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: 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.
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: The theory of the firm does not succeed in unifying in a single analytical framework both its institutional and organizational dimensions as discussed by the authors, and the crossfertilization which occurs between these two social sciences can be used to propose a real socio-economic theory for the firm.
Abstract: The paper aims at showing that beyond its economic nature the firm is an organized social institution. The theory of the firm does not succeed in unifying in a single analytical framework both its institutional and organizational dimensions. In contrast, organization theory notably organizational sociology deals with the intertwining of these two existential elements of firms. The crossfertilization which occurs between these two social sciences can be used to propose a real socio-economic theory of the firm.
9 citations
Dissertation•
26 May 2017
9 citations
DOI•
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this article, a theory of state adoption of organizational structure drawing on organizational theories of public organizations is presented. But the authors focus on the role of decisional systems and specifically the state agency structure and apply this theory to explore the influence of structure on adoption of environmental policies.
Abstract: OF DISSERTATION APPLYING A POSITIVE THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONS A CLOSER EXAMINATION OF STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCIES Why do American states organize as they do for environmental protection? According to Moe (1990), “a positive theory of organizations has two goals: 1) explain where institutions come from and why they take the forms they do, and 2) understand their effects for political and social behavior.” This paper will examine Moe’s question in terms of state environmental agencies: What influences state adoption of a comprehensive environmental structure? To address this question, I develop a theory of state adoption of organizational structure drawing on organizational theories of public organizations. The latest comprehensive examination of state agency structure in the literature was in 1994 (Jessup, 1994) and provides no analysis, only a summary description of each agency. The most recent evaluation of states adoption of environmental agency structures was in 1975 (Beyle, 1975). My analysis builds on these studies. This dissertation is structured in eight chapters. I first review the history of state environmental protection agencies in the context of the development of federal and state environmental laws. I also describe, in general, the federal and state government environmental structures and describe the comprehensive and incremental restructuring that states have undergone since 1960. The second part of the dissertation develops a theory of state administrative agency adoption through a review of the organizational and political literature. Building on a model developed by Beyle (1975), this section describes how state environmental protection agencies develop in response to political motivations, administrative needs, socioeconomic characteristics, and environmental severity. I then test two empirical models based on this theory to understand why states chose to adopt a comprehensive state environmental protection agency and a Mini-EPA or Super-Agency structure. The third part of the dissertation outlines the theory of state adoption of environmental policies, focusing on the role of decisional systems and specifically the state agency structure. I apply this theory to explore the influence of structure on adoption of environmental policies to address second and third generation pollution problems. These 12 policies are used to create an index of innovativeness. The final chapter summarizes the conclusions from the analyses, and future research prospects.
9 citations
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the cartographie et l'analyse bibliometrique de la production en sciences de gestion publiee par laRevue francaise of gestion (RFG) entre 2002 and 2017.
Abstract: Cet article se fonde sur la cartographie et l’analyse bibliometrique de la production en sciences de gestion publiee par la
Revue francaise de gestion (RFG) entre 2002 et 2017. Les
auteurs mettent en lumiere les references theoriques utilisees
comme inspiration par les auteurs de ces articles et les
thematiques principales traitees au fil des mandatures des
differents redacteurs en chef de la revue. Leurs analyses
rendent compte de la diversite du champ francophone des
sciences de gestion tout en soulignant les evolutions constatees
pendant la periode etudiee.
9 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, acknowledgements and a list of figures and tables are given for each of the following categories: acknowledgements, figures, tables, and acronyms.
Abstract: .................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................................iii List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables......................................................................................................................... xi List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................. xii Chapter
9 citations
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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
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
TL;DR: The authors applied the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes, and proposed a typology of strategies that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation.
Abstract: This article applies the convergent insights of institutional and resource dependence perspectives to the prediction of strategic responses to institutional processes. The article offers a typology of strategic responses that vary in active organizational resistance from passive conformity to proactive manipulation. Ten institutional factors are hypothesized to predict the occurrence of the alternative proposed strategies and the degree of organizational conformity or resistance to institutional pressures.
7,595 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted a meta-analysis of 52 studies and found that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association.
Abstract: Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based ...
6,493 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider structural inertia in organizational populations as an outcome of an ecological-evolutionary process and define structural inertia as a correspondence between a class of organizations and their environments.
Abstract: Considers structural inertia in organizational populations as an outcome of an ecological-evolutionary process. Structural inertia is considered to be a consequence of selection as opposed to a precondition. The focus of this analysis is on the timing of organizational change. Structural inertia is defined to be a correspondence between a class of organizations and their environments. Reliably producing collective action and accounting rationally for their activities are identified as important organizational competencies. This reliability and accountability are achieved when the organization has the capacity to reproduce structure with high fidelity. Organizations are composed of various hierarchical layers that vary in their ability to respond and change. Organizational goals, forms of authority, core technology, and marketing strategy are the four organizational properties used to classify organizations in the proposed theory. Older organizations are found to have more inertia than younger ones. The effect of size on inertia is more difficult to determine. The variance in inertia with respect to the complexity of organizational arrangements is also explored. (SRD)
6,425 citations