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.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the extent to which Indonesian audit professionalism is influenced by external factors such as norms of Global Professional Networks (the Big 4), Indonesian cultures, political economy and the accounting profession.
Abstract: Existing research on accounting firms has dealt with professional and ethical values, global professional networks, and nation-state organizational cultures, but there have been few studies that scrutinise all factors in a non-Western country such as Indonesia. As a fast-developing country, Indonesia offers a unique set of characteristics: cultural diversity, an emerging and strengthening economy, and exposure to many aspects of business globalisation. This study documents the impact of both global and local values and beliefs (institutions) on audit professionalism and accounting firm cultures. The objective of this research is to investigate the extent to which Indonesian audit professionalism is influenced by external factors such as norms of Global Professional Networks (the Big 4), Indonesian cultures, political economy and the accounting profession. The organisational, as well as institutional, fields are observed to gain a thorough understanding of norms and values that are socially constructed by auditors within an accounting firm. These dimensions are combined in an institutional analysis, in order to explore all possible influences on beliefs and values of audit professionalism in Indonesia. To meet this research objective, the research question in this thesis is: To what extent do the values of the global professional network, as well as Indonesian national cultures, affect the manifestation of audit professionalism within accounting firms? A qualitative approach is used, using an ethnographic method. Semi-structured interviews and observations collected the data in two phases. Phase One was a pilot study, for the researcher to make initial observation of current issues in Indonesian accounting. There were twenty participants, ranging from accounting staff from a university and partners from small accounting firms to chairmen from Accounting Associations. Phase Two was conducted in one of the Big-4 firms in Jakarta. Thirty auditors were interviewed and the questions consisted of attitudes and perceptions of audit professionalism in the accounting firm. Observations were made of auditors' behaviour during interviews, work and free time. To answer the research question, this research employs an institutional logics framework offered by Thornton, Ocasio, and Lounsbury (2012). To enhance the understanding of the cultural’ mix within an organisation, an institutional logics framework enables scrutiny of the multiple logics that are manifest in day-to-day behaviours. These logics are related to six audit professionalism dimensions offered by Kerr, Von Glinow, and Scheriesheim (1977): expertise, autonomy, collegial maintenance of standards, ethics, professional commitment and professional identification. The institutional logic approach allows identification of the ideal types of institutions for an accounting firm in Indonesia, in that the framework may be re-calibrated to accommodate elements that reflect a specific country’s norms and values. This study found that institutions in Indonesian accounting firms differ from Western institutions which might be observed in similar contexts. The findings also suggest some different institutions compared to those of the model proposed by Thornton et al. (2012). There are four important institutions in the Indonesian accounting: Kekeluargaan, Clients, Indonesian Accounting Professionalism and the Global Professional Networks. Kekeluargaan is considered the fundamental element of Indonesian norms, is influenced by Javanese values of Rukun (harmony) and Respect. The regulatory institutions are strongly influenced by Javanese Bapakism (paternalism) and characterised by a high level of bureaucracy. Indonesian accounting professionalism underpins a norm of promoting Indonesian accounting quality and reputation, while the corporate institutions strongly reflect Western capitalisation and the norms of Global Professional Networks. The extent to which these institutions affect audit professionalism is analysed. The study concludes that audit professionalism is a set of attitudes and behaviours that can be perceived and actioned differently in different locales, based on different institutional fields. With the significance of the above four Indonesian institutions, the application of Western audit standards creates a distinctive approach in Indonesia. The theoretical contribution emphasises the value of the development of Indonesian institutional fields, particularly in audit firms, while the practical contribution of this study will be toward the ongoing adaptation of audit and accounting standards in Indonesia. Limitations of the study are acknowledged, such as lack of previous qualitative studies in Indonesian audit firms and professionalisation, and cross-sectional data collection. Some suggestions for future research include cross-comparison to other Big-4 accounting firms, both nationally and internationally.
9 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jun 2014
9 citations
Dissertation•
27 Nov 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how a public flagship institution responds to pressures for racial equity and institutional excellence in higher education and explore how institutional responses affect the manner in which these ideals are realized.
Abstract: Title of dissertation: A BALANCING ACT: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW A PUBLIC FLAGSHIP INSTITUTION RESPONDS TO PRESSURES FOR RACIAL EQUITY AND INSTITUTIONAL EXCELLENCE Cassandra C. Lewis, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation directed by: Professor Betty Malen Department of Education Policy Studies The purpose of this study was to explore how a public flagship institution responds to pressures for racial equity and institutional excellence in higher education. In particular, the study relied on an exploratory case study methodology to investigate the University of Maryland, College Park’s responses to pressures for racial equity and institutional excellence from 1988, when the University was designated the flagship institution of the State of Maryland, to 2006. This study was informed by two streams of literature. The first stream examines how broad notions of equity and excellence are defined and measured and discusses whether these ideals are in tension within the broader context of American higher education. The second body of literature explores how institutions respond to external pressures, how contextual forces and human agents interact to shape institutional responses and how these responses affect the manner in which equity and excellence ideals are realized. The streams of literature are tied together through a conceptual model which suggests how demands for racial equity and institutional excellence are mediated by the strategic choices of key actors within the
9 citations
Dissertation•
19 Jul 2016
TL;DR: The study reveals that this immunisation programme is inherently unstable and subject to ambivalence from actors at all levels, and suggestions for practical improvement are given.
Abstract: Frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) in the UK have been prioritised for free occupational immunisation against seasonal influenza since 1999. During the 2009-10 influenza pandemic, they were identified as a priority group to receive the strain-specific vaccine. Nevertheless, take-up rates among HCWs have rarely exceeded 50%, even during the pandemic. Most attempts to change this situation have been predicated on the assumption that these low rates are the result of reluctance or resistance by individual HCWs, who must be persuaded or coerced to comply with employer directives.
To gain a novel understanding of this immunisation programme, an actor-network theory approach is adopted to trace the journeys of vaccines through two Local Health Boards in Wales during the 2009-10 H1N1 influenza pandemic and in the following winter influenza season (i.e. during 2010-11).
The research reported shows that low uptake is largely the result of complex social, organizational and cultural processes. Only when these have been changed will it be appropriate to frame the remaining problem as reluctance or resistance by individual HCWs. The study reveals that this immunisation programme is inherently unstable and subject to ambivalence from actors at all levels. Suggestions for practical improvement are given.
9 citations
References
More filters
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