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 2020
TL;DR: The findings of this research reveal that institutional pressures have positive effects on employees’ attitudes to using the new IS, which, in turn, positively influences their IS usage.
Abstract:
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing the adoption of new information systems (IS) in organizations. Based on the institutional theory, this research proposes that organizations may induce their employees to adopt new IS by creating three types of institutional pressure: coercive, normative and mimetic. It is further argued that the effects of these three institutional pressures on employees’ new IS usage depend on their cultural orientations.
Design/methodology/approach
Model testing relies on data collected from 370 banking sector employees during the implementation of a new “customer relationship management” system. The hypothesized model was tested by using the structural equation modeling technique in MPlus 7.0.
Findings
The findings of this research reveal that institutional pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) have positive effects on employees’ attitudes to using the new IS, which, in turn, positively influences their IS usage. In addition, collectivism strengthens the positive effect of coercive and normative forces on attitudes to using the new IS. Conversely, collectivism weakens the effect of the mimetic force on employees’ attitudes to using the new IS.
Originality/value
This research is among pioneering studies that explain the effect of institutional pressures (coercive, normative and mimetic) on employees’ IS usage. It is the first study of its nature that demonstrates that each of the three institutional pressures has differential effects on employees with highly collectivist orientations in comparison with employees with low collectivist orientations.
6 citations
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for the clothing and textiles supply chain has been investigated in a 5-year period, and the results show that clothing and textile RFID adopters' inventory days drop by about 12.89 and 2.47 days, respectively, compared with other manufacturing sectors.
Abstract: The value of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is critical for the clothing and textiles supply chain, because the fashion business is characterized by a wide assortment of seasonal items with short life-cycles, high levels of impulse-purchasing and complicated distribution and logistics operations. This study aims to test whether the adoption of the RFID system can improve supply chain performance (measured as inventory days, accounts receivable days and operating cycle). Based on the 31 clothing and textiles companies that publicly announced their RFID adoption, 18 of them were matched with comparable control firms for the testing of abnormal supply chain performance. The results show that clothing and textiles RFID adopters’ inventory days drop by about 12.89 days over the 5-year period, while other RFID adopters (other manufacturing sectors) only drop by about 2.47 days.
6 citations
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: A descriptive single-case study using a qualitative design method was employed to explore the knowledge sharing behaviors of medical doctors in a community hospital located in the Northeastern United States to better understand the communication processes and knowledge flow among doctors and other healthcare professionals to gain insight into the nature of their social interactions.
Abstract: A descriptive single-case study using a qualitative design method was employed to explore the knowledge sharing behaviors of medical doctors in a community hospital located in the Northeastern United States. The topic was timely given that effective collaboration and coordination among healthcare providers was recognized as a vital component of quality patient care. Thus, the purpose of this study was to better understand the communication processes and knowledge flow among doctors and other healthcare professionals to gain insight into the nature of their social interactions. Habermas’ (1984) theory of communicative action provided a non-positivist approach in interpreting human interactions where the objective, subjective, and social worlds were integrated to attain intersubjective mutuality. The theory emphasized social pragmatics and rational reconstruction among individuals who engaged in dynamic interplay to co-construct their environment. Since the purpose of the study was to explore the dialogical exchange among doctors and other healthcare professionals, Habermas’ (1984) theory served as an appropriate lens to interpret the findings. A qualitative design using three data collection techniques (documentation, nonparticipatory observations, and semi-structured interviews) served as the strategy of inquiry and provided triangulation. Each phase was iterative and informed subsequent phase(s) of the study. A purposeful sample was employed to recruit participants. Thirty-two of 242 doctors were targeted, 14 of the 32 participated. The results from the data analysis identified four broad themes (collaboration and coordination emphasizing evidence-based medicine, verbal and electronic communication, transparent organizational culture, and reflective learning) which led to six key findings: doctors
6 citations
01 Jan 2014
6 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