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

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
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DissertationDOI
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this paper, the extent to which Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operating in Uganda's electricity industry engage in corporate political activity (CPA), and how this in turn influences regulatory institutionalisation is investigated.
Abstract: The study investigates the extent to which Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operating in Uganda's electricity industry engage in corporate political activity (CPA), and how this in turn influences regulatory institutionalisation. It deploys an exploratory, qualitative multi-case study approach drawing on semi-structured interviews, archival materials, media reports and fieldwork notes for data collection. Data analysis is informed by an NVivo-supported grounded analytic method. The findings indicate that MNEs deploy heterogeneous CPA strategies to respond to pro-market reform in emerging markets undergoing regulatory institutionalisation. Some of the most important responses reflect divergences in configuring the relationship with the host government and in nurturing adaptable and anticipatory political embeddedness. Deeper analysis in turn links these divergent responses to the degree of engagement with five underlying perspectives - competing multi-stakeholder demands; challenges of getting locally embedded; accommodation of Africa as an emerging political market; the implications of institutional fragility; and the demands of an evolving political environment. Uganda emerges thereby as a laboratory for diverse CPA strategies targeting other emerging markets in the region. The primary contribution to knowledge concerns the CPA research domain, adding to it perspectives on antecedents and a typology of CPA in emerging markets undergoing regulatory institutionalisation. There is a further synthesis to address political capability theory (and its integration in broader organisational capability theory) by clarifying the nature and the patterns of development of corporate political capabilities in such emerging markets. At a secondary level, there is also a contribution from an institutional theoretic perspective regarding corporate political influence on the process of emerging institutionalisation. This translates into evidence for a co-evolutionary relationship between emerging institutionalisation and CPA. Finally, there is a policy perspective that is addressed in the recommendations of the study.

19 citations

Dissertation
01 Jun 2012
Abstract: This thesis addresses the question of how business schoolsestablished as public privatepartnerships (PPPs) within a regional university in the English-speaking Caribbean survived for over twenty-one years and achieved legitimacy in their environment. The aim of the study was to examine how public and private sector actors contributed to the evolution of the PPPs. A social network perspective provided a broad relational focus from which to explore the phenomenon and engage disciplinary and middle-rangetheories to develop explanations. Legitimacy theory provided an appropriate performance dimension from which to assess PPP success. An embedded multiple-case research design, with three case sites analysed at three levels including the country and university environment, the PPP as a firm and the subgroup level constituted the methodological framing of the research process. The analysis techniques included four methods but relied primarily on discourse and social network analysis of interview data from 40 respondents across the three sites. A staged analysis of the evolution of the firm provided the ‘time and effects’ antecedents which formed the basis for sense-making to arrive at explanations of the public-private relationship-influenced change. A conceptual model guided the study and explanations from the cross-case analysis were used to refine the process model and develop a dynamic framework and set of theoretical propositions that would underpin explanations of PPP success and legitimacy in matched contexts through analytical generalisation. The study found that PPP success was based on different models of collaboration and partner resource contribution that arose from a confluence of variables including the development of shared purpose, private voluntary control in corporate governance mechanisms and boundary spanning leadership. The study contributes a contextual theory that explains how PPPs work and a research agenda of ‘corporate governance as inspiration’ from a sociological perspective of ‘liquid modernity’. Recommendations for policy and management practice were developed.

19 citations

Dissertation
01 Jul 2013
TL;DR: This study examines how the complex interplay of forces affects health insurance reform implementation in Shanghai and Hong Kong and finds that Shanghai succeeded in implementing health Insurance reform because of contextual influences, ideological shift, policy feedback, and the institutionalization of old ideas.
Abstract: Since the mid-1980s, both Shanghai and Hong Kong have implemented health insurance reform to contain healthcare costs. But the reform result in these two places represents polar extremes. While Shanghai witnessed a revolution in healthcare financing in 2000, Hong Kong remains status quo on healthcare financing. Using the theory of historical institutionalism, this study examines how the complex interplay of forces affects health insurance reform implementation in these two places. It finds that Shanghai succeeded in implementing health insurance reform because of contextual influences, ideological shift, policy feedback, the authoritative political institutions, the dominance of key bureaucratic stakeholders in health insurance reform process, the endorsement of new ideas, and the decentralization power given to local governments. On the other hand, it finds that Hong Kong failed to implement any health insurance reforms in 1993 because of a more democratic political system, policy feedback, the persistence of old ideas, and a robust economy. Besides, it finds that the government failed to implement healthcare financing reforms in 1999 and 2000 because of a disjointed political system, difficult economic circumstances, the new idea lacking public acceptance, policy feedback, and the institutionalization of old ideas.

19 citations

Dissertation
01 Feb 2012
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framing of labour rights was created by combining institutions theory and compliance theory to establish respect for labour rights, and a diagnostic approach for implementing labour rights is presented.
Abstract: This thesis considers how to establish respect for labour rights. It aims to inform the analysis of compliance problems and create a diagnostic approach to implementing labour rights. The ultimate goal is to provide insight into the interventions necessary to progressively implement labour rights as defined in international law. The project creates a conceptual framing of labour rights by joining two theoretical approaches: institutions theory and compliance theory. Drawing on institutions theory from political economy, the thesis reframes labour rights regulations, as holistic institutions comprised of rules, norms and actual behaviours, the so-called ‘rules of the game’ in employment. In this context, problems in implementing labour rights are understood as employment practices that are embedded in a web of formal and informal rules governing work within society. Once, reframed in institutional terms, employment practices that violate labour rights can then be analyzed and shortcomings identified using compliance theory. Compliance theory is well suited to institutional approaches because it, like institutions theory treats norms, rules and behaviours as critical components in achieving compliance. The thesis integrates the framework into a diagnostic methodology and tool for comparison of labour rights compliance among the countries that are parties to the Dominican Republic, Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). It applies the methodology to two cases. The first case examines obligatory overtime and trafficking and the second focuses on freedom of association. The analyses are based on publicly available documentary evidence from distinct perspectives such as the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICFTU), the United States State Department Human Rights Reports and ILO Committee of Experts reports and observations. The thesis concludes that the diagnostic methodology can help to uncover institutional patterns associated with labour rights compliance problems as well as problems with the international legal norms themselves.

19 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss a research model that presents three metrics of Corporate Social Performance (CSP): board interlocks, director profile and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss a research model that presents three metrics of Corporate Social Performance (CSP): board interlocks, director’s profile and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach: Based on social network theories, the authors argue the possible relationships between the three variables. They conduct their study on 255 directorships in the boards of 20 listed companies in France, which participate in Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for 2010. Findings: The results show that director's background and nationality diversity in the board are the most relevant attributes to discerning firms with high CSR scores. However, the relationship between board interlocks and CSR is not consistent. Some explanations are reported and discussed. Research limitations/implications The research contributes to recognize the most influential variables in board composition for firms with high CSR scores, although it is based on a conceptual development and an explorative analysis. It could constitute the basis for future research which integrates modeling and multivariate analysis. Practical implications: Diversity in the board could be an effective tool to guide management for more CSR decisions. Originality/value: The paper contributes to board literature by highlighting the importance of combining individual attributes (director) with corporate ones (board of directors) to better assess the role of board of directors in the adoption of CSR’ practices.

19 citations

References
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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 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

Journal ArticleDOI
Christine Oliver1
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

Journal ArticleDOI
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

Journal ArticleDOI
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