Summary
Contents
Subject index
"It is now three decades since the "new"institutionalism burst on the intellectual scene and a most appropriate time to take stock of missteps, accomplishments, and future directions. This theoretical thrust has revitalized many scholarly arenas across the social sciences, but none more so then organization studies. Royston Greenwood and his co-editors have assembled a stellar stable of scholars who collectively provide a comprehensive assessment if this vibrant field."—W. Richard Scott, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University"Institutional theory has become the dominant conversation in organization theory. In this volume many of its leading exponents show where it is going, what it can do and how it engages with related fields."—Stewart Clegg, Aston Business School and University of Technology, Sydney"This Handbook is "must reading" for any organization and management scholar. It provides a timely and comprehensive update of institutional theory and its relationships with other organization theories."—Andrew H. Van de Ven, Vernon Heath Professor of Organizational Innovation and Change, Carlson School of Management, University of MinnesotaInstitutional theory lies at the heart of organizational theory, yet until now, no book has successfully taken stock of this important and wide ranging theoretical perspective. With insight and clarity, the editors of this handbook have collected and arranged papers so the readers are provided with a map of the field and pointed in the direction of new and emerging themes. The academics who have contributed to this handbook are respected internationally and represent a cross section of expert organization theorists, sociologists and political scientists. Chapters are a rich mix of theory, how to conduct institutional organizational analysis and empirical work.
Institutional Logics
Institutional Logics
Introduction
The phrase, ‘institutional logic’ has become somewhat of a buzz-word. Buzz words are over used; as a result their meanings often get distorted and overextended and they burn-out of existence. Mizruchi and Fein (1999) showed in the institutional theory literature how meanings get distorted and then taken for granted. To avoid misunderstandings of the institutional logic concept and to build on research in this genre, now is the time to reflect on definitions and the theoretical and methodological contributions this perspective brings to the analysis of institutions.
We begin by defining the concept of an institutional logic and how it emerged as part of the development of institutional theory since the 1970s. Second, we illustrate the institutional logics approach as both a meta-theory and a method of analysis. Third, we present a select review of the literature emphasizing how the institutional logics approach makes headway in addressing several limitations and tensions identified by scholars of institutional analysis. In this review we focus on an analysis of the implicit and explicit social mechanisms employed in these studies, not on the description or strength of their empirical findings. Last, we critique the literature on institutional logics and suggest how the approach can be used to further advance the study of organizations and institutions.
The research on institutional logics represents an impressive variety of empirical contexts, from thrifts (Haveman and Rao, 1997), higher education publishing (Thornton and Ocasio, 1999), health care organizations (Scott et al., 2000), colleges and universities (Gumport, 2000), consumer research (Moorman, 2002), mutual funds (Lounsbury, 2002), French cuisine (Rao, Monin, and Durand, 2003), equity markets (Zajac and Westphal, 2004), accounting firms (Thornton, Jones, and Kury, 2005), occupational prestige rankings (Zhou, 2005), and architects (Jones and Livne-Tarandach (Forthcoming), among others. Given the incredible diversity of research topics, what are institutional logics?
Development of Institutional Theory
To understand the concept of institutional logics we must first place it within the context of institutional theory and institutional analysis. The study of institutions has a long history in organizational analysis, beginning with Selznick's (1948, 1949, 1957) empirical analyses of organizations and the institutional environment, and Parson's (1956) theorizing, which emphasized how institutions function to integrate organizations with other organizations in society through universalistic rules, contracts, and authority.
In the 1970s a new approach to institutional analysis emerged with Meyer and Rowan (1977) and Zucker (1977), who highlighted the role of culture and cognition in institutional analysis. From a macro perspective, Meyer and Rowan (1977) emphasized the role of modernization in rationalizing taken-for-granted rules, leading to isomorphism in the formal structures of organizations. Organizations had to conform to the requirements of external environments for legitimacy, meaning that parts of organizations had to be loosely coupled from their technical core. Meyer and his colleagues were concerned with the importance of rationality in the account of western culture, and viewed the development of formal organizational structures as part of world society and its cultural system (Meyer, Boli, and Thomas, 1987; Meyer, Boli, Thomas, and Ramirez, 1997). From a micro perspective, Zucker (1977) also emphasized the taken-for-granted nature of institutions, and the role of cultural persistence as a measure of institutionalization.
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