Bridging the Void: How Institutional Entrepreneurship Can Overcome Institutional Voids in Indian Public Organisations

Abstract

There is limited research on the role of institutional entrepreneurship in public organisations, especially in the context of institutional voids. The public sector entrepreneurs' engagement with regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional voids in a developing economy is, therefore, examined using institutional work. Through an in-depth longitudinal case study of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India, institutional creation and disruption processes are identified as interrelated means to address voids in this context. The boundary work supported promising entrepreneurs in challenging settings, whereas legitimacy work helped to spread change outside organisational boundaries. Insights into public sector entrepreneurship in developing countries are offered.

The role of transformational leadership and institutional entrepreneurship in organizational change in Indian public organizations

“…The role of transformational leadership is vital in a developing public organization. There was widespread bureaucracy, slow decision-making processes and a lack of capable leadership (Rao-Nicholson & Svystunova, 2021). This is quite similar to the findings of Seo and Creed (2002) and Greenwood and Subbady (2006), who found that the organizations they studied were confronted with the choice of "efficiency versus conformity".…”

“…Contemporary studies on public infrastructure in India (Cui et al, 2018;Höffken & Limmer, 2019;Rao-Nicholson & Svystunova, 2021;Qiu & Rao-Nicholson, 2021;Chatterjee & Kundu, 2022) have noted the lack of relevant organizational reforms (Khanna et al, 2021) and talent to support India's growing demand for public facilities and infrastructure (Shah & Prakash, 2018;Chertow et al, 2019;Kumar, 2021). There is thus a gap in our knowledge of how organizations can leverage entrepreneurship during the process of organizational renewal or the creation of new subsidiaries (Lawrence et al, 2002).…”

“…Recent studies have examined the construction of public infrastructure in developing countries (Cui et al, 2018;Höffken & Limmer, 2019;Rao-Nicholson & Svystunova, 2021;Qiu & Rao-Nicholson, 2021;Chatterjee & Kundu, 2022), and have considered the role of typical public organizations in this context (Morris, 2019;Monstadt & Coutard, 2019;Dolla & Laishram, 2020). Within this context of public infrastructure development, authors have noted a lack of a suitable climate of reform in some cases (Khanna et al, 2021) as well as a lack of entrepreneurial talent to support the expanding demand for new infrastructure in India (Shah & Prakash, 2018;Chertow et al, 2019;Kumar, 2021).…”