Reflections on Institutional Theories of Organizations

Abstract

Contemporary institutional theorizing in the field of organizations dates back thirty-odd years. This particularly describes what are called new or neo-institutionalisms. These terms evoke contrasts with earlier theories of the embeddedness of organizations in social and cultural contexts, now retrospectively called the 'old institutionalism' (Hirsch & Lounsbury, 1997; Stinchcombe, 1997). They went through a period of inattention, so that when institutional thinking came back in force after the 1960s, it seemed quite new. Institutional theories, as they emerged in the 1970s, received much attention in the field, along with other lines of thought emphasizing the dependence of modern organizations on their environments. Perhaps surprisingly, they continue to receive attention, and seem to retain substantial measures of vigor. One secondary aim, here, is to explain why. I primarily review the status and prospects of the principal themes of institutional theory. I concentrate on sociological institutionalism, as capturing core ideas in their most dramatic form, rather than the limited arguments emphasized in economics or political science. And within sociological versions, I concentrate on phenomenological theories. These reflect my own interests, are continuing loci of research creativity, and contrast most sharply with other lines of social scientific theorizing about organizations. In practice, 'organizations' tends to be both a research field, and a realist ideology about modern society: phenomenological thinking steps back from that commitment, and is useful in analyzing, for example, why so much formal organization exists in the modern world (Drori, Meyer,& Hwang, 2006). BACKGROUND Throughout most of the post-Enlightenment history of the social sciences, notions that human activity is highly embedded in institutional contexts were central. Individuals were seen as creatures of habit (Camic, 1986), groups as controlled by customs (famously, Bagehot's cake of custom or Spencer's folkways and mores), and societies as organized around culture.

Public–private collaboration in the tourism sector: balancing legitimacy and effectiveness in local tourism partnerships. The Spanish case

“…Institutional theories focus on the pursuit of legitimacy to the detriment of efficiency, with the resulting organisational conformity arising due to social norms and rituals (Meyer, 2008). In the context of the so-called 'new institutional theories' organisations 'compete not just for resources and customers, but for political power and institutional legitimacy, for social as well as economic fitness' (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991, p. 66).…”

Think Local, Act Global: A Call to Recognize Competing, Cultural Scripts

“…Researchers argued that agency and parochial perceptions appear to have no influence on global isomorphism (Meyer, Boli, & Thomas, 1989). Instead, global social behaviors, such as those Pope and Meyer (2015) outlined, reflect external cultural scripts rather than costbenefit calculations (Meyer, 2007) indicating that a world society's cultural authority precedes and sets the stage for decision-making (Meyer, Boli, Thomas, & Ramirez, 1997).…”

“…The spread of global culture involves theorizing (Meyer, 2007), formulating new concepts and new causal relationships informed from strangers' experiences. Space-time realignments accompany globalization, influencing individuals' and collectives' identities and cultural frames of reference (Albert, 2007).…”

Political risk assessment by multinational corporations in African markets: A Nigerian perspective

“…Political risks could be mostly institutional in nature, even though some emerge due to inherent factors in political environments like some other risks. Given the fact that firms make decisions when responding to different institutional environments, institutional theory becomes useful as a way of analyzing the moves from one country to another (Meyer, 2008;Peng, Wang, & Jiang, 2008;Quer et al, 2012). Some studies have tried to correlate political risk to institutional theory by explaining how it influences firms' decisions during internationalization (Dunning, 1980;Osabutey & Okoro, 2015;Quer et al, 2012).…”

“…There is a theoretical concept that underscores its legitimacy, rational myths, and isomorphism, which emphasizes resilient facets of social structure known as neo-institutional theory. The legitimacy aspect of neoinstitutional theory will be considered in the context of this article since most firms habitually will want to achieve legitimacy in their host country (Meyer, 2008). The legitimacy viewpoint of neo-institutional theory could be used to explain, as firms move from either a developed economy to an emerging one or vice versa, how they respond to different institutional regulations to attain legitimacy (Meyer, 2008;Quer et al, 2012).…”