Does Collective Always Mean Cohesive? Collective Institutional Entrepreneurship and Radical Flanks

Abstract

Despite an expanding literature on collective institutional entrepreneurship, we know little about the mechanics and internal dynamics between different and potentially divergent entrepreneurial paths, the responses from actors outside the collective, and the effects that divergent entrepreneurial paths have on the outcome of the institutional change project. In this paper, we set out to explore how diverse paths in collective institutional entrepreneurship can contribute to institutional change. Informed by literature on collective institutional entrepreneurship and radical flank effects and relying on qualitative processual data on a collective attempt to change the standards in Type-1 diabetes healthcare, we show how multiple and diverse entrepreneurial paths interweave in the pursuit of a common institutional change project. We contribute to literature on collective institutional entrepreneurship by detailing the mechanisms that yield synergetic and dynamic relationships between entrepreneurial actors (creating urgency, creating the network and creating the cohesion) and by detailing how different types of institutional work undertaken by the different groups contribute to institutional change over time. We also contribute to literature on radical flank effects by demonstrating how emotional cohesion functions as a social glue that connects discrepant entrepreneurial paths in a common institutional change project.