Abstract
This article shows the process of creation and evolution of an organizational field. By an in-depth longitudinal analysis, we investigate the field of Temporary Work Agencies in Italy (TWAs). The article focuses on how a field evolves over time. We delineate three phases of evolution - incubation, emergence and development - and we analyse events and the role of actors that have characterized them. Further, we identify the institutional logics that have strongly influenced the strategic and organizational behaviour of the actors involved in the Italian field of TWAs and their interactions. Therefore, to respond to this institutional complexity the actors have tried to influence with both individual and collective actions the logics themselves. The analysis shows that two competing logics have coexisted within the TWA field: the regulation logic, inspired by the social status and welfare, and the de-regulation logic, connected to the liberal and free-market model. Through the longitudinal analysis repeated in four different field studies, we have reconstructed the process of evolution of the field, describing the links between the different phases. Our research contributes to the institutional logic perspective fitting into the discussion on the coexistence of competing logics in an organizational field.
Highlights
The evolution of organizational fields can be analysed through the new institutional approach
Through an in-depth longitudinal analysis, we investigate how a field evolves over time, describing the emergence and the evolution of the Italian temporary work agencies field (TWAs)
Our study shows and describes the evolution of the TWAs field characterized by the coexistence of two competing logics that have affected the Italian labour market over the past twenty-five years
Summary
The evolution of organizational fields can be analysed through the new institutional approach. Through an in-depth longitudinal analysis (from 1986 to 2009), we investigate how a field evolves over time, describing the emergence and the evolution of the Italian temporary work agencies field (TWAs). Through the analysis of events, logics and actors’ roles which animate the field we can identify three phases of evolution: incubation, emergence and development phase. The aim is twofold: to identify the institutional logics that have influenced the TWAs field in the different stages of development, which are significant for the understanding of the peculiar field and the Italian labour market; to analyse the role of individual and collective actors through the study of the events that shape both the actions and the institutional logics. We highlight how the process of emergence and evolution results in the actions of collective and individual actors, reflecting the competition between dominant and emerging logic
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