“How on earth did this happen?” The relationship of practical consciousness and institutional evolution

Abstract

Institutional theory assumes that actors’ reflexivity—their discursive consciousness—is the precondition that enables institutional change. We argue that such focus on discursive consciousness disregards one elementary source of institutional change: practical consciousness—the domain of nonreflective cognitive processes. Our article offers a major contribution to the literature: By elaborating the important difference between discursive consciousness and practical consciousness, we contribute to the theorization of the cognitive apparatus of actors in institutional theory. We apply this theorization to highlight institutional evolution as a previously unnoticed mode of institutional change that explains why, and how, institutions change in a nonreflective way. We also provide implications for the ways in which our work might stimulate future empirical research.