Institutional theory and change: the deinstitutionalisation of sports science at Club X

Purpose This paper aims to demonstrating that the former new institutional theory of isomorphism and decoupling cannot be extended, modified or refuted as it is a closed theory. By analyzing the structure of this former version of institutional theory and its numerous modern competitors (institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work and institutional logics theories) it is argued that these alternative theories demonstrate even less explanatory and predictive power and do not refute or extend their predecessor. The rise of new organizational theories can have no other effect on classic institutional theory than to limit the domain of its applicability. In turn, there are a number of principles and conditions that future theories should meet to be accepted as progressive advancements. Design/methodology/approach The paper provides a review of relevant organizational and philosophical literature on theory construction and scientific progress in organizational research and offers a set of principles and demands for those new theories that seek to challenge new institutionalism. Findings The authors show that the former institutional theory satisfies two main criteria that any scientific theory should conform with following it is useful and falsifiable in term of giving explanations and predictions while, at the same time, clearly specifying what can be observed and what cannot; what can happen and what is not likely to occur. Modern institutional theories cannot demonstrate this quality and they do not satisfy these criteria. Moreover, institutional isomorphism theory is a closed theory, which means it cannot be intervened with changes and modifications and all future theories should develop their theoretical propositions for other domains of applications while they should account for all empirical phenomena that institutional theory successfully explains. Originality/value Adopting instrumental view on organizational theories allowed reconstructing the logic and trajectory of organizational research evolution and defends its rationality and progressive nature. It is also outlined how existing dominant theory should be treated and how new theories should challenge its limitations and blind spots and which philosophical and methodological criteria should be met.

We explore purposive institutional change and the role of institutional entrepreneurs in initiating and driving relational learning processes. Supplementing new institutionalist theory with an institutional learning lens and using a longitudinal set of rich qualitative interview and observation data, we investigate how institutional entrepreneurs engage in transformational work to effectuate change in dominant institutional logics, thus transforming the institutional field. We propose that institutional entrepreneurs, by skilfully utilizing discursive and material practices to catalyze reciprocal learning processes, can introduce a new institutional logic and ensure its adoption and internalization by pivotal actors and stakeholders. We illustrate these dynamics using a municipality situated in Northern Finland as an example. The municipality has successfully managed to transform its food services as part of efforts to develop more sustainable regional economies and communities. It offers a rare case of successful purposive institutional change and an interesting best practice example both nationally and internationally.

This paper highlights the capacity for Institutional Theory [IT] to render in-depth understanding of change processes associated with the adoption and implementation of international accounting standards by countries and organisations. Although the fact of requiring the adoption of IFRS could be characterised as a form of coercive power, recent developments in IT help to explore the extent to which adoption and diffusion of IFRS is shaped by agency, the interests of actors involved in the adoption process, and the role of institutional entrepreneurs and institutional work. We provide a structured review of literature that uses an IT framework in the context of adopting and implementing IFRS. The review brings together various streams of IT and current debates in the management and organisation literature. This allows us to outline an agenda for future research that proposes six new research questions for investigation. These research questions are intended to encourage greater regard for the capacity of the theoretical toolkit of institutional logics to explore institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work, and the institutional dynamics of change processes associated with the adoption, maintenance and disruption of accounting systems.

Purpose This paper aims to examine Frederick W. Taylor’s role in institutionalising scientific management through the lens of institutional entrepreneurship. By analysing Taylor’s efforts in disrupting existing management norms and introducing new practices, this study provides insights into how his actions catalysed institutional change and the broader implications for management practices. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a socio-historical narrative analysis integrating historical research and the Institutional Entrepreneurship framework to explore Taylor’s role as an institutional entrepreneur, focusing on how he challenged and transformed the dominant management practices of his time. Findings This study reveals that Taylor successfully acted as an institutional entrepreneur by leveraging his social status and navigating field-level conditions like technological disruptions and labour demands. He strategically gathered allies, mobilised resources and overcame opposition from other stakeholders to legitimise scientific management. His actions also transformed work environments, including increasing the female workforce and mechanising clerical operations. Research limitations/implications This paper opens avenues for further research into the role of institutional entrepreneurs in management history and the broader implications of their actions. It calls for more studies on the intersection of agency and institutional structures in shaping organisational practices. Practical implications Understanding Taylor’s role as an institutional entrepreneur provides modern managers with insights into how innovative management practices can be successfully implemented in the face of resistance. Originality/value This research provides a unique perspective on scientific management by integrating historical research with the Institutional Entrepreneurship framework, which has been largely underused in studies of Taylor’s work. It offers a fresh analysis of Taylor’s influence on management practices and highlights his role in institutionalising divergent change.

This text consults seven variants of institutional theory to explore how these can be applied to strategic management. These variants are New Institutional Economics, Old Institutionalism, New Institutionalism, institutional entrepreneurship and change, intra organizational institutionalization, institutional logics, and institutional work. In doing so, three strategic management styles are distinguished: competitiveness based strategic management, legitimacy based strategic management, and performativity based strategic management. While the competitive based style sees institutional theory submitting to mainstream strategy research, offering additional variables and considerations to explain competitive advantage, the legitimacy based style makes institutional theory a strategy theory in its own right by providing an explanation for an organization's viability that emphasizes legitimacy over competitive advantage. The performativity based style is an even more radical departure from mainstream strategizing by purporting that a future is actively created with organizations making contributions as emerging issues are being dealt with.

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.

Traditionally, institutional theory has portrayed institutions as having a deterministic influence on lower-level institutional actors, such as organizations. It is argued that organizations become relatively alike when they are faced with the same institutional demands—a process termed “isomorphism”. This traditional position has been subject to major criticism because it did not explain observed organizational agency. These critiques resulted in an “agentic turn” in institutional theory. Scholars did sterling work in bringing agency into institutional theory by introducing the perspectives of: “institutional work”, “institutional entrepreneurship”, “hybrids”, and “decoupling”. However, in turn, these studies received criticism for portraying organization as overly “heroic” and overlooking the structural embeddedness of organizations. Therefore, more recently, the microfoundational perspective has been introduced to institutional theory. The line of argument is that this perspective offers a more nuanced view of agency versus structural determinism in institutional theory. In short, the microfoundation perspective explores the mechanisms through which higher-level institutions affect lower-level institutional actors, such as organizations, and vice versa. Although the microfoundational perspective shows promise, research is still in its infancy and highly fragmented. We, therefore, sought to contribute by firmly embedding the microfoundational perspective into institutional theory and advancing a definitive explanation of institutional phenomena. Based on a review of the literature (presented in Chapter 1), we developed a number of research avenues that seemed promising in pursuing our objective. We followed these research directions in four studies presented in Chapters 2 to 5. Our overall research question driving this dissertation was: “How can the microfoundational perspective in institutional theory advance an explanation of institutional phenomena?”

This paper highlights the capacity for Institutional Theory [IT] to render in-depth understanding of change processes associated with the adoption and implementation of international accounting standards by countries and organizations. Although the fact of requiring the adoption of IFRS could be characterized as a form of coercive power, recent developments in IT help to explore the extent to which adoption and diffusion of IFRS is shaped by agency, the interests of actors involved in the adoption process, and the role of institutional entrepreneurs and institutional work. We provide a structured review of literature that uses an IT framework in the context of adopting and implementing IFRS. The review brings together various streams of IT and current debates in the management and organization literature. This allows us to outline an agenda for future research that proposes six new research questions for investigation. These research questions are intended to encourage greater regard for the capacity of the theoretical toolkit of institutional logics to explore institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work, and the institutional dynamics of change processes associated with the adoption, maintenance and disruption of accounting systems.

PurposeThis paper aims to deal with the concepts of “institutions” and “institutional logics” in the context of business-to-business (B2B) marketing systems and uses institutional theory as a framework to look at value co-creation.Design/methodology/approachBy integrating the literature on value co-creation, institutional theory and institutional entrepreneurship, the paper argues that the boundaries of B2B marketing systems are continuously reshaped through legitimation processes occurring through actors’ institutional work, thus making co-created value the only legitimate value.FindingsThe paper proposes a conceptual framework and furthers the conceptual development of value co-creation and augments the literature on service-dominant logic and the notion of co-created value by assuming a legitimacy-based B2B market systems perspective.Practical implicationsThis paper presents a number of propositions that serve to illustrate several managerial implications. These arise from organizations co-creating value by conforming to the various institutional logics that maximize their legitimacy.Originality/valueThe paper makes a contribution by developing a critical theoretical framework based on the application of institutional theoretical constructs/concepts (e.g. ceremonial conformity, decoupling, considerations of face, confidence and good faith).

Purpose– Institutional theorists treat law and regulations as external factors that is part of the organization’s environment. While institutional theory has been criticized for its inability to recognize the role of agents and to theorize agency, the growing literature on institutional work and institutional entrepreneurship, partially informed by and co-produced with practice theory, advances a more dynamic view of processes of institutionalization. In order to cope with legal and regulatory frameworks, constituting the legal environment of the organization, there are evidence of organizational responses in the form of bargaining, political negotiations, and decoupling of organizational units and processes. The purpose of this paper is to report how legal and regulatory frameworks both shape clinical practices while at the same time they are also informed by the activities and interests of professional communities and commercial clinics.Design/methodology/approach– This paper reports an empirical study of the Swedish-assisted conception industry and is based on a case study methodology including the use of interviews and formal documents and reports issues by governmental agencies.Findings– The empirical material demonstrates how scientists in reproductive medicine and clinicians regard the legal and regulatory framework as what ensures and reinforces the quality of the therapies. At the same time, they actively engage to modify the legal and regulatory framework in the case when they believe it would benefit the patients. The data reported presents one successful case of how PGD/PGS can be used to develop the efficacy of the therapy, and one unsuccessful case of regulatory change in the case of patient interest groups advocating a legalization of commercial gestational surrogacy. In the former case, scientific know-how and medicinal benefits served to “push” the new clinical practice, while in the latter case, the “demand-pull” of patient interest groups fails to get recognition in regulatory and policy-making quarters.Originality/value– The study contributes to the literature on agency in institutional theory (e.g. the emerging literature on institutional work) by emphasizing how legal and regulatory frameworks are in a constant process of being modified and negotiated in the face of novel technoscientific practices and social demands. More specifically, this process include many scientific, technological, economic, political and social relations and resources, making the legal environment of organizations what is the outcome from joint negotiations and agreements across organizational and professional boundaries.

The role of institutional entrepreneurs in reforming healthcare

PurposeThis study examines the institutional work that led to mandatory sustainability reporting in Indonesia, focusing on ALPHA’s role in introducing GRI-based standards and influencing regulatory evolution under POJK 51/2017.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach involving 35 semi-structured interviews with corporations, regulators, NGOs, industry associations, consultants and academics was employed. Thematic analysis uncovered key patterns in the institutionalisation process.FindingsALPHA’s institutional entrepreneurship, boundary work and normative framing spurred early sustainability reporting adoption. Cultural alignment framed reporting as a societal norm, facilitating regulatory acceptance and embedding transparency as a cornerstone of corporate governance under POJK 51/2017.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are specific to Indonesia. Future research could explore comparative contexts or investigate how voluntary initiatives evolve into regulatory frameworks in other emerging markets.Practical implicationsPolicymakers can enhance regulatory frameworks by aligning them with cultural values, while corporations may view sustainability practices as strategic assets for legitimacy and reputation.Social implicationsAligning sustainability reporting with cultural values fosters corporate transparency and builds public trust.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the institutional work framework by demonstrating how cultural alignment and agency facilitate the institutionalisation of sustainability reporting in an emerging market.

The question of how new organizational forms are created remains an unsolved problem in new institutional theory. We argue that one important way that new organizational forms emerge is through a process of bridging institutional entrepreneurship, which involves an institutional entrepreneur combining aspects of established institutional logics to create a new type of organization underpinned by a new, hybrid logic. Building on an in-depth case study of a social enterprise in the United Kingdom, we present a model of the institutional work required for this type of institutional entrepreneurship. The model highlights the multilevel nature of bridging institutional entrepreneurship, showing that it entails institutional work at the micro-, meso-, and macrolevels. The study contributes to the literature by examining an important way that institutional entrepreneurs create new organizational forms; shedding light on the relationship between individual, organizational, and societal level institutional processes; and exploring the relationship between entrepreneurship and institutional entrepreneurship.

This paper explores the professionalization project of paramedics, based on an ethnographic study of UK National Health Service (NHS) ambulance personnel. Drawing on concepts derived from institutional theory and the sociology of professions, we argue that the project is enacted at two levels, namely a formal, structural and senior level reflecting changing legitimation demands made on NHS practitioners and pursued through institutional entrepreneurship, and an informal, agentic, ‘street level’ enacted by the practitioners themselves via ‘institutional work’. Focusing on this latter, front‐line level, our ethnographic data demonstrate that the overall impact of the senior level professionalization project on the working lives of paramedics has been somewhat muted, mostly because it has had limited power over the organizations that employ paramedics. Given the slow progress of the senior level professionalization project, paramedics at street level continue to enact subtle forms of institutional work which serve to maintain ‘blue‐collar professionalism’ – a form originally identified in Donald Metz's ethnography of ambulance work. Our analysis draws attention to the complex and contested nature of professionalization projects, in that their enactment at senior and street levels can be somewhat misaligned and possibly contradictory.

Based on Institutional Theory, in this theoretical essay we aimed to create a model that could explain the development of the entrepreneurial turn of universities. As a result, we suggest the following theoretical proposition: universities' entrepreneurial turn is contingent on institutional work and may be understood as a result of a confluence of inward and outward forces that are shaped through a historical and recursive interplay between regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pressures, conjointly derived from each actor of the Triple Helix, that is, the state, the industry - or society in a broader sense - and academia. Our main theoretical contributions consist of : (a) placing the universities' entrepreneurial turn at the epicenter of all the competing institutional pressures and logic when it comes to innovation creation; (b) characterizing the universities' entrepreneurial turn as a result of the recursive interplay between regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pressures, conjointly derived from each actor of the Triple Helix; and (c) stressing the fundamental role of the institutional work performed by institutional entrepreneurs in the process of developing the universities' entrepreneurial turn.