Institutional Topography: A Review of Subnational Institutions

Abstract

Research on subnational institutions is largely motivated by the observation that formal and informal institutions within countries are unevenly configured over geographical space. Although diverse, this relatively nascent body of work has yet to explicate firm activity across subnational locales that exhibit institutional dissimilarity and isomorphism with both proximate and distant centers of political-economic power. To characterize firm activity over such spatially continuous institutional landscapes within countries, we synthesize insights from the subnational institutions literature by introducing a topography framework with its characteristic dimensions comprised of (1) polycentricity, (2) elevation, and (3) slope. We discuss theoretical contributions from using this framework to review 92 articles in the period 1999 to 2024 from 24 journals before concluding with directions for future research. This work integrates knowledge on subnational institutions across management sub-fields, including, but not limited to, international business, strategic management, and entrepreneurship.