Non-market strategy as an outgrowth of organizational identity, image, and institutional fit

Abstract

Organizations’ use of non-market strategies – efforts to use regulators or public policy to achieve competitive advantage – has been primarily treated as a response to the institutional environment. However, an organization’s identity – the way organizational members’ view of themselves - and image – the way organizational members believe others view the organization - are key constraints that inform a firm’s non-market strategic choices. Building on the organizational identity literature, this paper argues that the degree of fit between organizational identity and image and institutional norms of corporate political behavior have important implications for how firms seek competitive advantage through non-market strategies. Specifically, the paper suggests a typology of non-market strategies that firms utilize depending on the fit of organizational image and identity with focal institutional norms of corporate political behavior.