Scaling a tech-mediated community: Prefigurative enrolling atop evolving institutional logics

Digital technologies have fundamentally changed organizations, industries, and even the society. Although institutional theory provides rich array of perspectives to both the content and dynamics of such changes, research at the intersection of institutional scholarship and digitalization has remained scarce. In this essay, I draw on the institutional logics perspective to elaborate digitalization as involving a new set of interconnected managerial beliefs and norms, organizational practices, and diverse material and social structures that together complement and challenge the established logics in organizations and institutional fields. I draw attention to two central organizing principles in the logic of digitalization: the pursuit of digital omniscience – the efforts to represent and conceive the world through digital data – and digital omnipotence – the efforts to bring activities inside and outside organizations under the control of information systems. I conclude the essay by elaborating how the institutional logics perspective can help understand organization-level efforts to leverage digitalization by incumbent corporations and new digital-native companies.

While institutional logics theory has increasingly been applied in higher education research, especially in the past five years, agreement is lacking on how to approach institutional logics analysis. This results in proliferating institutional logics in higher education studies and often confuses newcomers to the field as to how to use institutional logics in their empirical research. As a response to this situation, our study outlines the state-of-the-art application of institutional logics in higher education studies through scrutinising 59 articles that apply institutional logics in organisation studies in the field of higher education. Specifically, we ask the following research questions: What approaches to institutional logics analysis are used in higher education studies? What institutional logics are identified/applied in higher education studies? What challenges are evident in applying institutional logics in higher education studies? How does the use of institutional logics in higher education research contribute to institutional logics theory? The most profound outcomes of our literature analysis are: First, we construct a novel typology of approaches to institutional logics analysis that is positioned on two-dimensions: the reasoning applied (deductive vs. inductive), and the level at which the logic is examined (societal vs. field/local); Second, we create an exhaustive list of institutional logics (over 50) applied and identified in these studies; Third, we discover major challenges in using institutional logics in higher education research. Finally, we clearly define societal-level and field-level logics and suggest a rationalisation of institutional logics approaches in order to fully utilise the explanatory power of institutional logics.

Many countries in the world recently initiated the Open Government Data (OGD) to achieve transparency, accountability, value from the data and to transform public sector into smart and open government. However, the (OGD) initiatives faces challenges that hinders the initiatives to achieve the desired objectives, particularly in developing countries. The information systems adoption literature indicates a lack of studies investigating OGD adoption at an early stage from the national ecosystem perspective. This research investigates the early stage of adoption of the national OGD. The study adopts the institutional perspective to investigate the role of institutional logics and institutional pillars. The research aims to answer the research question: How do the institutional logics affect the emergence and adoption of the Open Government Data initiative in the public sector? This study adopts the interpretive research methodology with data collected from a singleembedded case study that encompasses nine government organisations in Oman. It captures the institutional logics qualitatively, by applying pattern inducting technique, that affects the adoption of OGD in the public sector in a complex institutional environment. The phenomena investigated reveals that the institutional pillars affect the institutional logics in the institutional environment. It shows how the institutional logics and institutional pillars interplay at the macro- and micro-level. It also shows that normative and cultural-cognitive pillar have a prominent effect, whereas the regulative pillar has less-prominent effect. This study captured one dominant and three competing logics that enable/hinder the OGD initiative from achieving the desired objectives: Institutional Acceptance Logic (ACL), Institutional Roles Logic (IRL), Ownership and Control Logic (OCL) and Institutional Capabilities Logic (ICL). The findings show that dominant logic is complemented by three co-existing subordinate institutional logics. This research contributes to the IS literature and to the institutional theory and further explains how the institutional logics and institutional pillars affect the adoption of the OGD initiative. It outlines how institutional logics are shaped and reconciled in the complex environment at the national level. It offers a holistic view from an ecosystems perspective and explains how institutional logics interact in a heterogeneous institutional environment. Given the tensions between the dominant and competing institutional logics, the adoption progresses at a slower pace. These tensions exist between micro and macro levels, and contribute negatively to the adoption of the OGD initiative. The study suggests that in order to reconcile the competing logics, a combined collaborative initiative to be formed between regulatory authorities at the national level. In addition, it offers a conceptual framework for OGD adoption at an early stage, and assists the policymakers and practitioners by presenting a holistic view from the institutional perspectives to attain the desired objectives.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of institutional pressures, institutional logics and institutional complexity on Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices across mixed public and private sector supply chains.Design/methodology/approachMulti-case study data were collected from three tiers of food and catering supply chains: the customer/consumer tier; focal public sector UK Universities; and private sector suppliers/contractors.FindingsThe findings indicate that: normative and mimetic pressures are more prevalent in focal Universities, compared to suppliers; there is typically no single dominant logic across these supply chains; and the multiplicity of institutional logics (e.g. sustainability logic versus financial logic) increases institutional complexity. Therefore, in the typical case of homogeneity in terms of institutional pressures and logics, e.g. with a dominant sustainability logic throughout the supply chain, radical change in SSCM practices is facilitated. In contrast, in the more typical case when there is heterogeneity, with competing logics at different supply chain tiers, this limits SSCM to more incremental changes in practices.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to three tiers of the food and catering supply chains of UK Universities.Practical implicationsTo aid in the successful implementation of SSCM, this study suggests a need for managers to develop an initial understanding of the prevailing institutional logics and pressures at different tiers of the supply chain.Social implicationsA number of the SSCM practices studied address social sustainability.Originality/valueNo previous studies have empirically investigated the impact of institutional complexity in the context of SSCM practices across supply chains, involving both mixed public and private sector organisations.

PurposeThe authors’ focus is on the way in which sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourses and practices emerge in the collaboration of multinational companies (MNCs) with the local hotels in developing country contexts. This paper aims to identify the prevailing institutional orders and logics that bring about CSR and sustainability discourse in tourism industry in Turkey. It also investigates how and to what extent the CSR and sustainability practices align with the local institutional logics and necessities.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical evidence is generated through case studies covering Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (Hilton), its Turkish subsidiary and a local hotel chain to ensure data triangulation. Primary data were collected through interviews with the executives of the selected case hotels, which was supported by extensive secondary data.FindingsSome components of CSR and sustainability logics developed in the headquarters diffuse into local affiliate hotel, not all. Local affiliate hotels seek to acquire local legitimacy in their host environment, despite a standard format imposed by their headquarters. Local necessities and priorities translate themselves into such initiatives in a very limited way in the affiliates of the Hilton where there is mostly a top-down approach. Similar approach has also been observed in the case of the local hotel which is part of a family business group. Family’s values and family business headquarter shape the CSR and sustainability strategy and the logics reflecting the local component.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper addresses a theoretical and empirical gap by demonstrating the role of MNCs in the diffusion of sustainability and CSR practices, as acknowledged by Forcadell and Aracil (2017). The authors contribute to the critical writings about the positive impact of CSR and sustainability in the context of the MNCs and their subsidiaries, which is not substantiated due to limited empirical evidence. In addition to these contributions to the CSR and sustainability literatures in tourism and hospitality domains, the authors add to the institutional theory by demonstrating the link between institutional orders and institutional logics. They also show the multiplicity of logics that emanate from the differences of logics developed in the headquarters (centrally imposed) and local affiliate organizations (context-specific) and contribute to theory by highlighting tensions.Practical implicationsThis study appeals to management teams and executives of hotels dealing with these issues of tailoring of CSR practices to local necessities. The authors do not only raise awareness of this consciousness but also demonstrate practical application of some of these strategies and prioritization by detecting market specificities and distinctive societal needs. Hotel managers should resist against the headquarter- or family business-driven uniform approach to CSR and sustainability and reflect on corporate policies through checking isomorphic tendencies. This entails being cognizant of local conditions and necessities and respond to them in a flexible and accommodating way. It involves engaging with a full spectrum of stakeholders, including the leadership in headquarters as well as local organizations (e.g. NGOs, suppliers, etc.) and other institutional forces (e.g. state) to align their sustainability and CSR practices with the locally dominant logics. Managers should be aware of certain logics governing CSR and sustainability practices; some of these logics might be constraining critical thinking and innovative practices.Social implicationsManagers should be proactive in interpreting different institutional logics and process them through critical reflection and boundary spanning and mapping of new opportunities. Moreover, MNC hotel executives should be aware of the limitations of a blanket approach toward CSR and sustainability and increase their sensitivity toward local conditions.Originality/valueThrough this study, the authors are able to add further value to the critical writings about the positive contribution of CSR and sustainability in the context of the MNCs and their subsidiaries, which is not substantiated due to limited empirical evidence.

This study investigates accountability practices of Indonesian state universities during the reform implementation for being autonomous universites called as PTN Badan Hukum. Although the reform has been implemented based on government regulation, lack of empirical study can be viewed in published articles. For that reason, this study is addresed to filling the lack of accountability research in the reform of state universities in Indonesia. The context of the reform is the adoption of autonomous universities that are more close to the concept of privatisation affected by the internationalization objective of national agenda. Interpretive research approach is adopted to develop inductively a conceptual perspective based on central phenomenon. Moreover, the cases of the study are three Indonesian state universities which implement the form of autonomous state university with pseudo named as UG, UD and UA. Straussian grounded theory approach was adopted in data analysis and collection. The central phenomenon of substantive grounded theory is labelled as multiple accountability responses in various institutional logic during transformation process of state universities that have been transformed from fully governed by Indonesia government become autonomous entities. The main finding of the study explains the presence of various institutional accountibility logics practiced in the context of internationalization process of Indonesia higher education institutions. The various institutional logics arise from personal, professional, managerial and public accountability logics. The various accountability logics display from two different environmental background that are university with less and high internationalization. Less and moderate conflict are resulted from low and high internationalization achievement respectively. The practice of accountability seem displaying more emphasize on public accountability logic in social level, managerial accountability logic in organizational level, personal and professional in individual level. The contribution of this research relates to empirical findings that enrich higher education accountability research in developing countries, employs interpretive methodology and grounded theory, and provides incremental development of institutional logics theory in explaining organizational change in a specific context.

We contribute to research on institutional complexity by acknowledging that institutional logics are not reified cognitive structures, but rather are open to interpretation. In doing so, we highlight the need to understand how actors engage with institutional logics and the creativity that such engagement implies. Using an inductive case study of the Ontario wine industry, we rely on the notion of scripts to explicate how actors engage with the aesthetic and the market logics that are entrenched in their field. Our findings reveal two scripts that are used to adhere to the aesthetic logic (farmer and artist) and one that is used to adhere to the market logic (business professional). We find that not only can actors enact two different scripts to adhere to an institutional logic, but also that flexible script enactment takes place within interactions with specific audiences. Thus, we found no unique match between particular logics and specific audiences, but rather that the aesthetic and the market logics, and their underlying scripts, are relevant in the interactions with each of the audience groups, albeit to varying degrees. These findings have important implications for research on institutional complexity.

Renewable energy (RE) prosumerism comes with promises and expectations of contributing to sustainable and just energy systems. In its current process of becoming mainstream, numerous challenges and doubts have arisen whether it will live up to these. Building on insights from sustainability transitions research and institutional theory, this article unpacks the mainstreaming by considering the range of institutional arrangements and logics through which these contributions might be secured. Taking a Multi-actor Perspective, it analyses the differences, combinations, and tensions between institutional logics, associated actor roles and power relations. Firstly, it unpacks how mainstreaming occurs through mechanisms of bureaucratisation and standardisation (state logic), marketisation and commodification (market logic), as well as socialisation and communalisation (community logic). Secondly, it highlights the concomitant hybridisation of institutional logics and actor roles. Such hybrid institutional arrangements try to reconcile not only the more known trade-offs and tensions between for-profit/non-profit logics (regarding the distribution of benefits for energy activities and resources), but also between formal/informal logics (gaining recognition) and public/private logics (delineating access). This institutional concreteness moves the scholarly discussion and policy debate beyond idealistic discussions of ethical principles and abstract discussions about power: Simplistic framings of ‘prosumerism vs incumbents’ are dropped in favour of a critical discussion of hybrid institutional arrangements and their capacity to safeguard particular transformative ideals and normative commitments.

The hierarchization of competing logics in psychiatric care in Sweden

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationship between institutional logics and specifications quality, and how this relationship is mediated by the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on insights from institutional logics theory, and legitimacy and stewardship behaviour literature. We conducted an extended literature review to gain a comprehensive understanding of “institutional logics” and their manifestations in organizational contexts, utilizing the 2000–2024 data collected from the EBSCO, Scopus and Web of Science databases, complemented with Google Scholar. We gather that institutional logics manifest in several forms, and that while some organizations may thrive on a single logic, in certain contexts institutional logics can manifest in combinations – “multiple logics or hybrids”. Based on this understanding, we developed testable research hypotheses, predicting the influences of institutional logics – professional logic, efficient service logic and delivery (market) logic, on legitimacy, stewardship behaviour and specifications quality. We then carried out an empirical study, adopting a quantitative cross-sectional survey design with a self-administered questionnaire to test the hypothesized relationships. The empirical data were obtained from 162 procuring and disposing entities in Uganda and analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling technique.FindingsThe study findings reveal that institutional logics exert a strong positive effect on the legitimacy of the procurement process and on stewardship behaviour, which, in turn, both positively influence specifications quality.Research limitations/implicationsThe study findings have implications for theory and practice. The study findings provide useful insights that support the conceptual and theoretical development of institutional logics theory and applications in procurement literature. In addition, the study findings enhance procurement managers’ understanding of the mechanisms through which institutional logics can foster specifications quality. However, considering the fact that the study was conducted in a single country context, and focused on the public sector only, the findings of the study might not be generalizable globally.Originality/valueThis study contributes to established knowledge about quality management and procurement by examining the legitimacy of the procurement process and stewardship behaviour of those involved in procurement processes as mechanisms through which procuring entities are able to use institutional logics to enhance specifications quality. In addition, the study highlights areas for future research that may be explored to increase understanding of the value of institutional logics in ensuring specifications quality, and the link between specifications quality and the general performance of procuring entities.

Institutional logics shape how actors interpret and organize their environment. Institutional logics include society’s structural, normative, and symbolic influences that provide organizations and individuals with norms, values, assumptions, and rules that guide decision-making and action. While institutional logics influence individuals and organizations, they do not exist/form in a vacuum, but rather are instantiated in the practices and patterned behaviors of actors who act as carriers of logics in specific contexts. Given the dynamic interaction between institutional logics and individual/organizational actors, research has begun to explore the micro-level processes that influence institutional logic changes to help explain how and why those who are shaped by an institution enact changes in the very context in which they are embedded. Thus, the formation and changing of institutional logics involve precipitating action—which can include entrepreneurial action. Entrepreneurial action—especially in moments of crisis (e.g., when there is a disruptive event, natural disaster, or external feature that disturbs the status quo), can function as a micro-foundation for institutional logic shifts. An entrepreneurship model of dominant logic shifts therefore reveals how crises induce sensemaking activities that can influence shifts in how actor’s see the world, which in turn motivates the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Significant disruptions, such as environmental jolts, have a triggering effect in enabling individuals to problematize previously held beliefs and logics, allowing them to temporarily “step out of” status quo institutional logics. With prior beliefs and logics problematized, individual decision-makers become open to seeing new interpretations of their surroundings as it is and as it could be. Therefore, actors shift their dominant way of seeing the world (e.g., dominant logic) and then enact this new logic through ventures that, ultimately, can shift and alter institutional-level logics. Therefore, an entrepreneurship model of dominant logic shifts serves as an explanation for how broader institutional logics may shift as a result of the interaction between entrepreneurial action and the environment following a major disruption.

Police performance is not easily measurable and the organization and circumstances of police work vary among European countries. Further, police work is surrounded by multiple pressures to make it both economical and effective. Consequently, there are multiple institutional logics in decision-making which may affect the selection and the use of police key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPI selection and use processes reflect the institutional logics, though KPI use may also sometimes influence the institutional logics of police work. In this study, we analyze the KPIs and institutional logics in police work in Finland and Spain. A comparative case research approach is used in order to highlight the differences in institutional logic emphases and in circumstances. Data from semi-structured interviews, internet reports, project work, and discussions are used. Both similarities and differences in the KPIs and in the institutional logic emphasis are found between the Finnish and Spanish police. Understanding the partly general and partly locally constructed nature of institutional logics may facilitate the development of police work performance measurement. We also suggest ways of coping with multiple institutional logics. For example, risk analyses and selecting KPIs against the current institutional logic may facilitate organizational developments.

Institutional logic theory, a pivotal framework within organizational studies, delineates the multifaceted and intricate logics that underpin organizational fields. This theoretical perspective elucidates the manner in which diverse individuals or groups within an organization internalize and manifest distinct institutional logics, alongside the ensuing political and cultural conflicts. Furthermore, the theory endeavors to elucidate the complexities inherent in institutional logic across organizational fields, examining the reflection of these logics among various individuals or groups and their associated political and cultural dichotomies. Central to this discourse is the acknowledgment of the core systems that constitute the fabric of a country, encompassing the state, market, familial structures, corporate entities, professional bodies, and religious institutions. These components not only coexist with inherent conflicts but also exhibit a high degree of interdependence, underlined by their shared institutional logics. This literature attempts to review and analysis institutional logic in the field of entrepreneurship and integrates institutional logic into entrepreneurs’ personal background, experience, and other social characteristics, and study how institutional logic operates. It is recommended that future researchers take entrepreneurs as the research object and conduct more in-depth research on the evolution of organizational response strategies when political and cultural conflicts occur between different groups within the enterprise, combined with institutional logic theory.

PurposeThis study aims to explore the influence of field-level funding pressure and resource dependency on conflicting institutional logics in implementing a new performance measurement system (PMS) within a privatised social enterprise (SE) in a developing country. It answers the research question: how accounting-based key performance indicators (KPIs) were chosen within a privatised SE to maintain co-existence between two different institutional logics, the social and commercial logics, to gain legitimacy in the government funding scheme.Design/methodology/approachThis study expands the application and contribution of the Besharov and Smith’s (2014) logics multiplicity framework to previous management accounting literature on PMS and institutional logics. It adds a new dimension to previous literature to theorise the cognitive dynamics of institutional logics at three distinct but interrelated institutional levels, namely, field, organisational and individual. Data come from an interpretive case study of an Egyptian SE, involved in implementing a social project (drinking water refining) in rural communities.FindingsPMS acts as a political tool through which the privatised case company has gained societal acceptance and legitimacy in the government funding scheme. Its non-political KPIs have turned into political tools to meet the institutional demands of the funding scheme. This government involvement represents field-level institutional logics, which influenced the organisational-level interplay of commercial and social logics and then the individual-level choice of internal KPIs. This contributes to the fact that institutional logics and their interplay between these three levels are “in a state of flux” within SEs’ internal PMS.Originality/valueThis study deals with a real-life practical case that proves the prevalence of one institutional logic over another at both the organisational and individual levels may be occasioned by organisational field pressures and opportunities rather than by other intra-organisational conflicts as discussed in most previous literature on PMS and institutional logics.

As a theoretical framework in organization studies, institutional logics is immensely popular. It has been used in a large amount of highly contributory and enlightening empirical studies, and developed far beyond its original formulation in a classical paper by Friedland and Alford (1991). In our paper, we identify three key theoretical problems that have emerged in the development and use of institutional logics theory in the past three decades: the lack of uniformity and coherence in the definitions and empirical identifications of logics; the tendency of institutional logics theorists to attempt to build grand theory to connect micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis; and the difficulties to explain how institutional logics are reproduced and how institutional logics interrelate and evolve over time. To address these issues, we highlight the similarities between institutional logics theory and classical functionalist differentiation theory, drawing its legacy from Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton, and propose its use as a resource in further theoretical development. The aim of the paper is not to reject institutional logics theory, or merely to point out its weaknesses, but to demonstrate how a revival of some classics in sociological theory can be used to sharpen institutional logics as an analytical tool and thus assist in efforts to further improve the usefulness of institutional logics as a theoretical framework in organization studies.