Schools’ Agency Matters: How Agentic Differentiation Occurs Under Institutional Isomorphism?

The effect of institutional isomorphism on cashew nut farming business sustainability in Tanzania through market stakeholders’ action was analysed in this study. The study explicitly sought to examine the effect of institutional isomorphism on business sustainability, market stakeholders’ actions on business sustainability, and the mediating effect of market stakeholders’ actions on the association between institutional isomorphism and business sustainability. An explanatory design, backed by simple random sampling, was utilized in choosing 360 respondents. Information for the study was gathered using a structured questionnaire and analysed by structural equation modelling. Outcomes show that institutional isomorphism had a positive and significant effect on business sustainability. Market stakeholders’ action was also found to have a positive and significant effect on business sustainability. Further results exposed the partial mediation effect of market stakeholders’ action on the relationship between institutional isomorphism and business sustainability. The study concluded that the prediction of business sustainability can be precisely articulated by institutional isomorphism and market stakeholders’ actions. Market stakeholders’ action was also proved to mediate the relationship between institutional isomorphism and business sustainability partially. Thus, the study recommends that, for the cashew nut farming business in Tanzania to be sustainable, farmers should comply with isomorphic pressures issued by governing institutions. It is also recommended that market stakeholders’ actions should be given consideration by governing institutions as they have effects on achieving sustainability.

During its first five years of operation, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is becoming more and more similar to traditional Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in terms of operational goals, business area, and environmental and social standards. Why has the AIIB, the newest type of multilateral development bank (MDB) initiated by an emerging economy, undergone institutional isomorphism? Based on the socialization theory, this paper argues that the institutional environment in which the AIIB is operating has a strong influence on AIIB’s institution-building, mainly through the coercive, mimetic, and normative institutional isomorphic processes. On coercion, the pressures from European donors, international credit rating agencies, and global civil society have resulted in the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. On mimicking, the social uncertainty of the relationship between the AIIB and the Belt and Road Initiative and the technical uncertainty of infrastructure projects have triggered the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. On normativeness, the similar educational backgrounds and working experience of the AIIB’s staff and active interactions among the MDB family members have caused the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. The paper concludes that the international institutional environment might hamper emerging economies’ capabilities of institutional innovation.

Aims of the Study: The article aimed to understand the process of institutional isomorphism in federal government educational institutions (FGEIs). It described how decision-making rationalities were maintained among teachers, under institutional isomorphism in primary and secondary schools. The main objectives of the study comprised; 1) to analyze the perceptions and presence of institutional isomorphism at FGEIs, 2) to analyze the decision making by teachers under institutional isomorphism. Methodology: Mixed method approach was adopted to find the answer of the research study. Interviews from FGEIs local and regional officials were conducted for qualitative data. Questionnaires were administered collected data from different schoolteachers of FGEIs. The population of the study was Regional and Local Headquarters’ officers of FGEIs, all Heads and 106 randomly selected teachers of FGEIs. Findings: Coercion in relation to institutional isomorphism was maintained in FGEIs through formal laws and SOPs monitor and execute leading to coercive institutional isomorphism. Through a standard such as a value, norm, rule, goal, best practice, or principle. Whereas principles of FGEIs were of the view, this phenomenon has implication for employees. Conclusion: The study concluded that a significant presence of strong isomorphism within FGEIs, resulting in limited autonomy for school heads when it comes to making decisions related to the school.

Recent work on policing has increasingly acknowledged the influence of a broad array of changes upon both the structure and culture of police organizations. Generally, however, literature and research have tended to focus attention onto those elements of the broader police environment that effect such developments, whereas little commentary, to date, has been directed towards those features which impact across the broader public sector. Through drawing on the concepts of ‘hybrid professionalism’ [Noordegraaf M (2015) Hybrid professionalism and beyond: (new) forms of public professionalism in changing organizational and societal contexts. Journal of Professions and Organization 2: 187–206] and ‘institutional isomorphism’ [DiMaggio PJ and Powell WW (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review 48: 147–160], this conceptual paper will argue that the impact of neoliberal ideology on the contemporary public sector has created a police organization for which professionalism increasingly denotes generic management skills that are common across different occupations and different police roles. In particular, it will be suggested that such institutional isomorphism may drive ideational responses commensurate with cultural change within police organizations. In short, therefore, the paper will make the case that, in parallel with changes already identified by other academics, broader structural changes may lead to a narrower and more generic set of cultural responses within contemporary police organizations.

Drawing on interviews with Canadian and Australian officials, this article examines the frame of student mobility within the broad discourse of internationalisation. Difficulties in definition and admitted shortfalls in achieving progress even on the more easily articulated benchmarks of student mobility, do not seem to staunch the enthusiasm of a variety of officials for the idea of internationalisation. This article will examine some of the contradictions framing these institutional discourses of internationalisation. These include the gaps between institutional claims and their substantiation, between lauding the internationalism inculcated by student mobility programmes and the more mixed motivations or engagements of student clients, and between claims for the entrepreneurial potential of internationalisation as against the uncertainty of its outcomes. I argue that a long-standing Western view of travel as a vehicle for self-cultivation and transformation combined with competitive efforts to keep up with perceived trends in the fields of post-secondary education are producing a momentum that is elusive even as it threatens to bulldoze its way across important institutional practices and procedures.

Manuscript type: Research paper. Research aims: This study aims to investigate the Performance Mea- surement System implementation in Indonesian local governments and the phenomenon of institutional isomorphism. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: This paper employed a qualitative approach,  using  semi-structured  interviews  and  observations.  The samples comprise the heads of departments and individuals representing the agencies and institutions in the Yogyakarta Special Region. A deductive thematic method was utilised as the data analysis technique. Research findings: The study reveals that institutional isomorphism is still in existence. It plays a dominant role in the Performance Measurement System (PMS) implementation of Indonesian local governments at the coercive level. This situation leads to the underachievement of the successful PMS implementation. Theoretical contributions/ Originality: This paper fulfills an iden- tified need for studying how institutional isomorphism influences PMS implementation. This area of study is underresearched in the public sector of accounting, particularly in Indonesia.  Practitioner/ Policy implications: The results of this study show that there is a need for the government or authorities to focus more on understanding how institutional isomorphism at the coercive level may lead to poor PMS implementation. The authorities also need to improve the condition by emphasising on normative isomorphism which can address the problems caused by limited information system, budgetary, human resources and difficulties in determining performance measures. Research limitation: This study is limited to the Yogyakarta Special Region province thus findings cannot be generalised while the approach used is confined to the qualitative method only. This may also affect the outcome of the findings to some extent. Keywords: Local Government, Institutional Isomorphism, Perfor- mance Measurement System, Public Sector Accounting. JEL Classification: G11, G02, C91

PurposeThere is a major lacuna in sustainable human resource management (HRM) research regarding the theoretical context of its adoption or implementation. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the relative influence and interactive effects of different levels of institutional isomorphisms on sustainable HRM adoption.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies the conceptual method and anchors the discussions on the institutional theory and the extant literature on the antecedents of sustainable HRM implementation.FindingsInternal and external institutional isomorphisms will have complementary (synergies) or substitution (trade-offs) effects on sustainable HRM adoption. Furthermore, external institutional isomorphic pressures related to societal values and culture and stakeholders’ sustainability demands are likely to have greater influence on sustainable HRM implementation relative to the internal institutional isomorphic pressures related to managerial sustainability values and attitudes; sustainability-related HRM competencies; resource availability; and perceived sustainability benefits.Originality/valueThis study proposes a novel multi-level conceptual model on the implementation context of sustainable HRM for testing empirically. Furthermore, this study generates insight on how different levels of institutional isomorphic pressures relatively and interactively (synergies versus trade-offs) affect sustainable HRM adoption. This is significant because there is a view that HRM as a discipline is theoretically weak. Although the field has advanced theoretically, one of the areas that need more theorisation is the context of HRM. Hence, this study advances the theoretical context of sustainable HRM implementation through the perspectives of the institutional theory.

The study presented in this article investigated two competing perspectives - accumulative advantage and institutional isomorphism - on the relationship between publication productivity and institutional hierarchy. Accumulative advantage suggests that increased institutional differentiation should occur over time as highly ranked institutions extend their advantage, whereas institutional isomorphism suggests that social processes will cause institutions to become increasingly similar. Institutional data, derived from three national surveys of American college faculty, conducted between 1972 and 1992, were used. The results provide support for both perspectives, which is perhaps best explained by the open yet competitive nature of the American higher education system

Unethical behavior that favors the organization at the expense of unethical conduct is considered an example of unconventional motivation. Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) reduces the project quality and safety in the construction industry and may also lead to increased construction costs and investment losses. By conducting a crosslayer analysis and administering a questionnaire survey with 352 construction team employees, this study examines the influence of institutional isomorphism on UPB and the path between them. Moreover, the study explores the mediating effect of organizational routines. Results indicate that institutional isomorphism has different effects on implicit and explicit routines. Organizational routines play a crucial role in institutional isomorphism and UPB. Several mediating paths exist between institutional isomorphism and UPB. Furthermore, UPB is mainly implemented by strengthening the mediating effect of implicit routines and weakening that of explicit routines.

The concept of institutional isomorphism has made an enduring contribution to sociological theories of organizations, elucidating distinctive ways in which institutional forces such as commonly shared norms and ideas shape organizations. Its core idea is that organizations' concerns for legitimacy constitute a major source of convergence and conformity in organizational forms and practices. Three major drivers of such convergence are identified: external pressure exerted by powerful organizations on dependent organizations to adopt specific forms and practices; conditions of uncertainty compelling organizations to emulate fellow organizations that are perceived to be more legitimate; and increasing professionalization within a sector or field. Institutional isomorphism has been applied to the study of a wide variety of organizations including government agencies, corporations, schools and universities, and nonprofit organizations. Institutional isomorphism's emphasis on convergence and conformity is seen to be limiting when it comes to accounting for more proactive and strategic kinds of organizational response to environmental conditions.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between integrity policies and integrity of local governments from the perspective of institutional isomorphism. Local governments are making efforts to improve the integrity through integrity policies. However, since the integrity policies of local governments are implemented according to the comprehensive integrity evaluation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, it is judged that institutional isomorphism is occurring without reflecting the characteristics or organizational capabilities of the institutions. Institutional isomorphism means that policy activities of all organizations become similar while organizations accept them according to the framework required by the institutional environment. This institutional isomorphism makes it difficult for local governments to improve integrity and create a culture of integrity. Looking at the relationship between integrity policies and integrity of local governments, policies to improve corruption-vulnerable areas reflecting the characteristics of institutions appeared to be correlated, and other policies were found to be insignificant with integrity. It is judged that it will be difficult to expect improvement in the essential integrity of local governments unless they develop and implement integrity policies that can create an integrity climate by reflecting the characteristics of local government.

This research investigates whether personal social capital influences institutional isomorphism. Two premises were considered: i) neo-institutional theory and institutional isomorphism provide tools for explaining the homogenization of practices and structures between organizations and ii) personal social capital in organizations contributes to institutional isomorphism. The study was developed in two aspects — one theoretical and the other empirical — which made it possible to corroborate the proposed hypothesis. Quantitative research methods were used in the empirical aspect, with a sample of 176 coordinators of stricto sensu postgraduate courses. Higher education institutions (HEIs) were evaluated in two facets: i) organizations subject to isomorphic phenomena, such as firms from other sectors, and ii) responsibility for the perpetuation of these processes, from the training of teachers (who will become masters of future managers) and the knowledge they generate. At the end of the research, it was confirmed that personal social capital has a positive effect on institutional isomorphism through the internal relations of the coordinators. The manifestations of coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphisms in the HEIs were also identified.

To date, the advantages of electronic procurement have been identified and studied in depth based on the experience of public and private organizations. This study aims to explore the rationale for the adoption of digitalization of procurement reform in the public sector and identify institutional isomorphism, which should allow assessing the perception of digitalization of procurement by public sector entities and suggesting that there are certain consequences and barriers to their adaptation to technological innovations that result from institutional isomorphism Electronic procurement, the use of information technology to automate procurement procedures, is a strategic tool for improving the management of an organization’s supply chains and its efficiency, and increasing competitiveness. One of the factors, the study of which in domestic science has not yet received due attention, but which determines the actions and results of a budgetary institution regarding the introduction of innovative procurement technologies, is institutional isomorphism. It is thanks to him that organizations legitimately fit into the formal and informal rules and norms that make up the institutional structure of the public procurement market. Therefore, procurement tenderers need to constantly overcome isomorphism. Moreover, this is important not only for accelerating the digital transformation of the contract system, but also its perception by public sector entities. Based on this, the purpose of this part of the study is to, using institutional theory as a methodological basis, identify the role of institutional isomorphism in the perception of e-procurement systems by public sector actors.

Although public sector organizations have long been seen as driving the institutionalization of business firms and nonprofit organizations, government agencies themselves have only occasionally been studied as subjects of institutional pressures. This research examines whether public sector organizations, when compared to organizations in the business and nonprofit sectors, are more or less as susceptible to mimetic, normative, and coercive pressures. Using data from the National Organizations Study (Kalleberg, et al., 1996), we discover that governmental organizations are in fact more vulnerable to all three types of institutional forces than other organizations, while the effect of institutional variables on for-profits and nonprofits is more sporadic. The susceptibility of public sector organizations to institutional pressures raises important questions for the field of public administration and has consequences for nonprofits and business firms, which are funded and regulated by government. Institutional Isomorphism and Public Sector Organizations Though it has not penetrated deeply into the public administration literature to date, the new institutionalism in organizational analysis has made significant contributions to our understanding of the dynamics of organizations. It has moved research away from overly rationalistic explanations of organizational behavior toward explanations that recognize that organizations are embedded in larger cultural and political contexts. It has shifted the focus of research from explaining why organizations are so heterogeneous to why organizations are so similar. Over the past decade, as its reach has extended across different topics, institutional theory has focused often on nonprofit organizations, such as art museums (DiMaggio 1991), colleges and universities (Kraatz 1998; Brint and Karabel 1991), humanitarian groups (Christiansen and Molin 1995), associations (Halliday 1993), and drug abuse units (D'Aunno, Sutton, and Price 1991). A number of studies has demonstrated the relevance of the institutional approach to for-profit organizations, including large corporations (Haunschild and Miner 1997; Davis and Greve 1997; Galaskiewicz and Wasserman 1989; Holm 1995), railroads (Dobbin 1995), law firms (Tolbert 1988), and high-tech companies (Suchman 1995; Powell 1998). Some research has also looked at public sector organizations (Tolbert and Zucker 1983; Meyer, Scott, and Strang 1987; Meyer et al. 1988.).

While the features of successful policy transfer are well known, there is some evidence that increase in policy transfer is associated with convergence of not just policies but institutional and organisational forms. Institutional isomorphism is often a result of copying organisational form as a way of securing legitimacy rather than seeking successful policy outcomes. It is also influenced by the convergence of the neoliberal paradigm over recent decades which decreases the likelihood of selecting or implementing disruptive policies. This paper interrogates policy transfer as both a normative process of sharing ‘best practice’ and a mimetic process of copying organisational form in order to secure legitimacy. There is a danger that, rather than focusing on good implementation of existing policies, new policies are continually sought, which is often encouraged by isomorphic institutional forms driven by political motivations to reduce public responsibilities for unsuccessful or unpopular policies. The aim of this paper is to develop the conceptual tools for analysis of how and when policy transfer becomes policy churn and the role of institutionally isomorphic tendencies in this transition.