The Relevance of Institutional Theory for the Study of Organizational Culture

Abstract

In this paper I attend to the ways current developments within institutional theory—namely the discursive and practice based schools—may contribute to the study of organizational culture. I suggest that the two theories have enough in common to allow fruitful dialogue, and focus on three areas in which we can apply some of the conceptual tools and questions developed in institutional theory to the study of organizational culture. In particular, institutional theory may help students of organizational culture to explore how cultures within organizations are worked out in relation to cultures outside organizations, how organizational cultures are being transformed and translated through time, and what are the roles of actors in the work of organizational cultures.