Formal Institutional Structures Research Articles

Neoliberalism by stealth? Labour reforms and institutional discontinuity in worker representation in France

This article analyses the 2017 reforms to worker representation in France, focusing on the transition and implementation phases. The authors conducted 160 interviews with managers, union and employee representatives in seven large French companies across retail, finance, energy and pharmaceuticals. The article introduces the notion of institutional discontinuity to describe the path taken through the 2017 reforms, where a change to the formal institutional structures is expected to bring about a change in the functioning of representative institutions. The findings contribute to debates on the trajectories of employment relations in France. The authors argue that institutional discontinuity has opened a wider path towards more discretion-enhancing representative institutions, reflecting a clearer neoliberal path in employment relations. Yet, recognising that changing institutional form does not necessarily, nor automatically result in institutions functioning differently, the authors also analyse how actors play a role in shaping the process, whether they try to facilitate the change or to limit its effects.

Cultivating Resilience and Success: Support Systems for Novice Teachers in Diverse Contexts

This qualitative study explores the support systems that foster resilience and success among novice teachers in diverse sociocultural contexts within Israeli teacher training colleges. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of 51 novice teachers from various educational backgrounds. The findings reveal a complex network of support encompassing formal institutional structures, such as mentorship programs and induction workshops, as well as informal networks of familial support and cultural connections. Utilizing a holistic framework that integrates social support theory, social connection theory, and self-determination theory, the study highlights the interplay between external support and novice teachers’ intrinsic motivations, which drive their pursuit of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The key findings underscore the crucial role of comprehensive induction and mentoring programs that address novice teachers’ emotional, psychological, and professional needs. These programs should provide emotional support, opportunities for collaboration and peer learning, and personalized guidance from experienced mentors. The study also emphasizes the significance of supportive school cultures, meaningful mentoring relationships, and the strength of informal support networks in promoting novice teachers’ well-being and effectiveness. The implications of this research are far-reaching, offering valuable insights for the global educational community on developing supportive ecosystems that enhance novice teachers’ resilience, job satisfaction, and retention rates. By articulating the essential role of both formal and informal support systems, this study contributes significantly to the discourse on teacher education and addresses a crucial gap in the literature on support mechanisms across diverse educational settings.

Formal and informal dimensions of housing allocation: housing actors and gatekeepers of low-income migrants’ access to housing in the Bronx, New York City

It is recognised that migrants’ access to housing in destination cities is shaped by a number of factors. This paper takes as its focus the processes of housing allocation for low-income West African migrants in the Bronx, New York City. Drawing on 37 semi-structured interviews with housing providers and intermediary organisations that perform housing-related functions, the paper builds upon literature on migration industries and informal housing solutions among migrant communities, and reveals the formal and informal systems which migrants must navigate in order to secure housing. The specific roles which housing providers and intermediary organisations – including housing advocacies NGOs, public institutions, and religious groups – play are highlighted. The paper shows that informal processes operating in the low-income housing market in the Bronx mirror the operations of formal institutional structures, but instead of financial and legal grounds for housing allocation, informal migration industries are centred on social ties within the established migrant community. Such arrangements provide much-needed access to affordable housing for low-income tenants and facilitate further migration.

Implication of institutional informality in the historical urban evolution of Morocco: Case studies of Fes and Oujda

This paper is concerned with the role of informality in the spatial and institutional development of post-colonial cities. The study uses a historical institutionalist approach to trace the historical evolution of Morocco's Fes and Oujda as two former French colonies. It analyzes the historical urban growth of both cities through archival research, policy analysis, and complements its findings with semi-structured interviews. This study explores the different interactions between formal policies and the informal spatial and institutional urban practices, and discusses the processes of incremental institutional change that informal institutions introduce and sustain without disrupting the status-quo. This paper argues that in post-colonial contexts, informality prevails over formality as a stronger feedback mechanism to path dependence. Finally, the paper makes the case for the importance of mapping informal practices within and in relation to formal planning institutional structures for more comprehensive understandings of the role and the impact of spatial planning as a practice.

SDG implementation at the regional level: experience of Kazakhstan and Russia

The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted at the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015 under Resolution 70/1 cover a wide range of challenges faced by both developing and developed countries. Therefore, identification and generalisation of national approaches to SDG implementation at the regional level in two post-Soviet countries - Kazakhstan and Russia, which are characterised by the presence of a significant public sector and the active use of direct administrative methods of economic regulation, is of particular importance. The aim of the research is to conduct a comparative analysis of the used approaches to SDG implementation at the regional level. In the course of the research, criteria for characterising state participation in the processes of SDG implementation at the national and regional levels were proposed, approaches to SDG institutionalisation within the framework of national policy were compared, substantive priorities of central governments and regional authorities were compared, and specifics of SDG localisation and implementation at the regional level were revealed. As a result, differences in the formal institutional practices and structures used, the choice of priority SDGs for localisation and implementation, and the possibilities of resource support for managerial decisions made at the national and regional levels were revealed. Since the countries under study are at the initial stage of the process of localisation and implementation of the SDGs at the regional level, the conclusions obtained by the authors may be useful for improving the effectiveness of the work in this direction.

Institutional view of corporate social responsibility in the Iranian context

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how formal and informal institutions play a role in the Iranian context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices.Design/methodology/approachUsing a multiple case-study approach combining comparative and cross-sectional methods with semi-structured interviews, primary data was collected from eight corporations that actively participated in CSR activities in Iran. A microanalysis approach was used to examine the meanings and dynamics in the data. Through thematic analysis and pattern-matching techniques, the authors separately examined the roles of formal and informal institutions. Cross-case analysis was used to highlight the cases’ similarities and differences.FindingsThis study demonstrates that both formal and informal institutional structures exist in Iran and that both types influence CSR. This study also shows that informal institutions (such as personal values, culture, religion, traditions, charity and philanthropy) play a more explicit role than formal institutions (such as legal regulations and laws) in shaping CSR adoption policies and practices. The results indicate that, among institutions linked to CSR, formal and informal institutions are complementary and potentiate each other in Iran. Nevertheless, compared to formal ones, informal institutions play a more prominent role in shaping CSR policies and practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors recognize that, although the eight corporations are large, and although they interviewed their key personnel, they do not claim that these findings are generalizable, owing to the qualitative nature of the study and the small number of selected corporations.Originality/valueThis study makes relevant theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it contributes to the growing body of CSR literature that highlights the necessity of linking informal and formal institutions. Although the CSR literature lacks research on informal institutions in developing economies, researchers have yet to push forward and explore how the CSR adoption process works in developing economies that have influential informal institutions.

The everyday life of a security project: the “Security Union” in the EU’s “engine room”

ABSTRACT Since 2015, the European Commission has sought to highlight the EU’s promise of protection by introducing the idea of a “Security Union”. This article examines how officials and bureaucrats within the European Commission make sense of this project. So far, the few explicit studies on the Security Union focus on its historical genesis and formal policy outputs and tend to view it as a symbolic and diffuse initiative that lacks coherent implementation and potentially undermines fundamental rights. The article goes beyond that by analysing how officials and bureaucrats in the EU’s “engine room” perceive and deal with the Security Union. Drawing on research on the everyday dimensions of European integration and administrative bureaucracy, the article explores officials’ views and self-understandings as well as their routines and interactions in their daily work. For this purpose, it uses novel empirical data from personal interviews with administrative officials in Brussels. On this basis, the study highlights the importance of skilled individuals and personal interactions that can have lasting impact even when formal institutional structures erode. Moreover, it shows how everyday exchanges and experiences within the Security Union context can change officials’ self-understandings as security actors based on a broad security narrative.

Problems in the linkage among agricultural research, rural extension and farmers: An international literature review

The linkage among agricultural research, rural extension and farmers is key to promoting innovation and development processes. In general, works addressing problems in this linkage usually do so tangentially or from specific case studies. A systematic literature review of articles written in English, Spanish and Portuguese was conducted with the aim of identifying and organising the problems affecting the research-extension-farmer linkage. The identified problems were classified into central problems, and problems related to the institutional and management environments, the resources and staff, the epistemological-ideological structure organising the relationship, and attitudinal and subjective factors. The detected problems make up a complex causal network and cannot be addressed independently. Moreover, since they implicitly shape the interaction among research, extension and farmers, the problems related to formal and informal institutional structures, to the incentive systems and to the ways of understanding innovation have a strong incidence in the dynamics of the different linkages.

Indigenous astronomical knowledge based seasonal weather forecast: evidence from Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia.

Indigenous knowledge is still widely used by communities around the world to overcome social-ecological challenges. Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia have been searching for future weather phenomena using their indigenous knowledge. This study examines indigenous knowledge-based seasonal weather forecasts through using observable physical and temporal patterns of astronomic objects. Data were generated through using focus group discussion, experimental knowledgeable groups and direct observation in the year 2021. The finding reveals that Borana Oromo pastoralists commonly define physical and temporal outlooks of the Moon that are changed and/ or displayed periodically within a range of varying contexts. The observation of the Moon features have been offering sufficient lapse time in a more than/within ahead of a season/ and is relatively more accurate than the other traditional forecasting objects. The study showed that both temporal and spatial dimensions of the forecasting were actually happened in Ganna (March to May rainfall), Adolessa dry season (June to September) and Hgayya rainfall (October to November) seasons of 2021. This indigenous weather forecasting practices are still regularly used in every livelihood decision making process. However, this indigenous weather knowledge of Borana Oromo pastoralists of Southern Ethiopia is not yet mainstreamed in the formal institutional structures. Curtailments of mobility, severity of drought, weakening of traditional institution, leaving of traditional life style and death of the knowledgeable elders are the major factors that are challenging the potential effects of the indigenous weather forecasting indicators of the features of moon in the study area.

Public-private partnership in Alberta, Canada: a path dependence perspective

PurposeIn this study, the authors revisit Alberta's public-private partnership (P3) program after 20 years of field level experience by retracing its historical emergence and institutional evolution given its political context. Specifically, the authors adopt a path dependence perspective to reconstruct and reexamine Alberta's P3 program emergence, reflect on the successes achieved, and articulate challenges that must be overcome to institutionalize P3s as part of Alberta's infrastructure delivery environment in the future.Design/methodology/approachAdopting a constructivist approach and a case-based methodology, the authors (re)analyze the activities of governmental agents, private industry, and other actors as part of a new infrastructure policy introduced in 2002 to transform the provincial institutional landscape to accommodate P3.FindingsThe authors find Alberta's P3 emergence was driven by the necessity of its infrastructure deficits, political expediency, and resource scarcity. Furthermore, with well-entrenched conservative political actors as gatekeepers, Alberta's P3 implementation demonstrated stability and incremental change simultaneously, consistent with core elements of path dependency. Following the introduction of P3 in Alberta, the province lacked formal institutional structures that would transition its P3 program from good to great and enable it to become firmly embedded in the public infrastructure delivery landscape. With the subsequent absence of P3-convinced (political) leadership and uncertainty about its P3 policy direction, Alberta was unable or unwilling to consolidate the progress made at the start of the program.Originality/valueMost recently, the emergence of new political leadership in Alberta has (re)catalyzed policy progress, pointing toward a more methodical program approach, and suggesting a rediscovered confidence in P3s in the province with the establishment of a P3 Office (P3O), including nascent formal rules for unsolicited bids. These recent changes in our view make for a much more anchored policy and could lead to program sustainability and eventual institutionalization. Given the unpredictability of the recent political change, a more robust analysis of the relationship between political party control, leadership, and P3 stability is required to anticipate future policy and organizational obstacles.

Everything Stays the Same while Everything Changes

Everything Stays the Same while Everything Changes

Nursing students’ use of social media in their learning: a case study of a Canadian School of Nursing

BackgroundSocial media has diverse applications for nursing education. Current literature focuses on how nursing faculty use social media in their courses and teaching; less is known about how and why nursing students use social media in support of their learning.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to explore how nursing students use social media in their learning formally and informally.MethodsThis exploratory qualitative case study of a Canadian School of Nursing reports on the findings of interviews (n = 9) with nursing students to explore how they use social media in their learning. Data were analyzed using a combined deductive and inductive coding approach, using three cycles of coding to facilitate category identification.Results and conclusionsThe findings demonstrate that participants use social media for formal and informal learning and specifically, as a third space to support their learning outside of formal institutional structures. Social media plays a role in the learning activities of nursing students studying both face-to-face and by distance. Accordingly, social media use has implications for learning theory and course design, particularly regarding creating space for student learning communities.

Tug-of-War: the Pull of Formal Institutional Practices and Structures and the Desire for Personal Change

This scholarship utilized self-study methodology to examine the first author’s experience as a non-formal educator and non-formal teacher educator within the context of making and tinkering with elementary-aged students and university students. Through analysis of multiple forms of data, tensions arose and took shape through my interactions with both sets of students as we navigated and negotiated our roles and actions within two activity systems—a formal learning environment (i.e. university course) and a non-formal learning environment (i.e. the makerspace). These tensions included (a) the framing and implementation of the making task, (b) my authority and power as the making “expert” and teacher educator, and (c) undergraduate students’ lack of competence and knowledge in making and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The push and pull or tug-of-war of my personal existence within and between the 2 activity systems are highlighted within these tensions as my ways of being were bounded and constrained by formal schooling practices and structures. The tensions should challenge teacher educators to consider the role of non-formal educators in shaping how we work with students of all ages. This involves developing and maintaining shared practices, knowledges, and discourses (i.e. third space), and an understanding of how postmodern perspectives may uncover our notions of “education.”

The institutional development of International Association of Academies of Sciences: from scientific councils to international scientific-technological consortia

The article considers the history of creation of formal and informal institutional structures of International Association of the Academies of sciences (IAAS) the functioning of which is based on the technological chains of cognition that are characteristic of traditional disciplinary science. The differences between the technological chains of cognition and the global value chains that have developed in the global economy are shown. The prospects of combining the chains of these types within the framework of international scientific and technological consortia, which are more consistent with the requirements of modern technoscience, are determined. The conclusion is substantiated that the creation of a number of international scientific-technological consortia on the basis of scientific councils of association will allow IAAS to receive a stable source of its additional financing.

Contextualizing Technology Adoption and Self-Expression for Technology Entrepreneurial Innovation

This paper highlights the role of societal-level self-expression values and national-level extent of technology adoption for individual-level likelihood of engaging in technology entrepreneurial innovation (TEI). We posit that the effect of self-expression on entrepreneurial innovation is indirect — mediated positively by national-level extent of technology adoption, thereby rendering modes and mechanisms of technology adoption in a country as a more proximal whereas values as a more distal antecedent of TEI. We infer that the benefits and effectiveness of government efforts geared towards improving formal institutional structures that assist TEI would however only be felt if those that adopt newer technologies are self-expressive in the first place. Implications for theory, policy, and future empirical research are also discussed.

Towards a collaborative approach between practitioners and academics: insights from an academic–Fairtrade collaboration

Partnership approaches have been identified as crucial for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. In the context of an emerging literature on cross-sector partnerships, and more specifically reflections on how academic institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) create effective and mutually beneficial research collaborations, this paper draws on the experiences of a particular partnership between academic researchers and a Fair Trade organization partnership to contribute to building an understanding of how collaborative research can be achieved more effectively. A set of collaborative outputs resulted from the experience, including best practices for engagement and a training tool. It has contributed to changes in some of Fairtrade International’s ways of working with researchers. We found that we had more in common than what divided us in terms of skills and attitudes to knowledge, which is an important factor in the success of our relationship. Rooted in reflective practice, our project highlights the importance of trust and relationship building but also recognition of formal agreements and institutional structures to sustain the relationship.

Beyond the Local–Global Binaries of Higher Education Internationalization in Post-apartheid South Africa

The article critiques the tendency in the field of international education to theorize internationalization around the impacts of and policy responses to globalization in local contexts. The central argument of the article is that South Africa’s history and development prospects are so intricately bound up with those of its neighbors in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region that it would be misleading for the country to be talked about in just national/local and global terms. To develop this argument on South Africa’s roles and situation in a regionally interconnected context, I draw on insights from an institutional ethnography of a top-rated, historically White South African public university. While local–global discourses were institutionalized nationally and institutionally through policies for transformation and internationalization, the conspicuous absence of formal institutional structures for regionalization shows the limitations of local–global or global north–south dichotomies in analyzing structures that operate both above and below the level of the nation-state.

Сучасна філософія визнання: «комунікативна утопія» чи реальний соціальний проект?

У статті проаналізовано сучасні філософські дискурси реальних механізмів, способів взаємозв’язку ідентичності та визнання в контексті «усвідомлення несправедливості», «патологій» суспільного буття. А також показано, що, на відміну від переважно монологічних ідей визнання П. Рікера, Ч. Тейлора та «комунікативної утопії» Ю. Габермаса, Т. Ренч і А. Гонет пропонують його інтерсуб’єк-тивний, реалістичний концепт. Важливою ознакою останнього стало розширення «перспективи справедливості», подолання її звуженого варіанту через звернення до «іншого справедливості», до визнання та турботи. Таким чином, А. Гонет пропонує доповнити моральний принцип однакового ставлення до людей нормою конкретного обов’язку щодо окремої людини, яка потребує допомоги. Підсумовуючи осмислення проблеми визнання в сучасній філософії, автор наголошує на значенні створення А. Гонетом теорії визнання в річищі теорії свободи і справедливості. Відомий німецький мислитель у такий спосіб прагне реабілітувати основні настанови соціальної філософії Франкфуртської школи з метою пошуків адекватних шляхів подолання розмаїтих проявів соціальної несправедливості, приниження, зневаги людської гідності. І має це відбуватися на засадах осягнення внутрішнього потенціалу самого феномена визнання як принципово важливої (насамперед для вітчизняного простору) можливості узгодження формально-легітимних інституційних його структур зі справжнім визнанням їх як справедливих. З метою перетворення свого бачення визнання з «комунікативної утопії» на дієвий соціальний проект А. Гонет намагається переомислити ідеї Дж. Ролза, Н. Фрейзер, доповнити етику дискурсу розлогою теорією визнання та етикою турботи.

Regional value chains and spontaneous multi-employer wage coordination in China

This article explores how wage determination is coordinated within a regional value chain in China's auto industry and the underlying mechanism that governs this coordination. While the market-economy reform over the past four decades has granted firms considerable autonomy in managing their own employees, this case demonstrates that in China's private sector, wage determination is not at individual employers' full discretion. In general, scholars agree that Western-style formal institutional structures for wage coordination – centralized collective bargaining – have not been effectively established in China. But in Tianjin's auto industry, spontaneous multi-employer wage coordination occurs through informal arrangements that leverage a lead firm's control over its suppliers and various social networks that connect employers, labor unions, and workers in the locality. As a result, wages across the local auto industry are greatly compressed. This article concludes by discussing the important role of informal institutions in China's private governance.

Evidence-based practice and patient-centered care: Doing both well.

Health care organizations increasingly strive to deliver care that is both evidence based and patient centered. Although often complementary, fundamental contradictions may exist between these goals, and the organizational culture and infrastructure necessary to be successful in one domain may inherently diminish performance in the other. We assessed the relationship between evidence-based practice (EBP) and patient-centered care (PCC) by seeking to identify specific behavioral and process mechanisms, along with organizational characteristics that distinguish medical centers that are able to provide inpatient care that is both evidence based and patient centered from those where performance is either mixed or low in both domains. We analyzed interview data from 142 employees at 12 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers selected based on EBP and PCC performance (high, low, or mixed) using a priori constructs consistent with organizational literature, as well as emergent themes. We confirmed that tensions may arise when attempting to deliver both EBP and PCC and found unique characteristics of organizations that do both well. High-performing sites exhibited organizational cultures of empowerment where both EBP and PCC expectations were emphasized; provided formal and informal institutional supports and structures with regard to PCC and EBP; and fostered multidisciplinary, multidirectional approaches to care and communication that facilitated delivery of both EBP and PCC. Organizations that excel in providing both EBP and PCC exhibit unique characteristics and processes. Recognizing that some characteristics such as culture are difficult to change, these findings nonetheless highlight areas that could be enhanced by medical centers striving to deliver care that is both evidence based and patient centered.