Institutional Complementarities Research Articles

How women hold up half the sky? A configurational analysis of women’s political leadership participation?

Purpose Existing research has examined the results of women’s political leadership participation (WPLP) and the reasons for the lack of advancement of women to management positions. However, little research has been adopting a more comprehensive framework and configuration perspective to investigate the determinants of WPLP. By integrating institutional theory and institutional complementarities theory, this study aims to construct an institution–culture–structure framework to investigate the multiple driving mechanisms of WPLP. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method and a sample of 66 countries, the authors identify multiple equifinal combinations of conditions related to high and not-high levels of WPLP. Findings According to the results, the authors summarize five pathways influencing WPLP. These pathways include education and culture-driven pattern, political institutions-driven pattern, political institutions and structure-driven pattern, integrated-driven pattern and political institutions and culture restrictive pattern. Originality/value The authors shed new light on the driving mechanism of WPLP and contribute to research on making full out of women’s leadership.

Labour market reforms, institutional complementarity and the insider–outsider wage gap

Abstract This article provides long-term evidence on how wage differentials between permanent and temporary workers are shaped by institutions that play a key role in labour market dualism, i.e. industrial relations, employment protection legislation and unemployment benefits. A two-step multilevel approach with fixed effects is employed using EU-SILC data for 25 European countries spanning up to 17 years (waves 2004–2020, N = 397) to estimate the moderating effects of several institutions and their interactions on the wage gap by contract type and across the whole wage distribution. The results show that more insider-oriented institutions tend to widen wage differentials and that the impact of institutional reforms on the wage gap varies greatly with the given institutional context. Overall, policy trends towards flexibilization risk widening insider–outsider divides due to accumulating labour market risks for temporary workers, thus increasing labour market segmentation by contract type.

HRM, institutional complementarities, and performance: The case of the Healthcare sector in Jordan

Building on the comparative capitalism literature, we aim to understand the impact of HRM practice on hospitals performance within the healthcare sector in Jordan, and the role of HRM in mitigating and overcoming systemic shortfalls. Two different surveys were distributed for both hospital and HR managers across all hospitals. Our findings indicate that certain HR practices are positively associated with performance, despite contextual challenges such as informal networks and cultural limitations that could undermine efficiency. We further tested the potential impact of HR complementarities on performance; nevertheless, the results did not significantly surpass the explanatory power of the individual HR practices. It might have been anticipated that mutually supportive bundles of practices might compensate for systemic weaknesses. However, it may be the case that players have devised solutions in other areas of managerial practice that may be more effective than HRM in compensating for systemic limitations. Our study also highlights that in oligopolistically structured markets, common in private healthcare systems, the effectiveness of HR practices may be less crucial for profitability, though this does not diminish their broader relevance for societal and community outcomes which are beyond the scope of this work.

The impact of environmental research networks on green exports: An analysis of a sample of European countries

This paper studies the impact of environmental research networks on green exports by providing a unique contribution to the studies on the role of collaborative innovation for international competitiveness. Specifically, we adopt the technology gap model of international trade to study the impact of green innovation and the participation in European environmental research programs on green exports for 26 European countries over the period 2003 - 2015. We find that both environmental innovation and research networks positively impact on green exports and that they have a complementary effect that highlights the importance of green absorptive capacity. Moreover, all institutional sectors involved in the networks (firms, universities and public research centers) matter for green competitiveness, with universities playing a major role for institutional complementarities.

The divergence of South Korea's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from the EU ETS: An institutional complementarity view

AbstractEmissions trading schemes (ETS) have spread across the globe to tackle climate change. However, limited attention has been given to how ETS characteristics and designs differ and why. We use the concept of institutional complementarity to explore how the EU ETS and South Korea's ETS (K‐ETS) adapt to complement established political economy. The EU ETS is characterized as a market with stakeholder ownership, while the K‐ETS is more regulatory in nature with government leadership. The EU ETS complements a decentralized political system with liberalized energy market, and the K‐ETS became compatible with the centralized majoritarian politics and a regulated electricity market. The ETSs have evolved incrementally, and they are not likely to link in the foreseeable future due to divergence. We suggest a strong focus on “how to adapt” an ETS to its own institution rather than adopting the established blueprint model in countries with a strong regulatory style of governance.Related ArticlesCaliskan, Cantay. 2020. “The Influence of Elite Networks on Green Policy Making.” Politics & Policy 48(6): 1104–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12382.Tanaka, Yugo, Andrew Chapman, Tetsuo Tezuka, and Shigeki Sakurai. 2020. “Multiple Streams and Power Sector Policy Change: Evidence from the Feed‐In Tariff Policy Process in Japan.” Politics & Policy 48(3): 464–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12357.von Malmborg, Fredrik. 2023. “Combining the Advocacy Coalition Framework and Argumentative Discourse Analysis: The Case of the ‘Energy Efficiency First’ Principle in EU Energy and Climate Policy.” Politics & Policy 51(2): 222–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12525.

Institutional changes and institutional complementarity of local autonomy in Korea: A study of cooperation system between local governments

Institutional changes and institutional complementarity of local autonomy in Korea: A study of cooperation system between local governments

Institutional work: how lenders transform land titles into collateral in urban Tanzania

Abstract We examine the ‘institutional configuration’ that makes land titles work as collateral in Tanzania’s nascent credit market, through the ‘institutional work’ of local lenders. This work is effective and precarious: while lenders seek out and create institutional complementarities across diverse domains, they also require higher-level regulation to help stabilise land titles’ fungibility as collateral. Our results contribute to knowledge on path-dependency, contingency and uneven trajectories in the property-credit nexus development, and advance understandings of institutional interdependencies and coevolution in the situated economy. By combining deep contextualisation and institutional analysis, we progress an empirical engagement with institutional research in economic geography.

Symbiotic relationships among formal and informal institutions: Comparing five Brazilian cultural ecosystems

This paper draws on ecology to advance insights on the relationships between formal and informal institutions. We are interested in observing change in such relationships in different cultural contexts. Extending the research traditions of institutional complementarities and of institutional analysis inspired by biology, we focus on symbiotic relationships to understand interdependence patterns between formal and informal institutions. We compare five Brazilian macroregions, which have experienced different historical processes. We treat each region as a different “cultural ecosystem” within which institutional symbiotic relationships unfold. Building on correlation network analysis, we compute networks of multiple and contemporaneous symbiotic relationships for each macroregion. Our results suggest that formal institutions tend to be “symbionts,” which are more “dependent” on informal institutions acting as “hosts” within asymmetric symbiotic relationships. Our comparison shows that asymmetry between formal and informal institutions is more evident in cultural ecosystems in which institutions have traditionally been more extractive, such as in the northern Brazilian macroregions. In cultural ecosystems with historically more inclusive processes, formal institutions have greater tendency to become a nurturing ground for other institutions, confirming Pritchett’s (2013) argument that successful formal institutions are consolidations/formalizations of a successful societal struggle.

What feeds on what? Networks of interdependencies between culture and institutions

Culture and institutions both matter in shaping trajectories for socioeconomic progress. As the debate on causal directionalities between culture and institutions is still ongoing, we recast its perspective: a complex network of symbiotic relationships ties a multitude of cultural and institutional factors together. We blend the institutional complementarities literature with symbiosis theory, and place it into the context of a data-driven approach that extends correlation network analyses. We frame each single interdependence between a cultural and an institutional factor as an asymmetric symbiotic relationship in which a ‘host’ feeds a ‘symbiont’: the latter is more dependent on the former. In our computed network, each relation locates within a broader context of pathways and network constellations. We apply our approach to Brazilian municipal data. Our results confirm high complexity in the coevolution of culture and institutions and suggest an emerging pattern in which cultural factors are more likely to be hosts than institutions or social capital. In the Brazilian municipal reality, the institutional innovation of participatory councils bears the potential of game-changer in the system, while tax collection strongly depends on cultural factors i.e. the (in)formality of the economy and family ties.

What institutional characteristics determine and mitigate gender inequality in the workplace? An empirical analysis of Japanese firms

The purpose of this study is to clarify why gender inequality in the workplace has remained intractable and how it will be mitigated in Japanese firms. To this end, we analyze gender inequality in the workplace and its mitigation in terms of institutional characteristics (i.e., the Japanese employment system and its institutional complementarity with corporate governance, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals), using data on Japanese firms listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2019. Our findings reveal that these institutional factors influence gender (in)equality in the workplace by balancing the interdependent social and economic values of firms to maximize their overall value.

복지체제와 제도적 상호보완성: 프랑스 실업정책 사례를 중심으로

1990년대 이래 프랑스 사회가 마주한 주된 문제 혹은 사회적 위험은 실업이었다. 본 연구는 지난 20년 동안 각기 다른 정부가 추진했던 일자리 관련 정책을 통해 프랑스 복지체제를 분석하고자 했다. 구체적으로 사회보장제도, 노사관계 및 고용정책, 거시경제정책 및 성장전략이라는 세 부문 간 제도적 관계를 규명하고자 했다. 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 노사의 자율적 운영 혹은 노사협약을 기반으로 한 제도의 영역에서 국가의 주도권이 점차 강해지는 경향을 보인다. 둘째, 실업문제에 대한 대응에 있어서 좌우 정부의 특별한 차이가 존재하지 않았다. 두 정부가 채택한 정책은 정도의 차이가 있지만, 일자리 창출을 위해 재정적 유인장치를 사용한 점과 기업단위 협약에 우선권을 부여하여 기업 운영의 자율성을 확대한 것은 동일한 흐름 속에 있었다. 특히 두 정부가 특정 산업에 대한 육성정책 없이 세제지원 정책만으로 일자리 창출을 유도한 것은 사회정책과 경제정책 사이의 제도적 상보성이 부재했음을 보여준다. 셋째, 마크롱 정부가 보인 정책적 단절은 그런 의미에서 복지체제의 점진적 변화가능성을 내포한다. 그는 실업자의 구직활동 유인조치를 강화하는 동시에 법인세 인하라는 공격적인 경제정책을 단행했다. 다만 최근 고용유지를 위해 대규모 공적자금을 투입한 노동정책은 내수 주도 성장체제와 상보적 관계를 보여준다.

The Crisis in Local Newspapers and Organizational Wrongdoing: The Role of Community Social Connectedness

Drawing on institutional anomie theory, we examine how the crisis in local newspapers has induced organizational wrongdoings in local communities. We argue that, because local newspapers are the primary source of accountability journalism in local communities, their decline leads to an anomic state that increases the scale of organizational wrongdoing. We also investigate whether institutional complementarity helps overcome the anomic state: Due to functional similarity, community social connectedness compensates for the scarcity of local newspapers. Our analysis of U.S. metropolitan areas for the period of 2007–2015 reveals that the positive relationship between local newspaper scarcity and the scale of organizational wrongdoing is not present in all communities but does appear when a community lacks community social connectedness. We also find that this moderating role of community social connectedness is observed only for internal organizational wrongdoings that are less visible to the public than external ones.

Co-operatives for sustainable development

Co-operatives are recognised as important vectors for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because they promote democracy, ensure fair income distribution, foster social inclusion, and care for the environment. However, the focus of co-operatives on members and local community diminishes their national and international visibility, adversely affecting their potential contribution to the realisation of SDGs. The authors of this short article are co-leading an interdisciplinary research project, funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation and endorsed by the UK Society for Co-operative Studies, that conceptualises co-operatives as commons institutions and considers how mobilising the notions of institutional complementarities and polycentric governance can help promote the view that co-operatives can make a significant contribution to the sustainable development agenda.

Why Do Comparative Public Policy and Political Economy Scholars Need an Analytic Eclectic View of Structure, Institution and Agency?

This article illustrates an analytic eclectic value of structure, institution and agency (SIA) framework in comparative public policy. It engages and utilizes certain structural, institutional and agential perspectives from past literature to specify how elements of their causal properties coexist as part of a more complex argument. It argues that desired or preferred policy and/or institutional outcomes are most likely when multiple structural and institutional complementarities (from structures and institutions to agents) and multiple structural, institutional and agential enabling conditions accompany one another in motivating and empowering actors (from agents to structures and institutions) to engage in purposeful agential actions.

Revisiting China’s Market Economy Status: State Capitalism within the Liberal Trading System

This paper examines the question of China’s compliance with market economy principles. China has reformed away from central planning in the past four decades, but has it achieved a fully-fledged market economy? The paper sheds new light on the contested nature of China’s market economy status from a political economy perspective. It draws on the Varieties of Capitalism analytical framework. The paper explains China’s status as a market economy as the product of a national model of state-dominated institutional complementarities between high levels of trade openness and domestic regulation, including nonmarket principles for the deployment of financial resources and labour.

Exploring complementarity among interdependent pastoral institutions in Mongolia

This article combines Aoki’s institutional complementarity concept with actor-centered institutional analysis of action situations to study herder behavior and institutional change in a complex pastoral social–ecological system. Transformation of the Mongolian Steppe Ecosystem in the face of climate and social change has led to a decline in pastoral mobility, which in turn is making the ecosystem less sustainable. Responding to this concern, Mongolian policymakers have designed pasture use and conservation policies. We evaluate whether the enacted policies are complementary to herders’ strategic choices. First, we reconstruct institutional choices herders make in the commons domain, where herders interact to use common pastures. Second, we track this process in the political economy domain, where pasture users support or resist government policies. Finally, we evaluate the complementarity of the strategic choices and resulting institutions in the interdependent action situations of both domains. In combination with game-theoretic model building, we have employed the process tracing method during field research in Mongolia. We have not identified any evident, stable institutional complementarity between high pastoral mobility and support for a policy of leasing and certification of land for winter and spring camps. Conversely, our findings do suggest that policies for establishing pasture user groups and pasture use planning can be effective. A critical mass of herders choosing to comply with these policies and engage in pastoral mobility will be crucial for sustaining the ecosystem. This will strengthen conditions for institutional complementarity and create a new institutional arrangement overall.

Governance of technological innovations in water and energy use in Uzbekistan

ABSTRACT Increasing water and energy demand in agriculture due to changing climatic conditions and high resource consumption is widespread in Central Asia. Under these constraints, compounded by lack of irrigation water, farmers are opting to use drainage water for crop production, with negative consequences. Focusing on Uzbekistan, we evaluate the governance of farmer adoption of selected technological innovations (i.e., constructed wetlands and biogas) to improve crop productivity while providing water and energy savings. We build upon farmers’ expressed views of the strategic decisions they would take regarding constructed wetlands and biogas plants. We use institutional analysis to identify relevant action situations, highlight potential institutional complementarity between these situations, and indicate promising areas for policy intervention.

How to improve SME performance using iterative random forest in the empirical analysis of institutional complementaritty

Empirically investigating the workings of institutional complementarity in organisations has been a challenge in the social sciences domain for a long time. This paper examines data from the World Management Survey (WMS) using a new machine learning method termed as iterative random forest (iRF), which is used in the field of biostatistics. An empirical study of complementarity was conducted in small and medium-sized enterprises using WMS data. The effects of 18 management quality indicators on profitability, growth and viability were examined using machine learning methods (i.e. random forest [RF] and iRF). The analysis revealed the relative importance of whether high performers are properly rewarded, poor performers are reassigned and retrained and the criteria for high and low performance are well established. Furthermore, the study results revealed that the ability to set short-term goals based on a long-term perspective is complementary to many other indicators. These findings are consistent with the findings of a survey study that examined many empirical studies on the workings of institutional complementarity. This indicates that iRF is a credible and promising method for empirical research on institutional complementarity.

Basic Income and the Social Investment State: Towards Mutual Reinforcement?

Is a social investment strategy compatible with the provision of an unconditional basic income? Prima facie, these two scenarios look like incongruent policy alternatives. While social investment – an influential policy paradigm at the level of the European Union – aims at promoting public services and maximum labour market participation, basic income is paid in cash and has sometimes been presented as the key component of a post-work future. In this article, we explore this apparent incongruence and show that these two visions for welfare reform are not necessarily incompatible. We argue that they may share a number of substantial points of agreement, and indeed may reinforce one another according to a logic of institutional complementarity. In particular, we claim that a partial basic income (i.e., a modest unconditional income guarantee, whose amount would be insufficient if one lives alone) could enhance or complement the key functions of a social-democratic version of the social investment strategy. By doing so, we conclude that the integration of a basic income into a social investment package could contribute to overcoming criticisms of the social investment agenda. At the same time, it could rescue basic income from the numerous critics who see it as an unrealistic policy proposal.

Institutionally Speaking, are Global Standards Adoptable in a Given Jurisdiction? A Critical Analysis of the IFRS's Use in Ukraine through the Lens of New Institutional Accounting

This paper examines the consequences of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in Ukraine through the lens of New Institutional Accounting theory. IFRS adoption's effects on management's reporting incentives, enforcement and institutional complementarities are analysed. I find that adoption at a technical level is not enough to be called "adoption" as profound changes at the institutional level are also required. Adopted IFRS are subjected to the same type of institutional and market pressures that gave rise to the old set of standards and as a result, the practice of financial reporting is unchanged at its core while only new technical rules apply. Hence, jurisdictions should not pursue only technical adoption but should also try their best to align as close as possible all institutional aspects of this issue. The best advice for all jurisdictions with an institutional infrastructure similar to Ukraine's is to strengthen management's reporting incentives and enforcement mechanisms.