Institutional Logics Research Articles

Institutional Complexity and Social Innovation: The Case of Chinese Social Enterprises

Abstract Social enterprises (SEs) have emerged throughout the world to address societal challenges through market-based activities and innovation. Research has focused on how SEs manage the tensions arising from the combination of social-welfare and market logics, neglecting the institutional complexity that arises in authoritarian regimes where the state plays a dominant role. Based on the institutional logics perspective and interview data of 42 SE leaders in China, we find that key tensions arise from the state and social-welfare logics and that state logic (re)configures the social–market relationships to be compatible. Chinese SEs employed depoliticization and localization to adapt to this unique form of institutional complexity in their social innovation efforts. This study advances research on SEs, institutional complexity, and hybrid organizing.

Global Digital Transformation and New Venture Resilience

In the new situation of building an entrepreneurial ecosystem, faced with the global multi-agent competition of the system, how new ventures should integrate with the system, isomorphism, and use their own advantages to cultivate new venture resilience has become an important global issue. The purpose of this study is to explore the combined impact of digital transformation, entrepreneurial ecological orientation, and organizational structure on the resilience of new ventures. Based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), this study systematically explores the significant key conditions and configuration effects that affect the cultivation of new venture resilience. There are four types of configurations that help new ventures to cultivate resilience, namely: strategic change, flexible response, leadership niche and institutional logic. This study explores how these three dimensions interact to achieve high firm resilience, ultimately contributing to the research of resilience from the perspective of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Course‐Based Teacher Professional Communities (With District and Union Support) at the Center of Three‐Dimensional Science Teaching

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on how two school districts managed and changed the instructional core—student learning goals, instructional resources and strategies, and assessments—in their required high school biology course as they responded to new state science standards based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Biology teachers in both districts had access to NGSS‐aligned resources for their classrooms. Interviews with teachers, district science coordinators, and union leaders revealed how district responses were affected by two institutional logics: academic logics included the criteria that teachers used to choose resources and strategies for their classrooms and professional logics included the roles and responsibilities of district professionals. Participants from District A endorsed a common‐sense experiential academic logic, which recognized teachers' obligations to meet general criteria for content coverage while using their personal experiences and values to make detailed instructional decisions. They also endorsed a professional logic of privacy and noninterference, which recognized teachers' individual autonomy in making decisions about their classroom instructional cores. In contrast, participants from District B described how district professionals empowered a course‐based professional community to make decisions about the instructional core that all biology teachers followed in their own classrooms. We examine how this strategy enabled actions consistent with an instructional improvement logic that supported an NGSS‐aligned instructional core in all biology classrooms. We consider the implications of this contrast for teacher learning in organizational settings—the focus of this special issue.

Why train? Compatible and incompatible institutional logics in violence prevention and management training

A critical component of ensuring safe workplaces is training in preventing and managing violent behavior. This article examines the institutional logics underpinning such training programs, investigating their design, rationale, and impact on everyday practices within human services. Despite extensive research on the content, effects, and experiences of these training programs, there is a notable gap in understanding the rationale behind their development. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring why violence prevention and management training is structured as it is and how institutional logics affect training and practice. This research identifies seven institutional logics that shape these programs through an in-depth qualitative analysis of three Norwegian human service training programs – encompassing mental health care, child welfare services, and Norway’s national welfare agency. Some of the logics are complementary. Others are incompatible, leading to significant practical implications. Data collection included qualitative document analysis and interviews with representatives from the training communities. The study contributes to a better understanding of the factors influencing the training program design and influence, not the least, by underscoring their duality as measures of improving service delivery and ensuring safe working conditions.

Different sustainability endgames: Institutional logics in the performance management of local governments

IMPACT Local governments operate in institutionally complex environments where overlapping values, rules and priorities shape their actions. This article explores how such complexity directly impacts the production of sustainability performance information. By examining various institutional logics within local governments, the study highlights how these differing perspectives lead to diverse approaches in managing sustainability performance. The article introduces three potential ‘endgames’—sustainability as a brand, strategy or raison d’être—each representing a distinct path for integrating sustainable development goals (SDGs) into local governance. These endgames provide local government managers, specialists, and sustainability co-ordinators, with a framework to reflect on the priorities and rationales behind current sustainability performance management practices. This article is essential reading for those seeking to develop meaningful performance measurement for the SDGs.

Exploring the effects of institutional logics on entrepreneurial opportunity evaluations in emerging economies

ABSTRACT It is becoming increasingly crucial to understand how institutional logics influence entrepreneurial behaviors and decisions as they impact job creation and startups globally. This research hypothesizes how two different logics—family and market—will influence entrepreneurial decision-making and action. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a two-wave study using an experimental approach to gather data from 326 aspiring entrepreneurs in India who made 630 opportunity evaluation decisions. We analyzed this dataset using subgroup regression analyses. We find significant effects of institutional logics on entrepreneurial decision-making. Particularly, we find that in contrast to extant theory from developed contexts, in emerging economies such as India, the family logic has a stronger influence on willingness to invest in entrepreneurial opportunities as compared to the market logic. We also identify critical boundary conditions of the decision context that make the effect of institutional logic more or less salient. Our findings highlight that financial stakes and support from close associates strengthen the relationship between the family logic and willingness to invest. However, reputational stakes were found to significantly weaken the relationship between the family logic and willingness to invest. Thus, our research contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship by exploring microprocesses of institutional logics and the impact of the family logic on entrepreneurial decisions in emerging markets. Moreover, we extend the institutional logics literature by highlighting that the logics act not only as a “lens” but also as a “mirror,” helping entrepreneurs predict how certain stakeholders will interpret and react to their decisions and actions.

Institutionalizing Sustainability: The Role of Multiple Logics in B Corp Course Integration

AbstractSustainability has gained increased importance in business schools, yet its full institutionalization within the curricula remains challenging. To address this gap, business schools are increasingly collaborating with alternative organizations, such as B Corporations. However, the factors driving the integration of these B Corp courses into the curricula are not well understood. This study employs an institutional logic approach to examine in what way institutional logics coexist and shape the integration of B Corp courses within business school curricula. A qualitative analysis of 31 U.S. business schools revealed how the coexistence and hybridization of industry, social institution, and sustainability logic shape B Corp course framing, implementation, and perception. Industry logic drives career readiness and market alignment, social institution logic emphasizes community engagement and ethical responsibility, and sustainability logic promotes long-term impact and transformative education. This research contributes to the discourse on sustainability in business education by illustrating how multiple institutional logics can coexist constructively, offering a model for enhancing the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives in higher education.

Institutional unlocking or technological unlocking? The logic of carbon unlocking in the new energy vehicle industry in China

As a result of unbalanced energy structure, high carbon emissions, and global climate change, carbon lock-in has gained considerable attention. To achieve carbon unlocking, technological advancements and institutional innovation are essential. This paper uses the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry as its case study, identifying the differences and evolutionary trends between institutional unlocking and technological unlocking logics, and demonstrating how these logics affect industry and enterprise development and eventually advance the process of carbon unlocking. The findings are: (1) Institutional incentives play a critical role in the development of an industry at the beginning. As the industry matures, technological innovation plays a central role in driving industry development, while institutional logic gradually loses influence and technological logic gains influence. (2) Dual logics have undergone a complex transformation of compatibility, mutual exclusivity, partial confrontation, and cooperation during the process of carbon unlocking. It is possible for the complexity of the relationship to range from low to high, with both becoming less complex as the industry matures. (3) Through ongoing gaming and adjustment, the dual logics encourage the NEV industry to realize carbon unlocking and low-carbon transformation at the same time.

One faith for different realities: accounting and management practices of Benedictine monasteries

Purpose This paper aims to explore how the accounting and management practices of monastic institutions were shaped by their surrounding social, political, geographical and economic environments, as well as religious ideologies, during critical historical periods. Design/methodology/approach By applying institutional theory and the comparative international accounting history perspective, this study conducts a comparative analysis of archival records from two monasteries, examining how their accounting and managerial practices were influenced by differing institutional logics. The research relies on systematic archival data collection, complemented by secondary sources, to analyze how religious beliefs shaped the accounting and management practices of these institutions and the degree of convergence between the two. Findings This study found that both monasteries adapted their accounting and management practices to their external environments. San Placido demonstrated resilience amidst disruptions such as wars and earthquakes, while Silos showed financial sophistication through diverse income streams. The resilience of these institutions was driven by their ability to align internal operations with external political, economic and social factors. This adaptability, coupled with strategic management, enhanced their capacity to maintain financial stability, illustrating the direct link between external changes, organizational resilience and improved financial health. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the historical interplay between religious principles and accounting management practices in Benedictine monasteries by comparing two monasteries. It reveals how external environments shape internal operations, showcasing the resilience and adaptability of these institutions in maintaining financial sustainability through the alignment of external pressures with internal resilience mechanisms, which in turn bolster their financial health. Originality/value This research contributes valuable insights to historical managerial and accounting literature, shedding light on the financial resilience and strategies used by Benedictine monasteries. It underscores the enduring respectful legacy of their accounting practices and the unique interplay between spiritual devotion and organizational structure within these institutions.

Mechanisms that enhance Internet of Things engagement

Purpose By drawing on previous research on mechanism-based explanations and business-to-business engagement, the purpose of this study is to identify and define mechanisms that enhance Internet of Things (IoT) engagement. Design/methodology/approach By positioning the study within the paradigm of critical realism (CR), this paper used multiple case study research. This paper applied 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, an observation and firm documents as data-gathering tools. Findings This paper argues that the higher-level phenomenon (Institutional logic of the IoT ecosystem) leads to a higher-level outcome (IoT engagement). As lower-level situational mechanisms, this paper found IoT readiness and transparency in the ecosystem. Action-formation mechanisms were acknowledged as communication, availability of an IoT interface, and support. Commitment, trust, satisfaction and software maintenance and updates were recognized as transformational mechanisms. Practical implications The findings will help managers to understand which mechanisms to focus on when forming engagement strategies for onboarding new actors and strengthening relationships with existing actors. Furthermore, this paper suggests considering the IoT readiness of new actors more critically, as this mechanism was found to be the most crucial one for an early stage of engagement in an IoT ecosystem. Originality/value This study helps understand the causal structures behind engagement and enhances the theoretical and practical domain of IoT engagement. In addition, this study demonstrates the value of applying CR for generating knowledge about a phenomenon through causal explanations.

Sustainable innovations in developing economies: a woven theoretical approach with qualitative evidence from Uganda

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to present a theoretical framework that utilizes a success story to elucidate sustainable innovations in Ugandan financial institutions. It provides valuable insights from the standpoint of a developing African nation.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized a qualitative methodology, specifically in-depth interviews with employees of Stanbic Bank Uganda. A story was constructed to depict their pragmatic experiences, emphasizing the contextual backdrop, actions taken, outcomes and lessons learned. The 12th participant marked the point of data collecting saturation.FindingsThe results suggest that financial institutions that use sustainable solutions are able to mitigate operational risks, cut costs, increase revenue and achieve long-term success. Institutional logics exert a significant influence on the behavior, practices and decision-making processes of individuals or organizations, hence impacting their inclination toward innovation and openness to change. While organizational resilience facilitates the ability to change, maintain excellence and remain competitive. Networks facilitate the exchange of information across institutions, enabling them to stay updated on market trends, regulatory changes and emerging risks. This, in turn, assists in making educated decisions.Originality/valueThis study is innovative in its utilization of a success story to exemplify sustainable improvements in financial institutions in Uganda. While several studies exist world over on sustainable innovations, this study is the first to use a success story and proposes a theoretical model that illustrates how institutional logics, networks and organizational resilience contribute to the development of sustainable innovations in a developing country.

The Historical Change, Evolutionary Logic and Dynamic Mechanism of China's Major Enrollment System

The general enrollment system is a hot issue in the field of higher education reform. And the scientific cognition of its historical evolution, internal logic and dynamic mechanism is helpful to promote the reform of China's undergraduate enrollment system. From the perspective of historical institutionalism, the evolution of Chinese enrollment categories can be divided into four major historical stages: historical gestation, preliminary exploration, rapid rise and in-depth development. Tracing the hidden institutional logic behind the policy, it is found that the initial conditions, positive feedback mechanism and mindset make the change of the major enrollment system have a strong path dependence. In terms of dynamic mechanism, politics, economy and society constitute the basic factors of institutional change; learning effect, adaptive expectation and resource optimization orientation constitute the internal driving force of self-strengthening in the system; and the interest game among various action subjects constitutes the direct driving force of institutional change. In the future, the major enrollment system will accelerate the comprehensive reform of higher education through the three aspects of deepening rational practice examination, enhancing cross-cultivation and exploration, and promoting the transformation of human-oriented management, so as to enable the connotative development of higher education.

Research Data Management in German Academia from a Multiple Logic Perspective

The requirements for research data management (RDM) have increased. Due to academia’s neoliberalization, however, researchers already face a high workload within a hypercompetitive environment. The demand to integrate RDM as an additional task into academics’ day-today actions seems to be quixotic. To deepen our understanding of early career researchers’ (ECRs) daily work arbitrage, we need to know more about their behavior, actions, and decisions in relation to RDM. Drawing on a multiple institutional logics perspective at the micro-level, we conducted 40 semistructured interviews at German higher education institutions (HEIs) to investigate how ECRs respond to institutional logics in the context of RDM. Our findings revealed three profiles – the conformist, the waverer, and the resister – that make use of different response strategies to the state, market, professional, and community logic. We contribute to institutional logic research at the micro-level and, in addition, broaden prior research on HEIs and RDM by taking neoliberal academia into account.

Institutional Logic of Fragile States: Afghanistan and South Sudan in Comparative Perspective

ABSTRACT In the violence trap framework, ruling elites use rents to control contending elites who pose a violent threat. Political development results in transitions from a fragile state, wherein rents are tentative and personalized, to a basic natural state, and then a mature natural state, through standardization of elite privileges, consolidated state control of the political-military apparatus, and the enactment of a credible contracts regime. Accordingly, the institutional logic of fragile states is rooted in the incentives that undergird elite bounded rationality, transacting under highly personalized, tentative patronage networks. The paper addresses the question of why fragile states fail to develop into basic natural states. In doing so, it applies the violence trap analytical framework to illustrate the logic of the fragile state through a most different systems (MDS) comparison of Afghanistan and South Sudan. The main finding is that the institutional logic of the fragile state in the two cases is rooted in a lack of three necessary conditions: institutional incentives for broadening elite consensus, credible patronage agreements among different elite groups, and a consolidated state with specialized political and military functions.

Institutional logics and organizational green transformation: Evidence from the agricultural industry in emerging economies

While the agricultural green transformation has garnered significant attention on the political stage as a crucial strategy for climate change mitigation and sustainable development, there remains a notable gap in our understanding of the prevailing logics that shape organizational decisions on this change in emerging economies. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, this study explores the impact of state logic (manifested through green credit policy) and market logic (manifested through analyst attention) on agriculture-related firms' (ARFs') green transformation, as well as the moderating effects of organizational transparency and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) level. Using longitudinal data on 201 publicly listed ARFs in China from 2008 to 2020, we find that both state and market logics exert unique effects on facilitating the green transformation of ARFs. More notably, a complementarity between the two logics in offering value for ARFs’ green transformation is revealed. This complementary effect becomes more pronounced for organizations with a higher level of transparency or a superior ESG profile. Our study contributes to the neo-institutional perspective of organizational green transformation, a better understanding of conflicting institutional logics in emerging economies, and research on agricultural sustainability.

Why Target Communities Remain Subjects Rather than Partners of Development Agencies in Integrated Conservation and Development Projects in Latin America

AbstractDespite repeated calls for locally anchored Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs), the decision-making authority of targeted Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) remains limited. This paper is grounded on an Institutional Logics perspective to examine the role of major development agencies—the World Bank (WB), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the German Development Bank (KfW)—in perpetuating this challenge. Interviews with project managers in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region reveal complex internal hierarchies, risk-focus, high performance pressure, a “better than nothing” rationale, and a hands-off approach to community participation. We argue that these tendencies are rooted in organisational structure and individual mentalities that constitute a project management logic, which in turn raises concerns about the ability and willingness of development agencies to foster local project ownership of ICDPs. The paper calls for the international donor community to reflect on and transform such management logic, and to allocate more substantial decision-making power and resources to local representatives.

Assessing the Risks of Risk Assessments: Institutional Tensions and Data Driven Judicial Decision-Making in U.S. Pretrial Hearings

Abstract Risk assessments, which are predictive technologies designed to augment organizational decision-making processes, are expanding globally. The use of risk assessments may lend legitimacy to official actors who routinely adjudicate highly consequential decisions alongside competing institutional pressures. But because these tools are laden with measurement errors, using them may also magnify institutional tensions and erode the legitimacy of official actors’ decision-making practices. In this article, I use interviews with judges in four large U.S. criminal courts to reveal how they strategically engaged with risk assessment scores to navigate tensions within and among different institutional logics. In pretrial hearings, judges selectively invoked risk scores to legitimate punitive sanctions that mitigated tensions from bureaucratic logics to process high caseloads with limited resources, legal logics to protect public safety and impose the least restrictive conditions, and political logics to follow the law while facing public scrutiny. I discuss the implications of these findings for future research on penal change and the uses of discretion in the age of big data.

Institutional Framework and Innovative Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of their Impact on Business Development in Colombia

This research delved into the analysis of the role of institutional entrepreneurship within the Colombian business context, focusing on the process of divergent change promoted by entrepreneurs. Following the theory of institutional entrepreneurship, it examined how entrepreneurs operating in non-privileged positions within highly regulated industries challenge established conventions by developing new ventures. The study was underpinned by qualitative research of a descriptive nature, implementing a design based on a review of existing literature. The results of this analysis revealed that the integration of traditional entrepreneurial skills with supplementary and complementary competencies, oriented towards new institutional logics, can constitute an effective strategy for entrepreneurial development in Colombia. Consequently, it is concluded that institutional entrepreneurship exerts a significant influence on entrepreneurial change within Colombia. This finding provides valuable insights for future research and for the design of policies to promote innovation and entrepreneurial development in the country.

Examining customer pressure and green supply chain management in emerging market: An institutional logics perspective

Employing contingency and configuration approach, this study explores the role of institutional logics in the relationship between customers' green expectations and firms' adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. The results of a survey of 310 supplier companies in China, an important emerging market, provide the empirical evidence for the coexistence of multiple institutional logics that are divergent from and almost incompatible with firms' GSCM practices. The multiple logics impose different and conflicting effects on the adoption of GSCM practices when responding to customers’ expectations. Thus, decisions about the adoption of GSCM practices are complicated and contingent on institutional logics. Despite advances in GSCM and rising customer expectations concerning sustainability and the environment, firms still struggle to engage suppliers. This study illuminates how multiple and competing institutional logics play a role in this area. Our results suggest that firms with predominantly cost logic are less likely to engage with GSCM compared to those with market or regulative logics.

Perceptions of e-lending in Scandinavian libraries: tension and harmony between institutional logics

ABSTRACT This study examines e-lending dynamics in Scandinavian public libraries, by exploring the relationship between libraries and publishing houses. We ask how representatives of both fields perceive the public library’s role. Public libraries and publishers have traditionally served different roles in the book sphere: the library as a key cultural policy institution providing access to information and culture, and the publishers as involved in the production of books, operating on commercial premises. This relationship is affected by the change from ownership to licensing of digital book collections, which occurs along with changes on the national book markets. As a theoretical and analytical tool, the study uses the institutional logics perspective to explore the relations between different perceptions. We argue that this relationship can be illuminated through the dynamics of public service logic, market logic and digital logic. The study is empirically based on 26 in-depth interviews interviews with representatives of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish major libraries and trade publishers. Findings indicate that the relationship is nuanced and multifaceted, more than if it relied on a simple opposition between the public and the market. Both libraries and publishers share a common understanding of public service and market logics; however, they differ in perceptions of library’s role which is amplified by digital logic. The study also indicates that e-lending dynamics are influenced by cultural policies but with different outcomes in the three countries.