Type Of Institutional Change Research Articles

Organizing the Swedish academic career 1955–2020: reforms and recurring problems in national policy discussion1

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes policy discussion regarding key developments in the national organization of the Swedish academic career during the period 1955–2020. In the 1950s, the academic career was highly regulated and state-planned with a few exclusive academic positions. In 2020, it has become essentially deregulated with universities themselves establishing employment positions. Four key developments are identified: the emergence of parallel careers, the expansion of external research funding, the dramatic increase in professors, and the deregulation of national policy on academic careers. The national policy discussions underpinning these developments are analysed with the help of a theoretical framework for explaining different types of institutional change. The paper shows that changes to the Swedish academic career were undertaken gradually over time, mainly by the layering of new rules over or alongside existing ones as a supplement. In addition, the paper shows that some problems with the academic career have been discussed repeatedly and that even where solutions have been set out, the problems seem to persist.

Colonization and different types of institutional change: findings from an ex-British colony

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes institutional change during the British colonial period (1878–1960) and briefly after independence in Cyprus and discusses different types of institutional transformations and the features of resulting institutions and the likely effects on organizations. By doing this, it aims to contribute to management and organization studies by adopting the view that institutionalization is an inherently historical process and may be better understood through historical analysis. The institutions considered are the legal system, education and industrial relations. Findings suggest that incremental processes of change led to both evolutionary and radical changes in institutions and that the type of institutional transformations included replacement, displacement and layering. Resulting institutions at the end of the colonial period are characterized by uniformity, bipolarism and diversity, and these features offer more ‘socioeconomic space’ for organizations to function in. Similar shifts in respective institutions are expected in other ex-colonies, and these institutional features are likely to differentiate, it is argued, ex-colonies from socioeconomically similar countries that did not go through colonial rule.

Institutional factors related to digital entrepreneurship by startups and SMEs in the Latin American context: Two cases in Brazil

AbstractDigital entrepreneurship relies not only on the individual entrepreneurs' skills and effort but also on rules and structures related to institutions, especially in developing contexts such as Latin America. Considering this, we analyse how institutional factors can affect digital entrepreneurship by SMEs and startups and what types of institutional changes are needed to support digital entrepreneurship by these companies. Based on institutional theory as a theoretical lens, we conducted two case studies in Brazil. The research results indicate that the digital entrepreneurial ecosystem's actors perform institutional work that generates changes related to the regulative, normative, and cultural/cognitive institutional pillars. These changes affect both the legitimacy of digital innovations created by SMEs and startups and the legitimacy of these companies as ecosystem players, which is vital for them to access the resources needed to innovate and thrive. Based on these results, we propose a theoretical framework and provide suggestions for practice and public policies related to digital entrepreneurship by SMEs and startups in the context studied.

Supranational authorities and private actors as drivers of single market integration? The state of the Union in electricity and banking

ABSTRACT The creation of a European Banking Union and a European Energy Union have been two high-profile integration projects in a decade characterised by multiple crises. While recent research has focused on the direct effects of crisis on European integration dynamics, less attention has been paid to policy outcomes of market integration in sectors such as banking and energy. To address this gap, the study examines how distinct paths of integration, and the types of institutional change they involve, translate into patterns of sectoral governance. Further, it analyses the consequences of diverging patterns of sectoral governance for policy outcomes, examining whether the existence of supranational coordination bodies and public–private interaction is conducive to market integration. The findings from the analysis of the banking and electricity sectors suggest that while we see resilience and renewed integration in institutional terms, the change affecting policy outcomes appears to be more limited.

Transformational Ability of Energy Network Companies: The Role of Institutional Logics and Boundary Spanners

Energy network companies play a vital role in energy transitions. The transformational ability of these companies influences the process of energy transitions and the effectiveness of policies in this domain. This study shows the need for managers of network companies as well as scholars and policy makers operating in the midst of energy transitions to acknowledge the importance and value of boundary spanners in improving the transformation ability of these companies to play their role in facilitating energy transitions. Evidence comes from an in-depth analysis of an energy network company in the Netherlands. Our findings show that the transformation ability of energy network companies depends on various instances of boundary spanning as these organizations address differing or conflicting intra- and inter-organizational institutional logics when contributing to an energy transition. In the context of energy transitions, inter-organizational boundary spanning generally demands more resources and attention than the spanning of intra-organizational boundaries. Additionally, intra-organizational boundaries affect inter-organizational relationships, particularly in the policy arena. Our findings indicate that to carry out the type of institutional change that an energy transition requires, more attention and resources should be dedicated to intra-organizational boundary spanning, even as the need to connect external stakeholders increases.

Post-Institutionalism in the XXI Century: Expanding, Experimenting, Philosophizing

Post-institutionalism is a promising direction in the study of institutions, developing the methodological ideas of critical institutionalism to build an extended institutional approach (in G. Hodgson's terminology). The mission of post-institutionalism is the development of interdisciplinary, complexity-centered methodologies for the analysis of institutions, allowing the development of institutional research beyond the framework of both new and original institutional theories. The article briefly outlines the logic of the creation and origins of the post-institutional theory, provides its methodological features, philosophical foundations, and guidelines for the research program. Post-institutionalists proceed from the fact that the methodological tools of both the new institutional economics and the traditional (“old”) institutionalism are inadequate to the tasks of understanding and explaining the qualitatively complicated institutions of late capitalism. Such institutions are internally heterogeneous, highly fluid, combine different coordinating principles (logics), their functions and boundaries are difficult to identify. The focus of special attention in post-institutional economics is assemblages – ​institutional systems that combine heterogeneous institutions with irreducible logics. Institutional assemblages are highly adaptive but also functionally redundant and conflict-prone. Bricolage is considered as the main type of institutional change in post-institutionalism, which is understood as the recombinant creation of institutions by a multitude of actors from the elements available in the access to solve current institutional problems. Institutional change agents are not only institutional entrepreneurs, but also institutional “workers”, i. e. ordinary actors in their daily routine. The main function of institutions from the point of view of post-institutionalism is not the minimization of transaction costs, but the creation of transaction value.

Beveridge, Bevan and institutional change in the UK welfare state

AbstractThis paper explores the changes to social security and health proposed in the Beveridge Report through the lens of the framework proposed by Mahoney and Thelen for exploring the relationship between political and institutional contexts, change‐agents and types of institutional change. We find that, in terms of social security, the Beveridge Report led to ‘layering’ in that it both built on an inherited legacy of institutions from the earlier Liberal Reforms. Although Beveridge assumed the existing of a national health service for his social security plans to work, he did not specify what form such a service could take. Bevan had the advantage of being a Minister of Health with a large government majority, but had to deal with both internal (in Cabinet) and external (primarily from the medical profession) attempts to veto his reforms. Bevan's changes to healthcare have to be seen in that context, as well as in relation to his own pragmatism, in converting the wartime Emergency Medical Service into the National Health Service. By utilising the full Mahoney and Thelen framework in two cases that were near contemporary with one another, but when contrasted with one another, we show the potential of the framework in cross‐case analysis in illuminating the relationship between political and institutional context, change‐agents, the type of change that results.

Gradual and Transformative Institutional Change: the influence of stakeholders and advocacy coalitions at the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant

Abstract This work analyzes the performance of stakeholders and advocacy coalitions in processes of gradual institutional change based on the case study of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant. The methodology adopts content analysis, using shorthand notes of hearings held in the National Congress, and other publicly available documents. In-depth semi-structured interviews were also conducted, collecting data from individuals involved in the history of the power plant. The study allowed to characterize stakeholders pro or against the enterprise, observing their degree of influence and the role played. In addition, the work used the Advocacy Coalition Framework to verify how stakeholders formed three advocacy coalitions and exerted the strategies of institutional change ‘displacement,’ ‘conversion,’ and ‘layering’ following the gradual and transformative institutional change model. Empirical evidence indicates that the composition of coalition members may determine the type of institutional change and that institutional changes can also result from learning among coalitions, as the incorporation of socio-environmental considerations that have altered the original design of the hydroelectric power plant.

Gradual and Transformative Institutional Change: the influence of stakeholders and advocacy coalitions at the Belo Monte Hydroelectric power plant

Abstract This work analyzes the performance of stakeholders and advocacy coalitions in processes of gradual institutional change based on the case study of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant. The methodology adopts content analysis, using shorthand notes of hearings held in the National Congress, and other publicly available documents. In-depth semi-structured interviews were also conducted, collecting data from individuals involved in the history of the power plant. The study allowed to characterize stakeholders pro or against the enterprise, observing their degree of influence and the role played. In addition, the work used the Advocacy Coalition Framework to verify how stakeholders formed three advocacy coalitions and exerted the strategies of institutional change ‘displacement,’ ‘conversion,’ and ‘layering’ following the gradual and transformative institutional change model. Empirical evidence indicates that the composition of coalition members may determine the type of institutional change and that institutional changes can also result from learning among coalitions, as the incorporation of socio-environmental considerations that have altered the original design of the hydroelectric power plant.

Layering and Displacement in Development Finance: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract This article explains why the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are likely to have differential effects on the rules governing development finance. I draw on principal-agent models in arguing that in these two institutions, the delegation problem facing the Chinese government is different and therefore associated with different types of institutional change. The fragmented-authoritarian nature of the Chinese state profoundly affects delegation in the BRI. In the AIIB, in contrast, the delegation is to an international organization and hence not materially affected by the fragmented authoritarian nature of the Chinese state. Drawing on historical-institutionalist approaches to gradual institutional change, the article argues that the AIIB is likely to lead to institutional layering, the BRI to institutional displacement in development financing.

IMAGINAÇÃO, TRANSGRESSÃO E FORMALIZAÇÃO: AÇÕES DO CONGRESSO E DO STF NA DEFINIÇÃO DE REGRAS DE TRAMITAÇÃO DE MEDIDAS PROVISÓRIAS

As regras constitucionais referentes à tramitação de medidas provisórias sofreram diversas mudanças desde a promulgação da Constituição de 1988. Algumas dessas mudanças foram formais, como é o caso da Emenda Constitucional 21 e outras informais. O artigo analisa quatro casos em que as regras foram alteradas informalmente, por meio de imaginação política ou transgressão. Ainda, busca-se dividir os casos de mudança institucional em quatro diferentes tipos, sendo eles: displacement, layering, drift ou conversion. Por fim, argumenta-se que o Supremo Tribunal Federal tem a palavra final sobre as disputas interpretativas, formalizando-as, em caso de imaginação, ou vetando-as em caso de transgressão.

ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНЫЕ ИЗМЕНЕНИЯ В ВЫСШЕМ ОБРАЗОВАНИИ

The system of management of educational institutions is one of the most controversial in the entire system of the modern Russian economy, which is due to the General crisis phenomena that are becoming particularly acute in the field of education, so today a systematic approach to the management of educational organizations has not been developed. Thus, 4-5% of the Russian state budget expenditures are allocated to support educational institutions. Legal problems are also added to the financial problems of education. In the Russian Federation, there are currently a number of mutually exclusive draft laws in the field of education. In addition, there are problems with training professional personnel to manage such organizations on a national scale. The article examines the factors that influence institutional changes; various types of institutional changes in higher education institutions, as well as ways to reflect them on the content component of these changes. In determining the functions of departments of educational institutions revealed the relationship of barriers to the interaction of employees with increasing their functionality, thereby increasing the level of conflict, and a shift in value orientations of educational activities aimed student on the importance of research activities aimed at the modern performance indicators of departments, which naturally affected the degree of satisfaction from doing it well. As part of the pilot study, models of management of educational structural divisions in higher education were identified, which have a significant impact on the performance of both a separate structural division and the entire educational organization as a whole.

Institutions under pressure: East Asian states, global markets and national firms

Institutions across East Asia are in flux as a result of market pressures and political shifts. Some changes have been adaptive while others appear to erode institutional capacity. This framework article introduces the Special Issue, developing an analytic synthesis of scholarship on institutional capacity and change. We focus on the role of markets and firms in bringing about different types of institutional change, and the reconfiguration of state roles to meet new challenges. Accounts of institutional change increasingly focus on incremental institutional change and specify different endogenous processes through which it occurs. We show that changes in the way markets are structured, or market shifts, are important sources of institutional change in East Asia. Such market shifts operate in different ways and geographical scales. They can alter actor preferences with regard to institutional form, produce a shift in the relative political influence of different actors, and prompt institutional ‘drift’ – change in the functionality of institutions due to changed circumstances. Both states and firms play a role in these changes. As the case studies in the collection show, states and firms in the region have both reacted to contextual shifts in markets and proactively led institutional change.

Tunisia’s Institutional Change after the Revolution

The Arab Uprisings started with the Tunisian revolution. These events brought the country to profound change, especially in its institutional asset. Relying on New Institutionalism theory and in particular on the Gradual Change Theory by Mahoney and Thelen, this paper analyses three fundamental dimensions of institutional change in order to establish which type of institutional change has occurred in post-revolution Tunisia. The paper looks at the characteristics of the institutions, the characteristics of the political context and the type of dominant change agent to determine the type of institutional change. In Tunisia, a low level of discretion in the interpretation of norms and rules, weak veto possibilities for the former regime supporters and an insurrection type of dominant change agent have resulted in a so-called “displacement” type of institutional change, where the removal of old rules is accompanied by the introduction of new ones.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Restorative Justice in Brazil.

The Brazilian prison population in 2016 had increased by more than 700%, compared with the situation in the early 1990s, from 90 thousand to 726.7 thousand. The ordinary response to prison overcrowding came through changes to the justice system, such as Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Restorative Justice. Although these new processes are socially relevant, there are few studies about them anywhere, but especially in Brazil. This study seeks to discuss the perceptions of Brazilian judges upon these new ways of dispensing justice from the perspective of institutional change theory. The data collection involved document analysis, court-hearing observations, and interviews with 14 key-actors in the Brazilian justice system. The results show four dimensions-beliefs, motivations, commitment, and intergroup relations-that characterize the roles played by Brazilian judges working with Therapeutic Jurisprudence and Restorative Justice. This movement can be classified as the modal type of institutional change called layering and "radical" frame blending.

The Political Economy of Collective Action and Radical Reform: A Proposed Conceptual Framework

Radical reform displaces social equilibria. It reorients key institutions and underlying mechanisms of coordination and enforcement. This paper presents a broad framework for analyzing radical reform in terms of a large set of collective-action problems faced by potential reformers. It merges concepts that often appear separately in the literature, including social preferences, power relationships, policy subsystems, institutional stability, types of institutional change, and types of agents. Relatively simple game-theoretic models offer a platform for depicting key interactions. Over time, these interactions follow a punctuated-equilibrium dynamic, within which incremental reforms sometimes sow the seeds for punctuation via radical reform. Punctuation unfolds as an information cascade of rapidly shifting perceptions and activity within a social network. Ultimately, this paper offers conceptual foundations for examining how activists occasionally succeed in instigating or facilitating radical reform — and why they so often fail. This framework can then spawn a host of more targeted models and multiple empirical hypotheses.

Institutional Changes and Income Inequality: Some Aspects of Economic Change and Evolution of Values in CEE Countries

This article examines the effects of institutional changes on the dynamics of income inequality in postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The results of a panel analysis suggest two types of institutional changes: endogenous, in the first period of transition, associated with worsening income distribution, and exogenous, in the second period of transition, associated with stabilization in income distribution. The persistence of high income inequality in the second period of transition is explained by a post-transitional tolerance for inequality, which reflects economic evolution but also indicates a possible evolution of values in CEE countries.

Explaining cross-regional policy variation in public sector reform: Institutions and change actors in the health sector in Spain

How can we explain cross-regional policy variation? That is, how can we understand different policy outcomes within similar institutional and organizational settings? Scholars have recently reflected on the new institutionalist explanatory pitfall involved in assuming a causality link between institutional factors and policy outcomes and argue that such link needs to rely on evidence from policy variables. On this line, recent contributions have built a causal model that links types of institutional change to types of actors' roles and strategies, within particular contextual and organizational scenarios that favor or hinder their emergence. This paper pursues this explanatory interest by applying this model to the analysis of how decision-making by two regional governments in Spain has led to different institutional and policy change outcomes in the same policy sector, namely, public management reform in healthcare. This study confirms the explanatory relevance of the model's key variables, but provides evidence of how some of them may be reinterpreted to provide a dynamic explanation of their influence on the process and outcome of institutional and policy change.

Emerging market entry and institutional change – three Swedish manufacturing firms in China between 1980 and 2010

Firms enter emerging markets to capture untapped opportunity and pursue high growth potential. Yet emerging markets are also characterized by unstable institutions that may affect firms' market entry behavior. Although most existing studies have taken a rather short-term and static perspective to addressing foreign market entry, we specifically draw on the Uppsala internationalization process model and use a long-term approach to examine the China market entry of three Swedish firms in terms of their market knowledge and market commitment. We argue that the relation between institutional change in the host market and the market entry behavior of a particular firm evolves over time. The findings also show that the type of institutional change, as well as the accumulated market knowledge and commitments firms have made, can influence the relation between them.

The Winds (and Walls) of Change: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Entrepreneurship in the Midst of Reform

The analogy of ‘letting a thousand flowers bloom’ leads to a perspective that institutional change should focus on making it easier to become an entrepreneur. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework that links the attributes of institutional change and its local context with the nature of entrepreneurship and implications for firm performance. Contributing to the institutional theory literature, the framework offers a compelling deviation from our traditional view that more entrepreneurship is always better. It highlights that there are several distinct types of institutional changes that influence entrepreneurship by at times unexpected consequences. The framework leads to a novel view that we may be able to alter the nature of the entrepreneurial firms in society and their performance through careful reforms in institutions. This framework also contributes to research on entrepreneurial firms by offering a view of how the role of new actors entering the market, the type of institution ushering such change, and the local context in which the change occurs all present rich opportunities to understand the dynamics between institutions and entrepreneurs.