Microfoundations of institutional change: Contrasting institutional sabotage to entrepreneurship

This paper addresses little understood microfoundations of institutionally driven organizational change and utilizes an institutional‐conflict‐based approach to examine innovation in organizational forms. Using a two‐case comparative analysis, we longitudinally examine the antecedents, mechanisms, and success/failure of attempts at change by institutional entrepreneurs. We analyze and develop theoretical insights on the interplay between internal political processes and external competitive actions in the creation of innovation in organizational forms and the subsequent legitimacy struggles through which an organizational field evolves in a sports (cricket) business context. We draw implications for institutional actors by observing patterns in organizational and institutional evolution in such contexts. We contribute to institutional entrepreneurship literature by developing a nuanced process model of success and failure in institutional entrepreneurship. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Institutional entrepreneurs' social mobility in organizational fields

This study examines how institutional entrepreneurs with marginalized social positions use institutional change to become more influential members of organizational fields. We analyze how the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) used rhetoric to garner more influence as it altered a key sourcing practice in the retail home-improvement field. Our findings indicate that RAN relied on three rhetorical practices, comprising an encompassing process, to cultivate positive associations between the new sourcing practices and its social position in the field. Overall, by specifying a marginalized entrepreneur's methods for leveraging one type of change to enact another, we enhance theory at the intersection of institutional entrepreneurship, institutional work, and rhetoric.     

The Controversy over Montréal: The creation of the Outgames in the field of gay and lesbian sports

The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GBLT) sports industry has grown substantially over the last few decades. A major change occurred in this field in 2004, after the Montréal 2006 Gay Games organizing committee could not resolve its conflict with the Federation of Gay Games. We examined how such conflicts begin, get resolved, and influence organizational fields using the concept of institutional conflict. We focused on two types of conflicts: contradictions between organizational identity and image of GLBT sport associations, and struggles for governance and institutional leadership within the field of GLBT sport. We found that conflicts between individuals and groups are often the result of conflicts between organizing principles and governance arrangements. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MNE practice transfer as a process of institutional change

We build upon current theory on strategic organizational practice transfer in multinational firms by incorporating the agency of actors and applying an institutional lens to the transfer process. Our theoretical analysis suggests that practice transfer is a process of institutional change that leads not only to practice adoption, adaptation, or nonadoption, but also to reconstruction. We argue that when contradictions exist within and across institutional environments, misaligned interests motivate actors to engage in praxis. As a parent‐subsidiary coalition, these actors reconstruct the practice by transcending the multitude of institutional environments that comprise the institutional system. Our process theory provides insight into how less powerful subsidiary actors engage in praxis to extend knowledge and build new capabilities within the firm. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the multi-level processes of legitimacy in transnational social enterprises

Transnational entrepreneurship has emerged as a form of migrants' participation in the social, economic, and political lives of both their countries of origin and of residence. Leveraging increasing evidence about migrants' involvment in transnational social enterprises, we examine the multi-level processes through which organizational legitimacy is molded by transnational entrepreneurs to reflect country-level institutional settings, and how organizational-level legitimacy affects entrepreneurs' social status. We longitudinally examine the multi-level processes of legitimation in a transnational social enterprise operated by Ghanaian migrants across Italy and Ghana. We analyze secondary and ethnographic data for two years, observing how transnational social enterprises harvest moral and pragmatic legitimacy from the institutional contexts in which they operate. We study how entrepreneurs construe their social status through pragmatic legitimacy obtained from their transnational ventures, and their institutional environments inspired by micro- and meso legitimacy reconfigurations. We discuss theoretical implications for social and transnational entrepreneurship and practical contributions for policy-making.     

Opportunities and institutions: A co-creation story of the king crab industry

If entrepreneurs are constrained and shaped by existing institutions, how? If entrepreneurs products and services, how can institutions remain unchanged? This paper explores this theoretical conundrum empirically through the examination of the actions of entrepreneur Lowell Wakefield. Contrary to previous work that suggests that it is institutional entrepreneurs that bring about institutional change as a means of advancing their social interests, this paper shows that a profit-seeking entrepreneur without prior institutional affiliation or experience can create an opportunity along with the supporting industry standards and regulations.     

Venture distress and problemistic search among entrepreneurs in Brazilian favelas

When do entrepreneurs in emerging markets seek out help from organizational sponsors? Problemistic search theory suggests that entrepreneurs will seek out sponsors in moments of venture distress. However, this theory was developed in the context of large organizations; it is not clear how it might apply to entrepreneurs in resource-constrained contexts. We use three inductive studies conducted in favelas in Brazil to examine when entrepreneurs seek help. Consistent with problemistic search theory, we find evidence that entrepreneurs seek out help from organizational sponsors in moments of venture distress. We also explore what types of entrepreneurs are most likely to seek help in a situation of venture distress and find that entrepreneurs who are more socially embedded and have more social obligations are more likely to take up sponsorship services, leading to important heterogeneity in our results on take-up. We find that women, more mature ventures, and middle-aged entrepreneurs are all more likely to engage in problemistic search. We contribute to a more contextualized theory of problemistic search for small entrepreneurs in emerging markets. We also provide important theoretical and practical insights about the demand-side of organizational sponsorship.     

Leaders and Laggards: The Influence of Competing Logics on Corporate Environmental Action

We study the sources of resistance to change among firms in the Canadian petroleum industry in response to a shift in societal level logics related to corporate environmental performance. Despite challenges to its legitimacy as a result of poor environmental performance, the Canadian petroleum industry was divided as to how to respond, with some members ignoring the concerns and resisting change (i.e., laggards) while others took action to ensure continued legitimacy (i.e., leaders). We examine why organizations within the same institutional field responded differently, delaying the industry response. We found that one population of firms was aligned with increasing pressures from its stakeholders for improved environmental performance, and the other was influenced by local cultural, political, and economic ideals less demanding of environmental actions. Our results reveal that several factors both at the institutional field level and the organizational level affected how these two populations reacted to a changing societal logic. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.     

Socially responsible entrepreneurs: What do they do to create and build their companies?

This paper examines 30 entrepreneurs who created profitable companies, and who were also exemplary in their efforts towards social responsibility. It examines their management practices to understand how these socially responsible entrepreneurs created and built their companies. The study reveals that these socially responsible entrepreneurs founded their companies, at least in part, to achieve idealistic objectives, and pursued financial and non-financial objectives simultaneously. Most avoided financing from institutional sources, hired employees for their shared values, and shrewdly leveraged their social identities to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Many of these entrepreneurs made unusual efforts to create a strong organizational culture and implement sustainable operational processes to meet their self-imposed ethical standards. These socially responsible entrepreneurs gave a substantial amount of their profits to causes of their choosing, and volunteered themselves as role models for other businesses and entrepreneurs to follow.     

Drivers of CSR anchoring in transition economies: Evidence from Poland

We examine the drivers of corporate social responsibility anchoring in Poland, a country that has undergone a profound transition from a command economy to a free market system. We use a fine-grained theoretical framework to understand the influence of the interactions between regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive aspects of institutions with firm organizational factors on the diffusion of corporate social responsibility. We show that, in Poland, companies use their slack resources to adopt corporate social responsibility only when facing strong normative or regulative institutional pressures in their organizational fields. When such pressures are absent, companies prefer value-enhancing functions of their resources other than investing in corporate social responsibility. We propose a multilevel approach for studying drivers of corporate social responsibility and show how the importance of organizational-level drivers emerges clearly only if the interactions with institutional-level features are considered. The main policy implication of our study is that corporate social responsibility may establish in Poland, as well as in other Eastern Europe countries, provided that designed and formalized institutional processes reach relevant organizational fields. Furthermore, we find that, for business managers, employing financial slack for social responsibility projects may be perceived as institutionally legitimate or not depending on the type of institutional pressures prevailing in each organizational field.     

The higher returns to formal education for entrepreneurs versus employees

How valuable is formal education for entrepreneurs’ income relative to employees’? And if the income returns to formal education are different for entrepreneurs vis-à-vis employees, what might be a plausible explanation? To explore these questions, we analyze a large representative US panel. We show that entrepreneurs have higher returns to formal education than employees. We refer to this as the entrepreneurship returns puzzle. We run post hoc analyses to explore a number of potential explanations of this puzzle. Indirectly, our analysis indicates that the higher returns to formal education for entrepreneurs might be due to the fewer organizational constraints they face, leading to more personal control over how to use their human capital, compared to employees.     

Entrepreneurs' responses to semi-formal illegitimate institutional arrangements

While prior research has discussed how entrepreneurs deal with formal institutional voids and informal institutional environments, little is known about how entrepreneurs respond to institutional arrangements involving illegitimate actors. We define such arrangements as semi-formal illegitimate institutions. Using an exploratory study, we examine one such arrangement in Guatemala City, where organized crime dominates the institutional landscape in which entrepreneurs operate. We examine the strategic responses of these entrepreneurs, and find that they vary in the extent to which they resist semi-formal illegitimate institutions; some entrepreneurs engage in defiance, others avoid the illegitimate pressures, while others simply acquiesce. Upon further investigation, we find that the differences in entrepreneurs' network strength and network proximity, combined with their individual perception of threat and resource mobility, help to predict the different strategic responses.     

Gender and climate change: A sustainable tourism perspective

The aim of this article is to examine whether female tourism entrepreneurs are more interested in climate change than male entrepreneurs are as part of their focus on sustainable entrepreneurial endeavors. A qualitative study of female tourism entrepreneurs is examined that focuses on three main climate change strategies: conservative, compliant, and proactive. The findings suggest that female tourism entrepreneurs are more influenced by their social circle and general interest in environmental issues that lead them to focus on climate change actions. The results of this study will help tourism providers, businesses, government, and the community better understand the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship. Climate change is a topic of immense interest in society particularly for those in the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism entrepreneurs often focus on climate change action as a way to compete in the global marketplace and to derive a competitive advantage. Less well understood is the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship particularly in terms of perceptions around climate change action.     

Crescive entrepreneurship in complex social problems: Institutional conditions for entrepreneurial engagement

This paper explores entrepreneurship in the context of complex social problems (often referred to as ‘social’ entrepreneurship). Most management research in this area studies the entrepreneurs; we explore the institutional conditions which frame the likelihood of entrepreneurial engagement. We name these conditions ‘crescive’ and, following A.O. Hirschman's studies on institutional conditions for development we identify two analytically different sets of conditions: those that can stir up actors' motivations to engage and those that can alter their decision making logic. Our exploration of crescive conditions yields a novel conceptual model for entrepreneurial engagement in the context of complex social problems, which we label ‘crescive entrepreneurship’ and place in a space between functionalist and institutional action.     

产业耦合、区域异质性与新零售组织场域

新零售业态发展受制于零售业与物流业耦合状况。两业耦合约束下，如何构建新零售组织场域是深化零售业变革以提升经济效率的重要现实问题。文章首先量化分析中国东、中和西部区域零售业与物流业耦合关系及其协调发展水平；其次提出考虑区域异质性下的新零售制度创业优势路径，并剖析新零售组织场域建构过程及其逻辑。研究发现：(1)中国零售业与物流业处于正向非对称共生状态，且共生度表现明显的区域差异；(2)零售业与物流业耦合互动状况整体不佳，东部协调水平最高，总体处于中度协调阶段，西部协调水平最低，处于勉强协调阶段；(3)东、中和西部理应分别建构平台服务商、实体零售商和物流服务商主导下的新零售组织场域；(4)三种新零售组织场域形成过程中的制度创业、集体行动、合法性建立以及新旧制度联动变迁等组织行为逻辑存在差异。研究结论为推进中国新零售业态持续健康发展提供理论支撑和实践启示。     

Industrial clusters, transactions costs and the institutional determinants of MNE location behaviour

This paper discusses the institutional and organizational assumptions underlying many of the currently popular notions of industrial clustering. By adopting a transactions costs perspective, we explain that there are three fundamentally different types of industrial cluster. We then discuss how the institutional differences between each of these clusters provide different possibilities for the location behaviour of the multiplant or multinational firm. Using two examples from the global semiconductor industry, we show that observations of industrial clusters must be interpreted very carefully when we are discussing multinational firms. The reason for this is that many simple clustering notions are predicated on assumptions which are often incompatible with multinational firms. The potential advantages of industrial clustering can only be understood when location strategies are considered with respect to the organizational and institutional logic of both the firm and the cluster.     

The evaluative legitimacy of social entrepreneurship in capitalist welfare systems

Social entrepreneurs start ventures to tackle social problems, and these ventures have the potential to outperform other social service providers in welfare states. We leverage theories of legitimacy and Varieties of Capitalism to examine national experts’ (N = 361) assessments of the efficiency of social enterprises relative to state and civil society. Our multilevel analysis across 11 welfare states shows that social enterprises are perceived as a more efficient solution to social problems when a liberal or socialist logic dominates a given state’s market coordination and social welfare provision. However, when institutional logics are in conflict, the assigned legitimacy of social entrepreneurship is diminished.     

Staying poor: Unpacking the process of barefoot institutional entrepreneurship failure

Research on barefoot entrepreneurship is growing, yet we still know little about the potential limits of institutional entrepreneurship in the context of extreme poverty. Challenging institutional entrepreneurship theory's agency-centric assumptions, we seek to understand how barefoot institutional entrepreneurship efforts fail amidst resistance from powerful actors in the institutional context. Our qualitative study of marginalized waste pickers in Colombia sheds light on the role of power in barefoot institutional entrepreneurship failure. We unpack a paradox of inclusion: the more marginalized barefoot entrepreneurs push for and gain regulatory legitimacy for their market inclusion, the more this accentuates overt and covert power mechanisms that work to suppress the diffusion of institutional change, aggravating barefoot entrepreneurs' market exclusion. Our study shows that while regulatory change is necessary to enhance barefoot entrepreneurs' market inclusion, on its own it is not sufficient, without normative and cognitive support from powerful actors in the institutional field.     

Rural Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: Reading Institutional Perspectives from Entrepreneur Stories

Rural entrepreneurs are of extreme importance in China's progress toward a more market‐oriented economy as the vast majority of Chinese live in rural areas. From an institutional perspective and based on content analysis of 91 publicly published stories about rural Chinese entrepreneurs broadcast by China Central Television, this paper addresses several key aspects of rural entrepreneurship in China and specifically probes into how different institutional elements (i.e., regulative, normative, and cognitive components) affect the strategic behaviors of rural Chinese entrepreneurs. We found that due to weak regulatory protection of intellectual rights, rural entrepreneurs in China tend to work on innovations on their own or with close family members instead of collaborating with external sources; these entrepreneurs use guanxi strategically to deal with constraints from the institutional environment; it is important to build legitimacy by either building alliances with large, established firms, or acquiring approval from people of authority.     

From Caring Entrepreneur to Caring Enterprise: Addressing the Ethical Challenges of Scaling up Social Enterprises

This paper advances the conception of social entrepreneurs as caring entrepreneurs. We argue that the care ethics of social entrepreneurs, implying the pursuit of caring goals through caring processes, can be challenged when they engage in the process of scaling up their ventures. We propose that social entrepreneurs can sustain their care ethics as the essential dimension of their venture only if they are able to build a caring enterprise. Organizational care designates the set of organizing principles that facilitate the embedding of care ethics at an organizational level, beyond the imprinting induced by social entrepreneurs’ personal ethics.