Between advocacy,compliance and commitment: A multilevel analysis of institutional logics in work environment management

In this study we explore the development and enactment of institutional logics in the field of work environment management. We show how three historically developed logics constitute different values and practices that guide professionals’ organizational action. Using both historical and contemporary qualitative data, we show how the three institutional logics are present in the field of work environment, and how the logics are enacted simultaneously by actors within four large organizations in Denmark. The study contributes to the literature on institutional logics. The logics perspective is combined with critical realism to describe the inter-relatedness between the levels of society, institutional fields, and organizations, and by elaborating the near-decomposable relations between institutional logics and orders. The study contributes to the literature on work environment management by investigating the ideational lenses through which regulations and interventions are perceived by organizational actors, and how these perceptions may lead to different organizational outcomes and outlooks in work environment management.     

From National Service to Global Player: Transforming the Organizational Logic of a Public Broadcaster

We present organizational logics as a meso‐level construct that lies between institutional theory's field‐level logics and the sense‐making activities of individual agents in organizations. We argue that an institutional logic can be operationalized empirically using the concept of a discourse – that is, a coherent symbolic system articulating what constitutes legitimate, reasonable, and effective conduct in, around, and by organizations. An organization may, moreover, be simultaneously exposed to several institutional logics that make up its broader ideational environment. Taking these three observations together enables us to consider an organizational logic as a spatially and temporally localized configuration of diverse discourses. We go on to show how organizational logics were transformed in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1953 and 1999 by examining the changing discourses that appeared in the Corporation's annual reports. We argue that these discourses were modified through three main forms of discursive agency: (1) undertaking acts of ironic accommodation between competing discourses; (2) building chains of equivalence between the potentially contradictory discourses; and (3) reconciling new and old discourses through pragmatic acts of ‘bricolage’. We found that, using these forms of discursive agency, a powerful coalition of actors was able to transform the dominant organizational logic of the ABC from one where the Corporation's initial mission was to serve national interests through public service to one that was ultimately focused on participating in a globalized media market. Finally, we note that discursive resources could be used as the basis for resistance by less powerful agents, although further research is necessary to determine exactly how more powerful and less powerful agents interact around the establishment of an organizational logic.     

Affordances for practice

This paper argues that Gibson's concept of affordance inserts a powerful conceptual lens for the study of sociomateriality as enacted in contemporary organizational practices. Our objective in this paper is to develop a comprehensive view of affordances that builds upon the existing conceptualizations in the psychology, human–computer interaction, sociology and information systems literatures and extend them in three important ways. First, we show that taking an integrative interpretation of affordance as dispositional and relational, rather than the standard unidimensional interpretation, provides a theoretical articulation of how the material and the social influence each other. Second, we propose to broaden the focus from the affordances of technology to the affordances for practice provided jointly by technology and organizing. This means considering social affordances alongside technological affordances. Finally, we argue that the best way to integrate the study of social and technological affordances is not to stretch Gibson's original concept to include the social but rather to complement it with a sociological concept that fits it neatly: Bourdieu's idea of habitus. Our claim is that the concepts of affordance and habitus complement and complete each other. Affordance offers a useful way of thinking about how practice is patterned by the social and physical construction of technology and the material environment and habitus offers a useful way of thinking about how practice is patterned by social and symbolic structures. We describe how affordances and habitus may be used together to provide a theoretical apparatus to study practice as a sociomaterial entanglement, thus adding to the methodological toolkit of scholars embracing a sociomaterial perspectives.     

Institutional distance and international networking

We focus on how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adapt to differences in institutional logics (values, beliefs, and rules) in their networking when they enter an institutionally distant market. We address gaps in the literature, relating to the role of institutional logics in SME internationalization, and how institutional distance affects the formation of network ties. We show how the social interaction involved in internationalization is embedded in the institutional logics followed by partnering actors. Specifically, we demonstrate how institutional distance may constrain the networking activities of SMEs and identify practices that may support successful internationalization.     

The Improbability of Fraud in Accounting for Derivatives: A Case Study on the Boundaries of Financial Reporting Compliance

ABSTRACT

This study responds to recent calls in the literature to examine fraud using detailed case studies, extending knowledge beyond individual incentives and capital market reactions towards a more contextualized understanding of the concept. We use an institutional logics perspective to challenge existing assumptions about a universally valid meaning of compliance, fraud, and faithful representation. Presenting the case of the Swedish bank HQ, we show how the interpretation of the accounting standard for option measurement varies across different enforcement bodies because the meaning of compliance is socially negotiated across the institutional logics of markets, financial regulation, and law. The independent decision-making of the different enforcement bodies leads to a systematic variation in the interpretation of principles-based accounting standards without ultimate coordination. To define consistent boundaries of compliance across institutional logics, and thus, to distinguish between fraud and allowable managerial discretion becomes problematic. Faithful representation, in turn, cannot be understood as financial statements reflecting a correct value or as financial statements being prepared in accordance with acceptable practice, as suggested in the earlier literature. Instead, faithful representation itself becomes a contextually bound concept, which can only be defined within an institutional logic.     

Institutional Logics in Police Performance Indicator Development: A Comparative Case Study of Spain and Finland

Police performance is not easily measurable and the organization and circumstances of police work vary among European countries. Further, police work is surrounded by multiple pressures to make it both economical and effective. Consequently, there are multiple institutional logics in decision-making which may affect the selection and the use of police key performance indicators (KPIs). The KPI selection and use processes reflect the institutional logics, though KPI use may also sometimes influence the institutional logics of police work. In this study, we analyze the KPIs and institutional logics in police work in Finland and Spain. A comparative case research approach is used in order to highlight the differences in institutional logic emphases and in circumstances. Data from semi-structured interviews, internet reports, project work, and discussions are used. Both similarities and differences in the KPIs and in the institutional logic emphasis are found between the Finnish and Spanish police. Understanding the partly general and partly locally constructed nature of institutional logics may facilitate the development of police work performance measurement. We also suggest ways of coping with multiple institutional logics. For example, risk analyses and selecting KPIs against the current institutional logic may facilitate organizational developments.     

Entrepreneurial logics for a technology of foolishness

Several years ago Professor March pointed out that rational choice involves two guesses, a guess about uncertain future consequences and a guess about uncertain future preferences, and called for the development of a technology of foolishness to complement the technologies of intelligence that have been developed to improve the first guess. In this essay we use empirical data from two separate studies of entrepreneurial expertise, one involving the creation of new ventures and the other the birth of a new industry to identify three logics that constitute working elements of a technology of foolishness: (1) the logic of identity, as opposed to the logic of preferences; (2) the logic of action, as opposed to the logic of belief; and (3) the logic of commitment, as opposed to the logic of transaction.     

Are firms with state ownership greener? An institutional complexity view

This study investigates the role of state ownership in green innovation from the institutional complexity viewpoint. We posit that state ownership can be characterised by two seemingly competing logics: institutional logic, which emphasises that firms with state ownership can acquire resources to promote innovation; and efficiency logic, which states that firms with state ownership have low resource utilisation effectiveness. On the basis of the integration of both views, we suggest a U‐shaped curvilinear relationship between state ownership and green innovation. Data from Chinese listed firms from 2003 to 2015 confirm our hypothesis. Moreover, we also find two macro‐level contingencies that moderate this relationship: regional innovation readiness and industrial competition. The U‐shaped relationship between state ownership and green innovation is more pronounced when regional innovation readiness and industrial competition are higher. This study advances previous research on environmental innovation by arguing that state ownership is characterised by institutional complexity rather than being a monolithic construct.     

Coherent identities and roles? Hybrid professional managers’ prioritizing of coexisting institutional logics in differing contexts

This article explores how hybrid professional managers relate to coexisting institutional logics in their everyday work. It examines coherence between the logic that informs managers’ identity and that prioritized in their role. By comparing interview data from managers in two settings, a faith-based hospital and a religious organization, this article analyses primary and secondary identities and roles. Findings show that experiences of coexisting logics differ according to the organizational context. Hospital managers identify with a managerial logic in both their identity and role. A professional logic informs church managers’ identity, yet they prioritize a managerial logic in their role. The article proposes a model that links hybrid professional managers’ identities and roles with a framework of coexisting logics proposed earlier.     

Do entrepreneurs from institutionally distinct countries apply different decision logic when internationalizing their companies? A multiple-case analysis

Literature on entrepreneurs’ decision logic has either focused on effectuation or causation, lacking comparison and analysis of logics when founders come from different institutional environments. This paper presents an exploratory study examining the behaviors, beliefs, and decisions of entrepreneurs (all typical drivers for new market entries), considering those institutional differences. Research was based on the comparison of two case studies of young software companies, one from Brazil and one from Germany, each founded by two entrepreneurs with similar academic and professional backgrounds. Results indicate that apparently, business environment affects founders’ decision logics with much more strength than the institutional environment.     

Institutional logics and innovation in times of crisis: Telemedicine as digital ‘PPE’

How do crises shape digital innovation? In this paper we examine the rapid adoption of digital telemedicine technologies in an Israeli hospital with a focus on the role of the institutional logics held by the stakeholders responding to emerging events. With the onset of COVID-19, the need for social distancing and minimal physical contact challenged and interrupted hospital practices. In response, remote audio-visual functionality of digital technologies were appropriated in different ways, as stakeholders – state actors, managers, health professionals, and family members – sought to improvise and enhance the protection of persons concerned. We show how emerging practices were guided by the dominant institutional logics of stakeholders responding to the crisis. Acting for many as a digital form of ‘personal protective equipment’ (PPE), the technologies enabled diverse action possibilities to become manifest in practices. We add to understanding the role of institutional logics in directing the attention of stakeholders to shape digital innovation in times of crisis.     

A Blessing and a Curse: Institutional Embeddedness of Longstanding MNE Subsidiaries in Emerging Markets

This article examines the institutional strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in an emerging market, drawing attention to how longstanding foreign subsidiaries proactively negotiate their involvement with socio-political actors. We build on institutional logics to explain how MNE subsidiaries develop sustained political, cultural, and cognitive embeddedness. Using an inductive, interpretive study of four century-old Dutch MNE subsidiaries with a colonial legacy in Indonesia, we examine these three dimensions of the institutional environment, finding that local employees embedded in both the MNE and the host country sets of logics ‒ rather than expatriate managers ‒ most effectively facilitated sustained institutional embeddedness. Our findings also suggest that embedding practices in host institutional contexts and developing structures that align with host institutional expectations provided a platform for the unfolding of institutional strategies by local employees. However, MNE subsidiaries face contrasting logics between home and host country institutions, placing significant strains on MNEs’ ability to enact change.     

社会价值、经济价值与社会企业创业策略的选择 ——基于制度逻辑理论的案例研究

社会企业在创业过程中如何选择市场逻辑与公益逻辑,以平衡社会价值和经济价值之间的冲突,促进企业的可持续发展?其作用机理是怎样的?影响不同逻辑选择背后的因素是什么?基于制度逻辑视角,以三家典型社会企业为研究对象,对上述问题进行了研究,发现:①相对于单一的公益逻辑、单一的市场逻辑,混合逻辑是社会企业最佳的创业策略,可以很好地...     

Lost in delegation? (Dis)organizing for sustainability

Using actor-networks as our conceptual lens for appreciating complex sociomaterial interdependencies, we explore how a vision to “do things differently” for sustainability becomes enacted and significantly diluted at a major brownfield development project in the UK. We show how visions for sustainability can become substantially delegated into a range of specialised and functionally differentiated practices, with nonhuman mediators producing significant agency. Additionally, extending actor-network approaches, we develop the concept of localised hybridity to consider how the possibilities for progressive sustainability practices are interdependent with mediators in other ‘locals’ across times and spaces. We suggest that greater reflexive attention and inquiry to the types of relational work required to form alliances with nonhuman mediators is crucial to realise visions for sustainability.     

HRM institutional entrepreneurship for sustainable business organizations

As businesses experience greater pressures from a variety of stakeholders concerned with promoting a balanced approach to managing the competing demands for increased profitability, improved social conditions, and restoring the health of planet earth, new opportunities arise for HRM scholars and professionals to contribute to the pursuit of sustainability. However, the foundational logic of sustainability diverges significantly from the dominant perspective in today's business environment. Building upon the institutional theory literature, we introduce the concept of HRM institutional entrepreneurship to examine the paradoxes and emerging opportunities associated with the urgent need for more sustainable approaches for managing business organizations. As a guide to future work, we describe how the actions of HRM scholars and professionals can stimulate evolution from an HRM philosophy that relies on financial indicators to assess effectiveness towards an HRM philosophy that promotes a tripartite approach to sustainability, showing equal concern for economic, environmental and social performance. Focusing on organizational changes that improve environmental performance, we apply the concept of HRM institutional entrepreneurship to consider ways for HRM professionals to engage internal and external stakeholders in order to create value in organizations pursuing sustainability. Ultimately, activities that constitute HRM institutional entrepreneurship for sustainable business drive the development of capabilities that characterize ambidextrous organizations.     

我国农民工住房的制度化困境研究——基于多重制度逻辑的视角

改革开放以来,我国农民工的住房问题是一个历久弥新的话题。农民工的住房制度嵌入于多元化制度场域中,其背后隐含着国家逻辑、政府逻辑、市场逻辑和生存逻辑,并且这四种逻辑相互交织和互动,最终导致农民工面临着住房制度化困境。因此,需要加强住房制度的顶层设计,并构建新的制度逻辑,达成农民工住房的多重制度逻辑间的动态平衡。     

Institutional theory and HRM: A new look

The context of HRM is important but undertheorized (Paauwe, 2009) and subsequently underresearched (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014). We offer two recent perspectives of institutional theory—institutional logics and institutional work—as theoretical lenses through which scholars can explore the influence of institutional context on HRM and more intriguingly the influence of HRM professionals on their institutional contexts. Though others have introduced institutional theory to HRM scholarship (e.g. Paauwe & Boselie, 2003), we bring a conceptualization of institutional theory that reflects its advances over the last fifteen years, advances highly relevant to HRM scholars. While previous conceptualizations of institutional theory focus on the direct constraint of institutions on HRM, institutional logics emphasizes complexity, multilevel dynamics, and agency. Similarly, institutional work addresses agency at the day-to-day level, exploring how actors create, maintain, and disrupt the institutional contexts in which they are embedded. Directions for HRM research are discussed.     

Through the Looking‐Glass: The Impact of Regional Institutional Logics and Knowledge Pool Characteristics on Opportunity Recognition and Market Entry

This study investigates how regional variations in institutions and knowledge pools impact new firm entry into emerging industry sectors. Using the cleantech industry sector as a research context, we hypothesize and find that supportive regional institutional logics – shared meaning systems in a community that confer legitimacy upon particular goals and practices – generate cognitive schemas (mental models) that facilitate opportunity recognition and increase new firm entry rates. Drawing from research on socially situated cognition, we demonstrate that supportive institutional logics have a greater impact on new firm entry when a regional knowledge pool is larger, but a reduced impact on new firm entry when the knowledge pool is more specialized. These findings integrate previously distinct perspectives from institutional theory and knowledge economics, while contributing to research on how new industry sectors emerge.     

Does Illegitimate Corporate Behaviour Follow the Forms of Polity? The Turkish Experience

In this study, we argue that illegitimate corporate actions can not only be strategic responses to the conflicting technical and institutional demands at the field level but also manifestations of the contradictory higher‐order institutional logics at the polity level. By focusing on the statist polity, somewhat neglected by the new institutional theory, we argue that the contradictory nationalist and capitalist institutional logics in the statist polity generate illegitimate corporate actions. We also propose that uncertainties and opportunities created by statist polity characteristics such as weak policy‐making capacity, neopatrimonialism, and clientelism lead to illegitimate corporate actions by triggering conflict between nationalism and capitalism. To demonstrate this, we examine the Turkish case, by focusing particularly on a recent example of illegitimate corporate action, namely the pursuit of non‐operating revenues. The case supports our arguments. It implies that illegitimate corporate behaviours may be ‘institutionalized’ as continuously reproduced by the actors embedded in a polity. It also implies that the impression management techniques to legitimate illegitimate behaviours may vary according to the forms of polity. Finally, it suggests that organizations may adopt hybrid missions as a survival strategy in a contradictory and uncertain business environment, paradoxically ultimately restricting their competitive capacities.