IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nos/syljne/14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resolving epistemological issues in theoretical and methodological apparatus of institutional theories of organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Aksom Herman

    (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv)

  • Chornyi Anton

    (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv)

Abstract

Agency-structure debate has become one of the central issues in modern organizational sociology and the most problematic theoretical area in institutional analysis. Since then researchers in new institutional sociology have focused on bringing agency and interests back in the theory that views rationality and motives as historically and culturally embedded and constructed by their institutional environments. To date, the most prospective theory is fashion perspective that sees interests and beliefs to be socially constructed and shaped by institutional forces. Accordingly, diffusion and adoption of administrative innovations is nothing but a result of these beliefs generated by institutional effects. Therefore the object of research is the essentiality of fashion management theory taking into account its ontological and epistemological characteristics. One of the most problematic areas is understanding the way institutions and fashions can be conceptualized upon the same mechanisms of emergence, reproduction and development. This paper attempts to clarify and resolve these two streams of literature by attending social construction perspective and revisiting its central tenets. Specifically, the present study put forward arguments that it is not homogeneity or symbolic pragmatic conformity should be the main units of analysis but the meanings that individuals attach to technical structures and elements; not the trajectories and waves of popularity of ideas and structures but the way subjective judgments and interpretations acquire objective status and eclipse former technical foundations. Based on logical generalization and morphological analysis, it is offered to reduce the conceptualization of institutions and organizations back from agency-centered depiction and strategic-perspective towards over-socialized picture with adequately addresses the prevalence of macro-level forces over micro-level individuals. It is concluded that neither former institutional theory nor its modern alternatives should focus exclusively on the trajectory and logic of diffusion of institutional templates.

Suggested Citation

  • Aksom Herman & Chornyi Anton, 2018. "Resolving epistemological issues in theoretical and methodological apparatus of institutional theories of organizations," Technology audit and production reserves, 3(41) 2018, Socionet;Technology audit and production reserves, vol. 3(5(41)), pages 43-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:nos:syljne:14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.uran.ua/tarp/article/view/134902
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Lounsbury & Eva Boxenbaum, 2013. "Institutional Logics in Action. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, vol. 39A," Post-Print hal-00826538, HAL.
    2. Michael Lounsbury & Eva Boxenbaum, 2013. "Institutional Logics in Action," Post-Print hal-01487932, HAL.
    3. Lounsbury, Michael, 2008. "Institutional rationality and practice variation: New directions in the institutional analysis of practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 349-361.
    4. Michael Lounsbury & Eva Boxenbaum, 2013. "Institutional Logics in Action," Post-Print hal-00826521, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Modell, Sven & Vinnari, Eija & Lukka, Kari, 2017. "On the virtues and vices of combining theories: The case of institutional and actor-network theories in accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 62-78.
    2. Rozenfeld, Gabriela Cecylia & Scapens, Robert William, 2021. "Forming mixed-type inter-organisational relationships in Sub-Saharan Africa: The role of institutional logics, social identities and institutionally embedded agency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Eva Kiefhaber & Kathryn Pavlovich & Katharina Spraul, 2020. "Sustainability-Related Identities and the Institutional Environment: The Case of New Zealand Owner–Managers of Small- and Medium-Sized Hospitality Businesses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 37-51, April.
    4. Sean Hansen & A. James Baroody, 2020. "Electronic Health Records and the Logics of Care: Complementarity and Conflict in the U.S. Healthcare System," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 57-75, March.
    5. Markus Perkmann & André Spicer, 2014. "How Emerging Organizations Take Form: The Role of Imprinting and Values in Organizational Bricolage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 1785-1806, December.
    6. Dennis Jancsary & Renate E. Meyer & Markus A. Höllerer & Vitaliano Barberio, 2017. "Toward a Structural Model of Organizational-Level Institutional Pluralism and Logic Interconnectedness," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(6), pages 1150-1167, December.
    7. Robson, Keith & Ezzamel, Mahmoud, 2023. "The cultural fields of accounting practices: Institutionalization and accounting changes beyond the organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. Luca Pareschi & Edoardo Mollona, 2016. "No country for neoliberalism: a topic modeling approach to protean discourses to resist privatizations in Italy," Working Papers 7, Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    9. François-Xavier de Vaujany & Sara Winterstorm Varlander & Emmanuelle Vaast, 2018. "At the intersection of materiality, organizational legitimacy and institutional logics: A study of campus tours 1," Post-Print halshs-01840928, HAL.
    10. Eva Boxenbaum, 2014. "Toward a situated stance in organizational institutionalism: Contributions from French pragmatist sociological theory," Post-Print hal-01102238, HAL.
    11. Mélodie Cartel & Eva Boxenbaum & Franck Aggeri, 2014. "Experimentation And Bricolage On Institutions: Understanding The Selection Of New Arrangements," Post-Print hal-01089472, HAL.
    12. Christoph Brodnik & Rebekah Brown & Chris Cocklin, 2017. "The Institutional Dynamics of Stability and Practice Change: The Urban Water Management Sector of Australia (1970–2015)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(7), pages 2299-2314, May.
    13. Siti-Nabiha A. K. & Zubir Azhar & Mohd-Aatif Ali-Mokhtar, 2018. "Management Control for Microfinance: An Examination of the Belief System of a Malaysian Microfinance Provider," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 14(1), pages 185-208.
    14. Neil Fligstein, 2021. "Innovation and the theory of fields," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(3), pages 272-289, December.
    15. Elbasha, Tamim & Avetisyan, Emma, 2018. "A framework to study strategizing activities at the field level: The example of CSR rating agencies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 38-46.
    16. Anne Vancaelemont, 2015. "The power of objects ? Materiality and institutional work in the French recorded music industry (1994-2014)," Post-Print hal-01267723, HAL.
    17. Olivier Boiral & Marie‐Christine Brotherton & David Talbot & Laurence Guillaumie, 2022. "Legitimizing unsustainable practices: The institutional logics of pro‐pesticide organizations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2284-2298, July.
    18. Mélodie Cartel & Eva Boxenbaum & Franck Aggeri, 2014. "Policy making as bricolage: the role of platforms in institutional innovation," Post-Print hal-01089462, HAL.
    19. Melanie Bryant & Vaughan Higgins, 2019. "Managing the grand challenge of biological threats to food production: The importance of institutional logics for managing Australian biosecurity," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(4), pages 534-550, November.
    20. Lucía Muñoz-Pascual & Jesús Galende, 2020. "Ambidextrous Knowledge and Learning Capability: The Magic Potion for Employee Creativity and Sustainable Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-27, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    management fashion theory; social construction; institutional sociology; institutional statements;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B59 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nos:syljne:14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Алина Макаренко (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://socionet.ru/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.