From Value Infusion to Evaluate Embodiment: Integrating Emotions into Values-Centric Institutionalism

Values and emotions are fundamental aspects of institutional life, yet institutional theory has explored them through separate scholarly discussions. Values research focuses on how moral commitments are embedded in organizational structures, while emotions research highlights affective dynamics that drive institutional stability and change. This disconnect prevents understanding how these intrinsically linked phenomena—values as emotion-rich concepts—shape institutional reality. This chapter combines values-centric institutionalism (VCI) with pragmatist-realist approaches to embodied experience. We introduce evaluative embodiment—the phenomenological process of transforming abstract values into lived commitments through visceral-cognitive integration—and emotional-historical sedimentation—the process by which embodied patterns become ingrained into institutional character. These interconnected concepts demonstrate how individual experience and institutional structures mutually influence each other through continuous, embodied processes. Three key contributions emerge. First, moral agencyagency functions through embodied rather than solely cognitive mechanisms, challenging Cartesian ideas about institutional action. Second, institutional persistence is rooted in accumulated visceral engagement rather than mere structural inertia. Third, values acquire motivational power through phenomenological rather than purely intellectual processes. Practically, institutional leaders need to foster embodied experiences, making values felt viscerally rather than just articulated. Successful reform involves transforming emotional engagement patterns alongside formal restructuring—without changing embodied experience, institutional change remains superficial despite structural adjustments.