Institutional entrepreneurship as emancipating institutional work

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Smothers ◽  
Patrick J. Murphy ◽  
Milorad M. Novicevic ◽  
John H. Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Interaction Process ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Process Framework

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to propose an action-interaction-process framework to extend research on institutional entrepreneurship. The framework examines an actor's characteristics, interactions in an institutional context, and the process by which entrepreneurial action is accomplished. Design/methodology/approach – Via a sociohistorical archival method of narrative analysis, the action-interaction-process framework is applied to an exemplary case of institutional entrepreneurship – the case of James Meredith and the integrationist movement at the University of Mississippi in the 1960 s. Findings – The findings show that institutional entrepreneurs who maintain little power and influence over the institutional field must form strategic alliances to mobilize constituents and capitalize on the convergence of resources in the social setting. Practical implications – Through the process of collective action, institutional entrepreneurs can overcome resistance to change and displace inequitable institutional policies, while establishing new practices and norms. Originality/value – This research provides a stronger approach to examining institutional entrepreneurship and institutional entrepreneurs, the interaction between the institutional entrepreneur and the social context in which the individual operates, and the process by which inequitable institutionalized norms are reformed through collective action. This approach is useful to researchers examining institutional entrepreneurship or any area in which power disparity plays an important role.

scholarly journals Overcoming Inaction through Collective Institutional Entrepreneurship: Insights from Regime Theory

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Wijen ◽  
Shahzad Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Kyoto Protocol ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs

Studies on institutional change generally pertain to the agency-structure paradox or the ability of institutional entrepreneurs to spearhead change despite constraints. In many complex fields, however, change also needs cooperation from numerous dispersed actors with divergent interests. This presents the additional paradox of ensuring that these actors engage in collective action when individual interests favor lack of cooperation. We draw on complementary insights from institutional and regime theories to identify drivers of collective institutional entrepreneurship and develop an analytical framework. This is applied to the field of global climate policy to illustrate how collective inaction was overcome to realize a global regulatory institution, the Kyoto Protocol.

Mobile-based value co-creation: contextual factors towards customer experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sut Ieng Lei ◽  
Dan Wang ◽  
Rob Law
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Interaction Process ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Interaction

Purpose Collecting information from and interacting with customers through mobile platforms for personalization purposes have become a trend. While mobile-based value co-creation has attracted wide research attention, a noticeable gap exists regarding what might potentially affect the firm–customer interaction process through which value is co-created. This paper aims to explore how customers exchange information and communicate with firms through mobile applications for value co-creation purposes in a travel context. Design/methodology/approach Based on a constructivist research paradigm, this study adopted a qualitative research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed following narrative analysis approach. Findings The findings highlight the contextual factors (individual characteristics, trip characteristics and computer-mediated communication characteristics) that facilitate and inhibit the firm–customer interaction process. Practitioners are suggested to put more efforts on creating stimuli for interactions and managing customer expectation. Research limitations/implications This study goes beyond technology adoption and focuses on customers’ post-adoption stage. The findings shed light on the important role of the service provider in facilitating effective interactions for value co-creation with customers. Originality/value This study focuses on the interaction process, rather than the antecedents and outcomes of mobile-based value co-creation. It contributes empirical evidence on how customers co-create value and why some situations present better opportunities for successful value co-creation.

Rethinking Collective Action: The Co-Evolution of the State and Institutional Entrepreneurs in Emerging Economies

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tricia D. Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
The State ◽  
Passive State ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Organizational Fields ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Distribution Of Power

Why do groups form to influence policy outcomes? Classic notions of collective action tell us that a small number of homogeneous individuals are more likely to organize and thus achieve their preferred policy outcomes. Yet, this is not always reflected in the empirical record as external factors, such as the state, influence the costs of organizing. Instead, the traditional collective action literature largely assumes a purely rational or passive state. While the institutional entrepreneurship literature highlights the key role these actors can play in shaping institutions and, at times, organizational fields, it does not seek to explain why change agents appear in some instances and not others. This article seeks to fill this theoretical gap by drawing on the co-evolution literature, which helps explain the variation in group formation by underscoring how the state and institutional entrepreneurs shape one another. Utilizing rich qualitative data from the microfinance industry in Brazil and Mexico, this research asserts that the formation of microfinance associations is a function of actors’ ability to access the state, which results in distinct processes: co-evolution by isolation or co-optation. This process has subsequent implications for institutional change, policy outcomes, and, ultimately, the distribution of power and prospects of development within emerging economies.

Institutional entrepreneurs on opportunity formation and exploitation in strategic new industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuanwei Cao ◽  
Yipeng Liu ◽  
Chunhui Cao
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Market Opportunities ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneur ◽  
New Industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of institutional entrepreneurship in opportunity formation and opportunity exploitation in developing emerging strategic new industries. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the focal literature focussing on institutional entrepreneurs’ role in opportunity formation with special attention to opportunities for institutional entrepreneurs in emerging economy. A multi-method approach consisting of historical case studies and event sequencing is applied to track the historical development of the solar energy industry in two case contexts and to investigate the role of institutional entrepreneurs in this process. Findings – Investigation of two cases illustrates that different types of institutional entrepreneur, as represented by individual entrepreneurs and local government, in the context of massive institutional change – such as the Grand Western Development Program and the Thousand Talents Program in China – have varied effects on triggering and inducing institutional change and innovation to explore and exploit opportunities in emerging new industries. Practical implications – The significance of local context for the nature and scope of institutional entrepreneurship in emerging economy is worthy of further research. The top-down process of institutional innovation dominated by local government might cause myopic outcome and distortion of market opportunities. Indigenous individual entrepreneurs with well-accumulated political capital and strong perceived responsibility could be the main actors to introduce incremental institutional change by combining bottom-up and top-down processes and promoting sustained new industry development through creating and seizing institutional opportunities and market opportunities. Originality/value – This paper illustrates the close relationship between institutional environment and opportunity formation in emerging economies, contributes to the understanding of contextualizing institutional entrepreneurs in different regional contexts and discloses the problems involved in local government acting as an institutional entrepreneur.

Fair trade coffee and inclusive globalization: a metamorphosis of institutional entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Zhu ◽  
Sunny Li Sun ◽  
Ying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Inclusive Growth ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fair Trade Coffee ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Inclusive Globalization

Purpose Initiated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) over half a century ago, fair trade has successfully evolved from a regional business discourse to a global social movement within international trade. In the matter of fair trade coffee, this global social movement has transformed the traditional coffee trade structure of inequality and unfairness into a conglomerate of international institutions that embrace equity and inclusivity – a metamorphosis that can be attributed to NGOs’ institutional entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach In this exploratory study, the authors examine the fair trade coffee industry and trace the actions of NGOs along with other stakeholders at the organizational field level, in moving toward an inclusive model of globalization. Findings Departing from exploitative globalization, fair trade practices advocate inclusive growth through the promotion and establishment of greater equity for all as well as higher environmental standards in global value chains. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to nascent research on inclusive growth by analyzing how fair trade promotes inclusive growth and trade in GVCs. This study also contributes to research on institutional entrepreneurship by examining two enabling conditions – the shift in institutional logics and the peripheral social position of NGOs – that enabled NGOs to serve as institutional entrepreneurs in the initiation phase of institutional entrepreneurship. Practical implications Policymakers may encourage collaboration between profit organizations and nonprofit organizations to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for trials, errors, and revisions. The evolution of fair trade coffee provides such an example. Social implications The coevolution of NGOs and MNEs has made the globalization of fair trade practices possible. The collaboration between NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs (operating on the community logic) and MNEs as institutional followers (operating on the financial logic) support inclusive globalization and sustain fair trade practices. Originality/value Drawing on the process model of institutional entrepreneurship, the authors seek to understand the role of NGOs as institutional entrepreneurs in the dynamics of initiating, diffusing and sustaining fair trade coffee practices.

Institutional entrepreneurship and management control systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Martin-Sardesai
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Management Control Systems ◽  
Research Assessment ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneur

Purpose This study aims to explore how management control systems (MCS) compliment institutional entrepreneurship. It provides a case illustration of how the Vice Chancellor (VC) as an institutional entrepreneur used MCS to bring about a change in an Australian public sector university in anticipation of an externally imposed research assessment exercise. Design/methodology/approach This case study gathered qualitative data through key informant interviews (including deputy VCs, research managers, executive deans and heads of departments) and a review of university and other electronic policy-related documents. Findings The study contributes to an understanding of the external environment that drives university leaders to become institutional entrepreneurs, and what they precisely do to facilitate the internal dynamic change in line with political demands. Research limitations/implications Being a single case study, care should be taken in generalizing the findings. However, it raises significant issues that deserve further attention, for example, the impact of change on the working life of academics. Practical implications The research study identifies the proposed imposition of a research assessment exercise as an enabling condition under which an institutional entrepreneur could promote and activate a new vision. It provides useful insights for other universities operating in the rapidly changing environment. Originality/value In identifying the way institutional entrepreneurs bring about change by promoting a vision and operationalizing it through MCS, the research study extends literature on institutional entrepreneurship MCS and organizational change.

Sustainable institutional entrepreneurship in practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 476-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Gasbarro ◽  
Francesco Rizzi ◽  
Marco Frey
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Geothermal Heat ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Entrepreneurship Research ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs ◽  
Value Propositions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how sustainable entrepreneurs (SEs) address the regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive institutional pillars when operating in conservative contexts. It aims to study in depth the use of sustainable innovation (SI) as a means of increasing legitimacy within the institutions, thus triggering an institutional change. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for an exploratory study on the Tuscan geothermal heat pumps market, which presents a promising but still largely unexploited sustainability potential despite its low institutional support, using the open-ended approach of grounded theory. The data include interviews and archive data, such as newspapers, magazines. Findings The paper provides empirical insights on how sustainable institutional entrepreneurs (SIEs) have developed innovative business models based on direct relationship with the final customers and strategic partnerships as a means of increasing legitimacy within the normative and cultural-cognitive institutions, and subsequently in the regulative institutions, through: innovative value propositions aimed at changing industry norms and social beliefs; increasing the private benefit of innovative sustainable business models in order to trigger imitation dynamics; inter-sector strategic partnerships sharing the same sustainability objectives; the inclusion of the relevant actors in relation to the social norms and cultural-cognitive barriers in a value proposition. On the basis of these findings a model has been developed. Research limitations/implications The study enriches the sustainable entrepreneurship research stream by providing empirical evidence on how SEs foster changes in the three institutional pillars with SI. It also contributes to the institutional entrepreneurship research by extending the results of previous studies regarding institutional tactics. Practical implications The paper could help SIEs prioritizing changes in value propositions and strategic partnerships to create market-based coalitions, as a means of institutional legitimization for SI. Originality/value The study illustrates the relationship between the sustainable institutional entrepreneurial practices and each institutional pillar, including the cultural-cognitive institutions, which have been neglected in previous research. This allows formulating five key propositions that guide SEs in succeeding as both sustainable and institutional entrepreneurs.

Embodied refusals and choreographic criticalities

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-428
Author(s):  
Beth Krone
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
White Female ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Narratives ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Ethnographic Data

Purpose This paper aims to describe the work of a group of seventh-grade boys in a middle school superhero storytelling project. In this project, the boys, one of whom identified as Latino and five of whom identified as Black, created a voiceless, faceless, raceless superhero named “Mute.” Using a Black feminist theoretical framework, the author considers how the boys authored embodied moments in the construction of their character and in a basketball scene. The author argues that within the narrated space of the story, embodiment functioned as a critical tool for authoring spaces that thwarted and bypassed dominant social narratives. Design/methodology/approach The white, female, university-affiliated author was a participant-researcher in the “Mute” group’s ten storytelling sessions. The ethnographic data set collected included fieldnotes, recordings and copies of all the writing and images of the group. The author uses this data to conduct a narrative analysis of the Mute story. Findings The author suggests that the group’s authoring of embodiment and choreography in their story makes space outside of the binary stances often available in traditional critical analyses. Instead, the group’s attention to embodied aspects of their character(s) allowed them to refuse either/or positions of such stances and construct a textured reality that existed beyond these bounds. Originality/value Black feminist theorists have warned that critical readings are potentially essentializing, risking a reification of the same systems they hope to overturn. The Mute group’s invention of a superhero character and their use of authored embodiment deflected such essentializing readings to imagine a new, more just (story) world. Thus, the author recommends an increased attention to how students are writing and reading embodiment to fully see the everyday ways they are critically working both against and beyond the social narratives that organize their lives.

Strategic actions against climate change of institutional entrepreneurs: a case study in the Spanish renewable energy sector

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
José María González-González ◽  
Constancio Zamora-Ramírez ◽  
Ignacio García-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Actions ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurs

Purpose – This paper aims to improve the knowledge about the strategic actions of institutional entrepreneurs in the configuration of the institutional pillars of an emerging field such as the Spanish renewable energy sector, as well as to illustrate the role of these actors in the fight against climate change. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a single case study conducted in a company that entered the renewable energy sector in the ‘90s, and currently is a national and international reference in the generation of thermosolar power. The results of this case study are analysed and interpreted according to the New Institutional Sociology. Findings – The paper identifies and analyses the strategic actions developed by the company to configure the regulative, normative and cognitive pillars of its institutional context, such as the establishment of inter-actors relationships, the mobilisation of constituent actors, the use of sanctions and rewards, the employment of consultants and the public dissemination of knowledge and social awareness. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the development of the specialised literature about the institutional entrepreneurship which is very scarce in relation to the actions of institutional entrepreneurs in emerging fields. Likewise, this study allows managers to know the role of those entrepreneurs to configure the behaviour patterns that could be accepted and assumed by those entering the sector later on.

scholarly journals Calculative practices, social movements and the rise of collective identity: how #istayathome mobilised a nation

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Matteo La Torre ◽  
Patrizia Di Tullio ◽  
Paola Tamburro ◽  
Maurizio Massaro ◽  
Michele Antonio Rea
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Government Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
Calculative Practices

PurposeThe Italian government addressed the first wave of its COVID-19 outbreak with a series of social restrictions and calculative practices, all branded with the slogan #istayathome. The hashtag quickly went viral, becoming both a mandate and a mantra and, as the crisis played out, we witnessed the rise of the Italian social movement #istayathome. This study examines how the government's calculative practices led to #istayathome and the constituents that shaped this social movement.Design/methodology/approachThe authors embrace social movement theory and the collective identity perspective to examine #istayathome as a collective action and social movement. Using passive netnography, text mining and interpretative text analysis enhanced by machine learning, the authors analysed just over 350,000 tweets made during the period March to May 2020, each brandishing the hashtag #istayathome.FindingsThe #istayathome movement gained traction as a response to the Italian government's call for collective action. Thus, people became an active part of mobilising collective responsibility, enhancing the government's plans. A collective identity on the part of the Italian people sustained the mass mobilisation, driven by cohesion, solidarity and a deep cultural trauma from COVID-19's dramatic effects. Popular culture and Italy's long traditions also helped to form the collective identity of #istayathome. This study found that calculative practices acted as a persuasive technology in forming this collective identity and mobilising people's collective action. Numbers stimulated the cognitive, moral and emotional connections of the social ties shaping collective identity and responsibility. Thus, through collective identity, calculative practices indirectly influenced mass social behaviors and the social movement.Originality/valueThis study offers a novel theoretical perspective and empirical knowledge to explain how government power affects people's culture and everyday life. It unveils the sociological drivers that mobilise collective behaviors and enriches the accounting literature on the effects of calculative practices in managing emergencies. The study contributes to theory by providing an understanding of how calculative practices can influence collective behaviors and can be used to construct informal networks that go beyond the government's traditional formalities.

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