scholarly journals The Problem of Contract Enforcement in Economic Organization Theory

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels G. Noorderhaven
Keyword(s):  
Agency Theory ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Utility Maximization ◽  
Contract Enforcement ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Individual Utility ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Economic Theories

Recently, economists have directed attention to the phenomenon of organization. An important difference between the newly developed economic theories of organization, such as for example agency theory, and sociological theories of organization is the fact that economists explicitly employ an individual utility maximization assumption. In this paper, it is reasoned that this assumption, if used as in agency theory, entails logical inconsistencies if we try to explain the existence of the kind of agreements that purportedly form the basis of organiza tions. However, if the condition of uncertainty — to which agency theorists merely pay lip—service — is taken seriously, the observed inconsistencies can be reconciled. A classificatory scheme of four 'sources of obligation' is proposed for the analysis of the basis of agreements. Taking all four sources into consideration in the analysis of organizational agreements can help to avoid one-sided attention to, for example, formal, legally enforceable agreements. The findings of empirical research suggest that two basic dimensions lie at the root of the proposed classifi catory scheme. Further research is needed to check this supposition and its implications.

Across the Great Divide: Bridging the Gap between Economics- and Sociology-Based Research on Management Accounting

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Modell
Keyword(s):  
Agency Theory ◽  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Opening Up

ABSTRACT This paper reviews emerging attempts to bridge the gap between economics- and sociology-based research on management accounting and discusses how such research may be advanced. Particular attention is paid to research combining insights from various economic theories such as agency theory and transaction cost economics, and institutional theory. This body of research has made important contributions by opening up a discussion of how different kinds of institutions constrain as well as enable economic agency. However, I argue that the two dominant approaches in this area of research still display strong, paradigmatic legacies of economics- and sociology-based research, respectively, and that they have not yet produced a unified, socio-economic perspective on management accounting. I advance a third research approach, rooted in critical realism, that transcends the paradigmatic constraints of these approaches. I discuss the paradigmatic premises of this approach and how it may be applied in empirical research.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Baron ◽  
John Hassard ◽  
Fiona Cheetham ◽  
Sudi Sharifi
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Organization Culture ◽  
Workplace Attitudes ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Preceding Study

The final chapter brings together a series of conclusions based on the preceding study of workplace attitudes, behaviour, and experiences within an English hospice. Initially it examines the nature of relationships between the three concepts that form the analytical core of this study—culture, identity, and image. This includes a wide-ranging critical review of these concepts in relation to the relevant fields of literature in management and organization theory. Subsequently a number of limitations are considered with regard to the use of Schein’s well-known three-level model of culture as a framework for guiding empirical research. The chapter ends by discussing some metaphorical issues relevant to the study and specifically makes proposals for perceiving organization culture as something that is philosophically fluid, uncertain, and in flux.

Extended Enterprise Integration vs. Market B2B Integration

2010 ◽  
pp. 578-586
Author(s):  
Frank G. Goethals ◽  
Wilfried Lemanhieu ◽  
Monique Snoeck
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Extended Enterprise ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Enterprise Integration ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
It Department ◽  
Business To Business

The human communication processes that are involved in analyzing and designing a business and in designing, implementing, and maintaining information systems are affected by the fact that the information technology (IT) department of one company nowadays has to create software to fulfill requirements of people not only in their own company but in other companies too. In this context, the term “extended enterprise” is often used. The concept “extended enterprise” is, however, not unequivocally defined. This article first discusses the concept of the extended enterprise and opposes this form of economic organization to the two other basic forms of economic organization, namely, the firm and the market. Next, we derive from organization theory (see, e.g., Hatch, 1997; Morgan, 1996) two basic types of business-to-business integration (B2Bi), namely, extended enterprise integration and market B2Bi. We show that the extended enterprise constitutes a specific context within which information systems are being developed, integrated, and maintained, and that this context allows for/needs specific ways of integration. We discuss the role of standards and coordination for both types of B2Bi.

Ecology and Society: a Lesson for Organization Theory, from the Logic of Economics

1985 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-348
Author(s):  
James A. Robins
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Organizational Ecology ◽  
Neoclassical Economics ◽  
Organizational Analysis ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
General Logic ◽  
Social Theories

Recent work on organizational ecology has helped to clarify the discussion of organiza tion-environment relations by providing a precise analytical distinction between the organization and its environment. However, the clarity of the distinction also exposes serious problems in the population perspective on organizations. The fact that ecology has been wedded to evolutionism cripples it in dealing with some of the central issues of organizational analysis. This paper looks at ways in which the precision of ecology may be combined with social and economic theories other than evolutionism to provide a powerful analysis of the organization in its social environment. Neoclassical economics serves as a model for the sort of theory that can be used to replace evolutionism. The paper concludes by examining the underlying axiomatic structure of neoclassical economics and outlining the general logic required to link ecological and social theories for the purposes of organizational analysis.

scholarly journals The Theory of the Firm as Governance Structure: From Choice to Contract

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver E Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Organization Theory ◽  
Theory Of The Firm ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Choice Approach

The propositions that organization matters and that it is susceptible to analysis were long greeted by skepticism by economists. One reason why this message took a long time to register is that it is much easier to say that organization matters than it is to show how and why. The prevalence of the science of choice approach to economics has also been an obstacle. As developed herein, the lessons of organization theory for economics are both different and more consequential when examined through the lens of contract. This paper examines economic organization from a science of contract perspective, with special emphasis on the theory of the firm.

Theorizing the Corporation

2019 ◽  
pp. 296-316
Author(s):  
Teemu Ruskola
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Economic Organization ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Corporation Law ◽  
The Family ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
East Asian Economies ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

Economic theories of the firm, and the legal analyses of corporation law that build on them, are ordinarily formulated in universal terms, as if “the firm” were in fact a singular category of economic organization. This chapter takes as its starting point the diverse and globalized world in which we exist. Beyond the familiar forms of “Western” capitalism—which itself is plural—much of the development in East Asia and Latin America, for example, has been characterized by strongly statist forms of capitalism, challenging many of the standard assumptions about the proper boundary between the market and the state. In the late twentieth century, “Confucian capitalism” became the rallying cry in many East Asian economies, suggesting that delimiting a clear boundary between the market and the family might be equally difficult. Insofar as these developments reconfigure the division of labor among the institutions of the state, the market, and the family, how can we account for them theoretically?

Sources of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity across Professional Services

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew von Nordenflycht ◽  
Namrata Malhotra ◽  
Timothy Morris
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Professional Services ◽  
Professional Service ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Professional Service Firms ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Sociology Of Professions ◽  
Organization And Management

Research on Professional Service Firms (PSFs) has tended to treat them as homogeneous and to assume there are similarities in how they are organized and managed. This assumption has been challenged recently as scholars have drawn attention to organizational differences stemming from sources of heterogeneity. The authors argue that rigorous theorizing about the organization and management of PSFs requires an understanding of sources of both homogeneity and heterogeneity and their specific implications. They synthesize insights from the sociology of professions literature and the economics and organization theory literatures to distil key sources of homogeneity and heterogeneity. They also identify firm-level characteristics that drive heterogeneity within a particular professional service. The authors propose an overarching framework of sources of homogeneity and heterogeneity that helps interpret the generalizability of existing research and has the potential to better inform future empirical research on PSFs.

Unified Models of Turnout and Vote Choice for Two-Candidate and Three-Candidate Elections

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitchell S. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Likelihood ◽  
Utility Maximization ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Unified Model ◽  
Electoral Behavior ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Individual Utility

In this article I use a theory of individual utility maximization to derive a unified model of electoral behavior that includes both candidate choices and turnout decisions. Compared to this new unified model, existing specifications for jointly considering turnout and vote choice are found to be theoretically or empirically lacking. I provide methods for testing my model in elections with two or three candidates, and I show that the parameters of these models can be estimated without difficulty using maximum likelihood techniques. Application of these unified models to the 1988 and 1992 American presidential elections illustrates the potential contrasts between unified models and models that consider only candidate choices.

scholarly journals Economics and ‘bad’ management: the limits to performativity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Agency Theory ◽  
Transaction Cost ◽  
Real World ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Business Schools ◽  
Mainstream Economic ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Performative Power

Abstract The performative power of mainstream economic theories (notably agency theory and transaction cost economics) has been criticised by researchers within management studies. The latter blame these theories for creating ‘bad’ management in real-world organisations and call for their removal from business schools. This paper questions this line of criticism. It argues that mainstream economic theories have condoned more than created ‘bad’ management. It also questions whether ‘bad’ management can be negated by ousting these theories from business schools. Rather it is argued that ‘bad’ management has deep roots within organisations—specifically, it reflects on how organisations are run by and in the interests of capital owners. The possibilities for securing comparatively enlightened or ‘good’ forms of management are seen as necessarily limited by capitalist ownership relations. The paper argues that the transformation of management will require wider reforms in—and importantly beyond—business schools.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document