A Relational Theory of Reputational Stability and Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiya Zavyalova ◽  
Jonathan Bundy ◽  
Stephen E. Humphrey
Keyword(s):  
Relational Theory ◽  
Organizational Studies ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Organizational Reputation ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Indirect Information ◽  
Level Of Agreement ◽  
Do So

An ongoing discussion in organizational studies has focused on the path-dependent nature of organizational reputation. To date, however, there has been little explanation about when and why some constituents’ reputation judgments remain stable, whereas others are more prone to change. We contribute to this research by developing a relational theory of reputational stability and change. Our fundamental argument is that differences in constituent-organization relationships, as well as in the reputational communities that surround these relationships, affect the stability and change of reputation judgments. First, we highlight three relationship characteristics—favorability, history, and directness—and theorize that the reputation judgments of constituents with more unfavorable, longer, and more direct relationships with an organization are more stable, whereas the reputation judgments of constituents with more favorable, shorter, and more indirect relationships with the organization are less stable. We then develop the concept of reputational communities as a key source of indirect information about organizations. We highlight that the immediacy, size, and level of agreement within reputational communities affect how influential they are in changing individual constituents’ reputation judgments. Specifically, we propose that more immediate and larger reputational communities with a higher level of agreement are most likely to change individual constituents’ reputation judgments, whereas more distant and smaller reputational communities with a lower level of agreement are least likely to do so. Overall, we position constituents’ relationships with an organization and the communities that surround these relationships as central elements for understanding reputational stability and change.

Mindfully performed organisational routines: reconciling the stability and change duality view

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rihana Shaik ◽  
Ranjeet Nambudiri ◽  
Manoj Kumar Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Organisational Routines ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Do So ◽  
Episodic Change

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a process model on how mindfully performed organisational routines can simultaneously enable organisational stability and organisational change. Design/methodology/approach Via conceptual analysis, the authors develop several propositions and a process model integrating the theory of mindfulness and performative aspects of organisational routines with organisational stability and change. To do so, the authors review the literature on organisational routines, mindfulness, stability, inertia and change. Findings First, the authors demonstrate that, based on levels of mindfulness employed, performative aspects of organisational routines can be categorised as mindless, mindful and collectively mindful (meta-routines). Second, in the process model, the authors position the mindless performance of routines as enabling organisational stability, mediated through inertial pressure and disabling change, mediated through constrained change capacities. Finally, the authors state that engaging routines with mindfulness at an individual (mindful routines) or collective (meta-routines) level reduces inertia and facilitates change. Such simultaneous engagement leads to either sustaining stability when required or implementing continuous organisational change. Research limitations/implications The framework uses continuous, versus episodic, change; future research can consider the model’s workability with episodic change. Future research can also seek to empirically validate the model. The authors hope that this model informs research in organisational change and provides guidance on addressing organisational inertia. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to categorise the performative aspects of organisational routine based on the extent of mindfulness employed and propose that mindfulness-based practice of routines stimulates either inertia-induced or inertia-free stability and continuous change.

The Sparta Game

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josiah Ober ◽  
Barry R. Weingast
Keyword(s):  
Ruling Class ◽  
Equilibrium Situation ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Degree Of Stability ◽  
The Stability ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Proportionality Principle ◽  
Do So ◽  
A Share

In this chapter, Ober and Weingast find the roots of some of the most unusual features of Archaic/Classical-era Sparta in the “proportionality principle.” That principle holds that the stability of a regime in which ruling elites extract revenues from nonelites through violence (or its threat) requires that each elite receive a share of rents proportionate to his potential to employ disruptive violence. When proportionality is respected, no one with the power to disrupt society has an incentive to do so. This equilibrium situation helps explain the high degree of stability in Sparta’s sociopolitical system, but it also held the seeds of Sparta’s demise. Proportionality meant that rents could not be redistributed in ways that would have been more economically productive, and the Spartans’ failure to redistribute rents led to the regular demotion of the least successful Spartiates from the ruling class and hence to demographic and military collapse.

Journalism as Institution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim P. Vos
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Historical Institutionalism ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
Distinct Area ◽  
Social Authority ◽  
The Face ◽  
Cognitive Scripts ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
The Stability

Journalism is an institution inasmuch as it is constituted by shared beliefs and norms, informal rules and routines, and explicit rules. These features of journalism are expressed in journalists’ practices and products but also in journalists’ own discourse about journalism, or in what institutional theorists refer to as institutional or cognitive scripts. Institutions are intellectually interesting objects of study because they both limit individuals’ agency and enable their ability to work productively and creatively. Thus they maintain stability but allow for adaptability. Institutions also denote a distinct area of social authority, signaling institutional autonomy. However, they are also inherently social and thus inextricably interconnected with other institutions. This autonomy and interconnection become the sources of ongoing battles over journalism’s legitimacy. Indeed, some institutions—including journalism—have not only lost some measure of legitimacy but the beliefs, norms, and rules that have constituted the institution have also been destabilized. Some even argue that journalism is deinstitutionalizing in the face of economic and technological changes. Others understand these changes as part of a broader process of institutional adaptation and reinstitutionalization. Early adaptations of so-called new institutionalism informed an early use of institutional theory in journalism studies. But institutional theory comes in a variety of forms—historical institutionalism and discursive institutions hold particular promise for journalism studies. Historical institutionalism directs attention to path-dependent processes that account for the stability of institutions over time. Meanwhile, discursive institutionalism highlights the importance of discourse as the social bond that maintains institutions but also provides the means for adaptation and change. Nevertheless, institutional theory remains underutilized in journalism studies and holds still untapped potential to explain intellectually interesting phenomena.

scholarly journals Formation of Abasic Oligomers in Nonenzymatic Polymerization of Canonical Nucleotides

Life ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Chaitanya V. Mungi ◽  
Niraja V. Bapat ◽  
Yayoi Hongo ◽  
Sudha Rajamani
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Purine Nucleotides ◽  
Abasic Sites ◽  
Glycosidic Bonds ◽  
Product Characterization ◽  
Acid Catalyzed ◽  
The Stability ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Do So

Polymerization of nucleotides under prebiotically plausible conditions has been a focus of several origins of life studies. Non-activated nucleotides have been shown to undergo polymerization under geothermal conditions when subjected to dry-wet cycles. They do so by a mechanism similar to acid-catalyzed ester-bond formation. However, one study showed that the low pH of these reactions resulted in predominantly depurination, thereby resulting in the formation of abasic sites in the oligomers. In this study, we aimed to systematically characterize the nature of the oligomers that resulted in reactions that involved one or more of the canonical ribonucleotides. All the reactions analyzed showed the presence of abasic oligomers, with purine nucleotides being affected the most due to deglycosylation. Even in the reactions that contained nucleotide mixtures, the presence of abasic oligomers was detected, which suggested that information transfer would be severely hampered due to losing the capacity to base pair via H-bonds. Importantly, the stability of the N-glycosidic linkage, under conditions used for dry-wet cycling, was also determined. Results from this study further strengthen the hypothesis that chemical evolution in a pre-RNA World would have been vital for the evolution of informational molecules of an RNA World. This is evident in the high degree of instability displayed by N-glycosidic bonds of canonical purine ribonucleotides under the same geothermal conditions that otherwise readily favors polymerization. Significantly, the resultant product characterization in the reactions concerned underscores the difficulty associated with analyzing complex prebiotically relevant reactions due to inherent limitation of current analytical methods.

scholarly journals Stability and Change in Implicit Bias

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 854-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi A. Vuletich ◽  
B. Keith Payne
Keyword(s):  
Racial Bias ◽  
Implicit Bias ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Implicit Biases ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Original Interpretation ◽  
Individual Scores

Can implicit bias be changed? In a recent longitudinal study, Lai and colleagues (2016, Study 2) compared nine interventions intended to reduce racial bias across 18 university campuses. Although all interventions changed participants’ bias on an immediate test, none were effective after a delay. This study has been interpreted as strong evidence that implicit biases are difficult to change. We revisited Lai et al.’s study to test whether the stability observed reflected persistent individual attitudes or stable environments. Our reanalysis ( N = 4,842) indicates that individual biases did not return to preexisting levels. Instead, campus means returned to preexisting campus means, whereas individual scores fluctuated mostly randomly. Campus means were predicted by markers of structural inequality. Our results are consistent with the theory that implicit bias reflects biases in the environment rather than individual dispositions. This conclusion is nearly the opposite of the original interpretation: Although social environments are stable, individual implicit biases are ephemeral.

The Stability of Coalitions on Roll Calls in the House of Representatives

1962 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Riker ◽  
Donald Niemi
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
The Other ◽  
Considerable Degree ◽  
Congressional Voting ◽  
Rational Explanation ◽  
Stability Of Coalitions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Do So

In some recent discussions of roll calls in Congress a model of interacting blocs has often been adopted and to a considerable degree verified. This model assumes the existence of several fairly cohesive blocs along with, perhaps, some unattached members. Furthermore, it is assumed that some of these blocs are fairly consistently opposed on roll calls, while others ally now with one side, now with the other. This model is attractive, not only because it accords with the usage of journalists, but also because it seems to provide a rational explanation of what sometimes appears to be the almost random confusion of Congressional voting behavior. As the evidence here presented suggests, however, this model is somewhat too neat and requires modification to account for shifting alliances over (often relatively short periods of) time. In a trial, reasoning from the assumptions of this model, we attempted to pick out those blocs and members who shifted from side to side. We were, however, unable to do so except in a few instances, largely, we believe, because the model as heretofore developed is static.

Little Wukan, Big China: Lessons to Be Drawn from the Wukan Incident for China’s Political and Economic Development

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
Zhang Yanbing ◽  
Zeng Zhimin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Democratic Rights ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Stability ◽  
China Today ◽  
Do So

Abstract This paper argues that the Wukan Incident reflects the common difficulties faced at the state-society level by contemporary China as the country finds itself experiencing both an important strategic chapter in its development, and a period during which social problems are coming to the fore. As such, the task of developing an understanding of the Wukan Incident offers the chance to draw crucial lessons about China’s future political and economic development. Firstly, the modernization development model, according to which economic growth and development take precedence above all else, has already led to a building up of serious social problems. China’s future development efforts must draw on and put into practice the theories of the Scientific Outlook on Development. Secondly, the demands made by the villagers of Wukan could feasibly become political and economic problems common throughout the whole country. This includes issues such as how state-owned assets and land are dealt with; transparency of public finances; and safeguards for the democratic rights and interests of Chinese citizens. The government must face these difficulties and use reforms to tackle each of them. Should it fail to do so, these issues could spark a serious social crisis or even affect the stability of the political order. Thirdly, the current mechanisms by which the Party and the government respond to the public’s interest-related claims require urgent improvement. Finally, there is no magic pill to solve the political and economic problems faced in China today. Elections are certainly not a magic solution.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document