Eva Boxenbaum

How Actors Change Institutions: Towards a Theory of Institutional Entrepreneurship

As well as review the literature on the notion of institutional entrepreneurship introduced by Paul DiMaggio in 1988, we propose a model of the process of institutional entrepreneurship. We first present theoretical and definitional issues associated with the concept and propose a conceptual account of institutional entrepreneurship that helps to accommodate them. We then present the different phases of the process of institutional entrepreneurship from the emergence of institutional entrepreneurs to their implementation of change. Finally, we highlight future directions for research on institutional entrepreneurship, and conclude with a discussion of its role in strengthening institutional theory as well as, more broadly, the field of organization studies.

Lost in Translation The Making of Danish Diversity Management

This article investigates how a group of Danish business actors translated the American practice of diversity management into a novel managerial practice in Denmark. Their translation process unfolded at three levels: (a) individual preference, (b) strategic reframing, and (c) local grounding. The findings contribute to a better understanding of translation processes and have implications for future research and managerial practice.

Importation as Innovation: Transposing managerial practices across fields

This article examines transposition as a source of innovation. Transposition is the act of applying a practice from one social context to another.We trace how and why three individuals transposed the American practice of diversity management into Denmark in 2002. The analysis outlines how they came up with the idea to transpose diversity management to Denmark and what motivated them to do so. Based on our analysis, we propose an institutionalist account of innovation in which transposition across fields characterized by different dominant institutional logics plays a prominent role.We identify a number of facilitating conditions for such transposition to occur and we explain how it can subsequently lead to innovation.

Bottom-of-the-Pyramid: Organizational Barriers to Implementation:

A new branch of corporate sustainability, Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP), seeks out new market opportunities with low-income consumers in the developing world that simultaneously contribute to the sustainable development of these regions. While many companies consider the addition of BOP strategies to their sustainability portfolio, many also hesitate because of the uncertainties that surround this new sustainability practice. This article investigates strategies adopted by the corporate sustainability function in Novozymes, a multinational company with a solid track record in corporate sustainability, to implement a BOP project within key areas of the companys operational core. There are four internal organizational barriers that interlock one another and that have so far prevented the implementation of this project in key areas of operations. The article examines the challenges for sustainability managers who seek to overcome interlocking cognitive, processual, and structural barriers to the implementation of this new branch of sustainability practices.

Exploring European-ness in Organization Research

We take the 30th birthday of Organization Studies, the publication outlet of the European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS), as an opportunity to reflect on what European-ness in organization research means at times of globalization where territory and geographic boundaries increasingly lose their relevance for scholarly identity. In particular, we explore the openness of scholars and journals for grand ideas from different linguistic communities and the distinct profile of Organization Studies in this respect. We confirm that research building on ‘grand’ thinkers represents a central feature of European organizational scholarship and Organization Studies in particular.

The immateriality of material practices in institutional logics.

According to most theoretical formulations, institutional logics contain both an ideational and a material dimension. While the ideational aspect, such as cognitive frames and symbols, has received significant attention in the growing literature on institutional logics, the material aspect has remained largely invisible and often implicit. We analyze the 16 most central theoretical and empirical works on institutional logics with the aim of exploring how the material dimension of logics has been conceptualized and researched. Our findings suggest that materiality has been interpreted primarily as practices and structures, and rarely as physical objects. We explore some consequences of omitting physical materials as an object of study in institutional logics research and point to avenues for future research that may enhance theory development of institutional logics by explicitly attending to the role of materials.

TOWARD A SITUATED STANCE IN ORGANIZATIONAL INSTITUTIONALISM: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM FRENCH PRAGMATIST SOCIOLOGY THEORY

Organizational Institutionalism is gradually embracing a more situated, actor-centered stance that is prompting empirical inquiry into how embedded actors respond to institutional complexity. French Pragmatist Sociology can contribute to this endeavor because it provides a situated, relational, and practice-oriented framework for studying how actors negotiate and justify actions through shared moral “worlds” that are akin to institutional logics. French Pragmatist Sociology can help illuminate three questions that are key to a situated stance in Organizational Institutionalism: (a) How free are individuals to engage with non-institutionalized mind-sets? (b) How institutionally determined are individual interests? and (c) How deliberate are individuals about provoking institutional effects? The discussion includes concrete proposals for empirical study as well as limitations and potential pitfalls that should be taken into consideration.

Institutions As Multimodal Accomplishments: Towards the Analysis of Visual Registers

In this article, we develop and advance an understanding of institutions as multimodal accomplishments. We draw on social semiotics and the linguistic concept of metafunctions to establish the visual as a specific mode of meaning construction. In addition, we make semiotic modes conducive to institutional inquiry by introducing the notion of distinct “modal registers” – specialized configurations of linguistic signs within a particular mode that are adapted and applied in the reproduction of institutions or institutional domains. At the core of our article, we operationalize metafunctions to develop methodology for the analysis of visual registers. We illustrate our approach with data from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting in Austria.

Just for fun! How experimental spaces stimulate innovation in institutionalized fields:

This paper examines the role of experimental spaces as a source of institutional innovation. We investigate the case of an experimental space that was instrumental in initiating the institutionalization of the European carbon market. Our findings highlight the key role of emotions in the simultaneous distancing from institutionalized patterns and engagement in an alternative action model. We subsequently develop a process model of how experimental spaces initiate institutional innovation in institutionalized fields. This model comprises three forms of institutional work. As previously established, boundary work consists in delineating the space from the field, hence mitigating external institutional pressures. We argue that two additional forms of institutional work are required when field conditions are unconducive to institutional innovation. Distancing work consists in designing rules and procedures that alleviate space members’ deep-seated attachment to the field’s dominant models. Anchoring work refers to the design of rules and procedures that connect the experimental space and the solution developed inside it to the field, hence facilitating its broader diffusion. We conclude with a discussion of how the design of experimental spaces and the deliberate use of emotions open new doors for generating institutional innovation.

Towards an Articulation of the Material and Visual Turn in Organization Studies

Contemporary organizations increasingly rely on images, logos, videos, building materials, graphic and product design, and a range of other material and visual artifacts to compete, communicate, form identity and organize their activities. This Special Issue focuses on materiality and visuality in the course of objectifying and reacting to novel ideas, and, more broadly, contributes to organizational theory by articulating the emergent contours of a material and visual turn in the study of organizations. In this Introduction, we provide an overview of research on materiality and visuality. Drawing on the articles in the special issue, we further explore the affordances and limits of the material and visual dimensions of organizing in relation to novelty. We conclude by pointing out theoretical avenues for advancing multimodal research, and discuss some of the ethical, pragmatic and identity-related challenges that a material and visual turn could pose for organizational research.