Neo-Institutional Theory and Organization Studies: A Mid-Life Crisis?

We trace the development of neo-institutional theory in Organization Studies from a marginal topic to the dominant theory. We show how it has evolved from infancy, through adolescence and early adulthood to being a fully mature theory, which we think is now facing a mid-life crisis. Some of the feat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrganization studies Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 199 - 218
Main Authors Alvesson, Mats, Spicer, André
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.02.2019
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Crises
development
Economics and Business
Ekonomi och näringsliv
identity
Infancy
institutional theory
midlife crisis
Myopia
Organization studies
Organization theory
Samhällsvetenskap
Social Sciences
Theorists
development
institutional theory
midlife crisis
identity
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Summary:We trace the development of neo-institutional theory in Organization Studies from a marginal topic to the dominant theory. We show how it has evolved from infancy, through adolescence and early adulthood to being a fully mature theory, which we think is now facing a mid-life crisis. Some of the features of this mid-life crisis include over-reach, myopia, tautology, pseudo-progress and re-inventing the wheel. To address these problems, we argue that institutional theorists should limit the range of the concept, sharpen their lens, avoid tautologies and problematize the concept. By doing this, we think institutional theorists could develop a narrower and more focused conception of institutions.
ISSN:0170-8406
1741-3044
DOI:10.1177/0170840618772610