Institutional Logics

Abstract

Research on institutional logics surveys systems of cultural elements (values, beliefs, and normative expectations) by which people, groups, and organizations make sense of and evaluate their everyday activities, and organize those activities in time and space. Although there were scattered mentions of this concept before 1990, this literature really began with the 1991 publication of a theory piece by Roger Friedland and Robert Alford. Since that time, it has become a large and diverse area of organizational research. Several books and thousands of papers and book chapters have been published on this topic, addressing institutional logics in sites as different as climate change proceedings of the United Nations, local banks in the United States, and business groups in Taiwan. Several intellectual precursors to institutional logics provide a detailed explanation of the concept and the theory surrounding it. These literatures developed over time within the broader framework of theory and empirical work in sociology, political science, and anthropology. Papers published in ten major sociology and management journals in the United States and Europe (between 1990 and 2015) provide analysis and help to identify trends in theoretical development and empirical findings. Evaluting these trends suggest three gentle corrections and potentially useful extensions to the literature help to guide future research: (1) limiting the definition of institutional logic to cultural-cognitive phenomena, rather than including material phenomena; (2) recognizing both “cold” (purely rational) cognition and “hot” (emotion-laden) cognition; and (3) developing and testing a theory (or multiple related theories), meaning a logically interconnected set of propositions concerning a delimited set of social phenomena, derived from assumptions about essential facts (axioms), that details causal mechanisms and yields empirically testable (falsifiable) hypotheses, by being more consistent about how we use concepts in theoretical statements; assessing the reliability and validity of our empirical measures; and conducting meta-analyses of the many inductive studies that have been published, to develop deductive theories.

Stigma Beyond Levels: Advancing Research on Stigmatization

“…As the earliest and the most dominant stream within the field (see Figure 1), studies at the individual level largely build upon Goffman's (1963) original typology of stigma as a discrediting 3 To confirm whether the literature was as siloed as it appeared in our reading, we cross-checked references to identify which studies cite each other. We selected a sample of all articles published between 2017 and 2019, and, following the approach of Haveman and Gualtieri (2017), checked the references cited therein. We discovered that the 49 articles published between 2017 and 2019 disproportionately cited studies at the same level.…”

Reconciling Institutional Logics Within First Nations Forestry-Based Social Enterprises

“…Organizational scholars seeking to understand how multiple institutional demands influence organizations often draw on the concept of institutional logics (Besharov & Smith, 2014;Reay & Hinings, 2009). Institutional logics are cognitive constructs which shape behavior by providing frames of reference and evaluation for actors and organizations (Herrera, 2016), and by providing guidance as to what constitutes legitimate goals and legitimate means to achieve those goals (Haveman & Gualtieri, 2017;Pache & Santos, 2010. In addition to the geographic, historical, and cultural contexts in which organizations operate, institutional logics are shaped by the dependencies of organizations on external institutional referents (Besharov & Smith, 2014).…”

The evolving role of organizational theory within economic sociology

“…But, this perspective lacked any way to account for how such fields might change. One strand of institutional theory proposed to use the idea of conflicting institutional logics as a basis for a theory of change (Thornton & Ocasio, 2008;Haveman & Gualtieri, 2017). Logics imply that there is a cultural set of understandings that help define how a particular organizational field works, what actions make sense for actors, and what rules govern interaction both formally and informally.…”