Understanding strategic responses to institutional pressures

Clemens, Bruce; Douglas, Thomas J.

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2004.04.002

Cited by 106 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…However, the gains and losses linked to compliance or noncompliance with societal expectations probably do not apply equally to all organizations. Scholarly research on corporate disclosure and corporate social responsibility has previously suggested that these effects depend on the visibility of the firm (e.g., Clemens and Douglas 2005;Julian et al 2008) and its exposure to the various institutions assessing the legitimacy of organizational structures. This proposition finds support among institutional theory scholars (e.g., Tolbert and Zucker 1983).…”

Section: The Cause Of Institutional Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance to Change in the Corporate Elite: Female Directors’ Appointments onto Nordic Boards

et al. 2015

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In this empirical study, we investigate the variation in firms' response to institutional pressure for gender-balanced boards, focusing specifically on the preservation of prevailing practices of director selection and its impact on the representation of women on the board of directors. Using 8 years of data from publicly listed Nordic corporations, we show societal pressure to be one of the determinants of female directorship. Moreover, in some corporations, the director selection process may work to maintain ''a traditional type of board''. In such boards, demographic diversity among male members appears to be associated with a lower share of female directors, although we cannot establish wether this reflects discrimination or a desire to maintain critical competencies. With this paper we add to the theoretical understanding of the factors underlying female board appointments by adopting an institutional theory lens to study female board representation. Viewing the demands for gender-balanced boards in terms of societal pressure for the de-institutionalization of the prevailing norms and practices, we highlight preferences for maintaining established practices as a potentially important barrier to institutional change. On these grounds, we conjecture on the relationship between the gender diversity of boards and other diversity dimensions. We suggest that a board room gender quota (if implemented) is supplemented by policies to ensure the transparency of board changes, in order to prevent the crowding out of other diversity dimensions.

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Section: The Cause Of Institutional Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance to Change in the Corporate Elite: Female Directors’ Appointments onto Nordic Boards

et al. 2015

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“…A manipulation check (n = 70), using items adapted from Clemens and Douglas (2005), showed that consumers' perception of each response strategy differed significantly: moving with (F = 30.88, p \ .01, partial g 2 = .58), moving toward (F = 18.03, p \ .01, partial g 2 = .45), moving against (F = 4.31, p = .01, partial g 2 = .20), and moving away (F = 3.98, p = .01, partial g 2 = .15). All manipulations passed Levene's test for homogeneity (p \ .1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The firm's response is one of the four strategies described above (Clemens and Douglas 2005;Conlon and Murray 1996;Oliver 1991), which we label moving with (i.e., compliance), moving toward (e.g., entering into a discussion), moving against (e.g., counterattack), and moving away (i.e., ignoring the protest). In order to test these effects, a one-factor between-subjects experimental design was used.…”

Section: Experimental Study Design and Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Online Protests and Firm Responses on Shareholder and Consumer Evaluation

2017

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Protests that target firms' socially irresponsible behavior are increasingly organized via digital media. This study uses two methods to investigate the effects that online protests and mitigating firm responses have on shareholders' and consumers' evaluation. The first method is a financial analysis that includes an event study which measures the effect of online protests on the target firm's share price, as well as an investigation of the boundary effects of protest characteristics. The second method is an online experiment that assesses the effect of an online protest campaign on consumers' perception and purchase intention, as well as any mitigating effects that a firm's response may have. Contrary to recent studies suggesting that participation in online protests is only token support without any substantive effects, our results show that online protests do hurt. Firms can expect to suffer financial, reputational, and sales damage when an online protest campaign mobilizes consumers successfully. We also show that online protests are more likely to take firms by surprise than offline protests. Firms can exacerbate or reduce the damage by their response. We find that although firms may repair the damage to consumers' purchase intentions, the negative effects on a brand's image are harder to rectify.The results have valuable implications for protest organizers and managers faced with the task of responding.

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“…The industry is highly interconnected (Howard 2009), a characteristic that increases the likelihood professional associations, rather than individual organizations, will respond to institutional (Clemens & Douglas, 2005;Goodstein, 1994;Hamel, Doz, & Prahalad, 1989;Meyer & Scott, 1983;Oliver, 1991). Moreover, the organic food industry features a strong moral undercurrent (Ingram & Ingram, 2005), which makes it well-suited to analyzing legitimacy loss.…”

Section: Empirical Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Associations and Deflection Tactics: A Theory and Exploratory Analysis

Sheridan¹,

Hartmann²,

Jonisz³

2017

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Understanding strategic responses to institutional pressures

Cited by 106 publications

References 31 publications

Resistance to Change in the Corporate Elite: Female Directors’ Appointments onto Nordic Boards

Resistance to Change in the Corporate Elite: Female Directors’ Appointments onto Nordic Boards

The Effect of Online Protests and Firm Responses on Shareholder and Consumer Evaluation

Professional Associations and Deflection Tactics: A Theory and Exploratory Analysis

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